BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Spirituality Religious Superiority

You are a good person, man. I respect you a lot. But you need not convert every post to a religious one.

Yes, that is true about the scientific proof. I was just thinking of an example of being pushy about something others don't care about but it wasn't the best example.

"Everyone says the Bible has been changed so much over the years and yet no one can step up to the plate to prove it. No one over the years has ever been able to prove the Bible wrong or prove it has been changed. It is so easy to say that the Bible has been changed to suit people yet those people cannot prove it."

Sure they can. First of all it has been translated from Hebrew to Greek to Arabic to English. Take the word "witch" for instance in the phrase "Never suffer a Witch to live." The original translation of that phrase was "Never suffer a poisoner to live." One important example of a change I would think.

Secondly, the Old Testament and the New Testament were written hundreds of years apart from one another. Many Biblical scholars agree that the God that is being spoken of in the New Testament is not the God of the Old Testament. One is based on Judaism and the other is based on Christianity. And, of course, the Christians have conveniently "bypassed" the laws of the OT by saying that when Jesus arrived they were no longer valid. Great cop out for not smiting, stoning and bull roasting. And yet, given the opportunity, the Christians will still pull bits and pieces from the OT that make their point.

Now, of course, there are always the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the the Gnostic Gospels, including the Gospel of Mary. Seems to me that these are just as valid as the NT. But, here again, because they tend to paint a very different version of Jesus and his life than the four versions of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, they are considered by most Christians to be invalid.. dahhhhhh.

And, on top of that .. Christians have stolen every Pagan holiday and tried to make it their own. Take Christmas for example. According to the scriptures themselves, Jesus was not born in December.. and he is supposedly cruxified on Easter.. a Pagan holiday named after Eostare, the Hare headed Goddess.. complete with eggs as fertility symbols. Doesn't that tell you something about Christianity right there?

Christianity is a blend of beliefs borrowed from other religions and beliefs, primarily Judaism,Gnosticism and Paganism. The entire story of Jesus has been repeated hundreds of times in the old story of the Gods, including Mithras and Osiris. And, there actually were a whole lot of famous folk who claimed virgin birth.. it was considered the "cool thing" to do in the old days. Do a google search on virgin birth.. You will be quite surprised!

Constantine and the counsel of Nicea basically were in argument for over 50 years about whether Jesus was a creature (born of humankind) or the son of a deity. So basically, it was the counsel. They determined that Jesus was the son of god. Up to that point he was just a man. It was good politics at the time to make him a "God"

Now the best part of all this is the fact that most Jews do not believe that Jesus was the son of god either. Why? Because the OT tells them so. Jesus was a Jew. The OT was written by the Jews, and basically the whole shcmeal is based on Jewish law and tradition. I would tend to put more faith in Jewish belief on the subject than I would Christian belief.

First of all Amadeus, if you are attempting to prove that the bible is an accurate interpretation of God's law, it is up to you to prove the existance of God in the first place without his book of instructions. Because the fact of the matter is without that book, there is no God.

I always put a challenge out there to the Christians. If they can do two things I will believe. One .. produce a word.. just one single word of the bible that was written by JESUS himself, and Two... Prove God to me without the Bible.

Exactly! I was surprised to hear amadeus1220 say ... "no one can step up to the plate to prove it. No one over the years has ever been able to prove the Bible wrong or prove it has been changed."

And to cdmohatta regarding ... "you need not convert every post to a religious one" ... this post is about religion so I think we have to give amadeus1220 a break

Yes.. This is the thread that we can "let it all hang out". As a U.U., I am used to debate.. we debate the hell out of whether or not to put sugar in a cup of coffee..lol. I think that debate is a healthy form of discussion that can truly open up minds and enlighten everyone who participates.

Debating with someone does not mean that you are disrespecting them on a personal level. Religion and politics just seem to be the two topics that inspire disagreement. But, if a person is strong enough in their own faith or pathway, debate can actually be enjoyable.

I would have to say that this particular thread is not for the timid or easily offended.

Love and Light...

Linda... UU's remind me of Jews in that regard. We always argue a point. The old addage... Take two Jews and ask them their opinion, three will come out!

I love taking the other side of an argument for debating sake. People get irritated when I do it, but being able to look at all sides of a debate can be quite a good experience. It will not only help us understand others, but understand ourselves.

On to the topic of the Bible. The Tanakh (Jewish Bible) was written in aramaic and hebrew. There are many a mistranslation over the years. There are very few samples of the "ORIGINAL" to be viewed, but we do know of many mistakes. For instance, there never was the word homosexual until the late 19th century. Yet, mind you, we find the word homosexual in the bible today. The first commandment, though shall not... was misinterpreted as well. Most people say though shall not kill. Actually it is Though Shalt not MURDER. There is a difference between kill and murder.

There are many inaccuracies in the Bible, both Xtian and Jew. We must remember that MAN wrote it, but whether it is divinly inspired or not is a different argument. It took hundreds of years for the Bible to get written. It was hundreds of years of oral law and stories that could have been shaded by man that got recorded. We will NEVER know the accuracy or the origins of the "original" bible, but we do know where translations and the motives of those who translated it came from and who it is.

I have brought that up many times and everytime I get the response, "it doesn't matter they are the same."

I agree with you, it is not the same and it does matter!

Well if you look at it.. if we are onmivores, we kill things to eat them. If the first commandment says thou shalt not kill, then we'd be inviolation.

However, murder inplies something totally different.

Big difference between kill and murder.

You can look at it this way.

Murder has a violent intent. It is a "criminal" act that has no real purpose other than to snuff the life out of something.

Whereas, to kill, has a different meaning and connotation. We kill things to eat them. There is a purpose to this. Also, this could be used to justify the death penalty, because if we kill a criminal who is convicted of murder, it serves a purpose (don't kill me, it's an interpretation). This way the soul can be seen to not have broken the commandment of not murdering.

We talk about things like this in my religion classes all the time. What is the meaning and what is the intent of the action or word. In law, we call it mans rea. Of Mind/With intent.

I do believe, that we all believe, our religion is superior. I do believe that is why we are that religion. I also believe we should respect other beliefs. It's Ok with me if you are something different than I, and I hope it's ok with you that I am something different than you.

Makes sense.