The Bible changed the world: built hospitals, freed slaves in the western world, started the civil rights movement, built universities, and changed the calendar…
There have been many horrible things done in its name by misguided people who had not actually read it, but this Holy Book is the source of the USA, the basis of the pursuit of liberty, and the origin of compassion in the western world.
Actually, I believe that many of the people that have done terrible things in the name of the bible have read it. They have simply misread it. With all the languages, and the different versions that the original text, or the closest they could find, have been translated into it is not a hard thing to do. People read things through the filter of their personal reasoning. It's just how the world works.
The bible per se is not the source of the United States. The colonists that came here came to flee religious persecution. They believed in a man's right to practice whatever religion he may choose. There was compassion in the western world long before the bible came along. And before Jesus, it did only a very small part to help foster it. Think of the strict punishments it enforced, the friction between people of different ancestry, and origin. Before Jesus came with the message of love, the bible was a very violent book indeed.
Reading God's Word and believing Him requires no leaps of faith, just a willingness to understand.
I think that you are wrong about this. You cant study yourself into belief in God. It takes faith, and trust. As Citizenzen says, there really is no tangable proof that you can see or learn that will 'light up the bulb above your head' as it were. It is something that you just believe in, know without learning, and in that way is much stronger than any learned knowledge.
Contemporary commentary can certainly help people to relate to the writings of a holy book. Modern Bible commentators do so with great care to neither add to nor take away any of the scripture, so as to prevent it becoming a written game of "telephone".
Lol. My wording has rubbed off I see.
When I say that though, I don't mean to take away from the
actual original text. Just the subsequent generations I feel are not on par with the original. I don't see how it could be after being mucked about with so much, even with the best intentions.
You know the quote about what the road to hell is paved with... J/k. I don't even believe in hell as most christians do. But it was funny nontheless.
How could God, all-powerful, eternal and omniscient not be part of you? That would indicate that there are parts of the universe that aren't God. How can something be everywhere, but not in you... not all of you?
Citizenzen, I have been told recently by Thomas that Christians have some different definition of omnipotent and omniscient than either I or Webster do... Maybe this is part of the problem. I don't see how it makes sense either.
Christians believe that there is, in fact, a single and universal truth, and that whatever denies this truth is, by definition, false. You said earlier that your beliefs were ok for you, and my beliefs were ok for me. I disagree. I believe that your beliefs will inevitably lead to your making a serious and fatal error that will result in an eternity of pain and agony for you.
I believe that what I have tried to explain to you is the truth. Hopefully you will eventually accept and acknowledge it; the truth will not condemn you to eternal separation from a God who loves you, who created you, and who desires to have your company.
Only one of us will turn out to be right.
Well, you are entitled to your beliefs.
I believe that God created the world with all of it's religions for a purpose. And to say that he created certain people, knowing that they would believe in these different religions (that he created mind you,) and knowing that, he would throw them into an eternal hell for doing something that he knew they were going to do anyway, makes no sense to me.
You would probably agree that God created man. You would probably agree that God created everything on this earth. You would probably agree that he is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.
And then you would probably still go against all reason and agree with an eternal hell, that the concept of is not even plainly stated in the bible, if it is alluded to at all, which is debatable.
You can believe what you do. You can believe it is the only truth. And seeing it through that filter, I realize that you can do little less than try to evangelize on a forum that is here for sharing views. But if you are really so sure about your beliefs, I would say that evangelizing is the only reason for your presence here. And that is not what this site is about, unless I have misunderstood, which I doubt.
We're all here to learn, and see the world through other people's filters for a bit. Maybe you could give it a try. That's all I wanted to say.
Sorry to barge in!
See ya!
