LogFAQs > #895822523

Drakeryn posted...

I agree with Lasa here.

If you're a Christian, you take the Bible as the word of God. For sure, you can still discuss the proper interpretation of the Bible. Critical analysis of the text, and not just taking your pastor's interpretation for granted, is core to a reasoned faith. BowserCuffs provides a really good example: challenging the accuracy of the translation. (I hadn't heard that allegation, but it wouldn't surprise me. On the other hand, isn't the NIV also pretty anti-homosexual? Or are there similar issues there?) But what you shouldn't do is just dismiss stuff you don't like out of hand, without critical analysis. You can't claim the Bible is the word of God and then just sweep under the rug the parts that make you uncomfortable.

If you're not a Christian (and not a believer in another specific religion), then obviously you can take as much or as little from the Bible as you want. Mix and match freely! The world's religions are your buffet table! Though you're probably just going to take whatever matches your preexisting beliefs, so...there's not too much point?

You would have a hard time dealing with a great number of pastors in the denomination in which I worked; There is a strong and growing movement in the Lutheran church in particular to view the Old Testament completely differently from the New Testamant. It's becoming more and more of a historical addendum and less and less used in any sort of religious role.

You also are neglecting to note the fact that the Bible itself is so often called "divinely inspired but mortally written." A good chunk of ministers in various denominations use their extensive study of the Bible to push that the Bible reflects the best wisdom of its time and not necessarily ours. The big issue is that, much like in a literary course in college, people studying the Bible are so quick to judge it based on the merits of their own social mores and cultural values. What people can learn form the Bible is not simple rule of law. As many pastors I've worked with over the years have said, if we were meant to follow every rule of the Bible, we would put to death unruly children - and society would dry up pretty quickly.

Finally, the Bible has always been a pick-and-choose book. The various Diets and Synods that formed in the first half-millennium of the church consistently chose different texts and books to put in the Bible. The Apocrypha to this day still stands as a crucial example of the mercurial and politicized nature of how the modern Bible came to be.

Both Lasa and you are welcome to hold belief that a religious person must hold stock in everything their text said, but this has never been true in any religion. The ancient Greeks were virtually agnostic, the Romans made addendum to their religion constantly, and most modern religions have been in a state of flux for centuries.
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"Reading would be your friend." ~Dave Meltzer