How Are Bible Readings Supposed To Be Taken?

I'm a Christian and let me tell you what I think. The original, first printed bible, that was spoken directly by god and written by man was flawless. Same with the new testament. The first was right. But the bible we read today had been translated multiple times into multiple languages and versions, something as simple as the wording or structure of a sentence can alter its entire meaning. Therefore, the bible we read today may or may not be completely 100% correct. Not to mention large parts of the bible are metaphoric. The best way to read the bible is with an open mind, but also praying to God to direct your mind the way he wants it to go while reading his word. God is perfect, but the men who translated his word were not.

 

AMEN SISTER! :eusa_clap From a fellow Christian!

 

Considering it says not to murder and genocide is mass murder of a large group of people, it does therefore say that's bad. Also, I may not have found the verse myself but I'd be willing to bet quite a bit that child abuse isn't something God looks highly upon.

 

Depends on the Christian is the short and simple answer.

A conservative/evangelical Christian regards the Bible as the inerrant, infallible and unchanging word of God. On that basis, nothing is in error, even if you don't fully understand it.

A more pragmatic Christian will take quite a different view, recognising the Bible as a human creation from at least 1,500 years ago that most certainly can be in error.

The fact is, if you take the Bible literally in every detail and attempt to order your life by it on that basis, you will be locked up for being mad or bad. The conservatives and evangelicals know this, but won't admit it. That's why arguments about the Bible and Christianity get so out of hand.

 

What one needs to do is an exegetical study on each passage. This is to actually find the root words of the Hebrew(OT) and Greek(NT) with the occasional Aramaic thrown in. It's a lot of study. I believe that God divinely gave the words to men flawlessly, and they wrote it down flawlessly in their own tongue. You will find that items get "lost in translation". Certain words have multiple meanings. The word "love" is just love in English, but the Greek had brotherly love, romantic love, community love(support etc.).

Going to a Christian college, I spent many long hours studying and researching all these meanings for words. As any Bible scholar will tell you, context is king. What is the audience? What have they personally done to please/displease God? How is he guiding them and WHY is he guiding they the way he is?

I mentioned this in another thread, but it is important to note that the OT Levitical law was to keep the lineage to Christ going. If you look at the cultural context, there are verses against inter-marrying. Why? Well, at the time, different people groups had their own plagues and diseases. It's not that God is a racist(after all he created them). He just didn't want his people to die.

 

I voted "no" not because I have problem how people interpret this book, but the fact that SOME do it while doing horrible things because they interpret those things in a certain way!

 

JStevens, this again was done to preserve the lineage to Christ AT THAT TIME. Context is key here. Many of these pagans were trying to kill Christians too. Read up on all the skirmishes that took place. There's a lot of turmoil until the Romans came into power. Once they did, Jesus had been born. Jesus was not anti-government either, "Render unto Caesar that which is his." (taxes)

 

I've always found it very depressing. I wish there more funny parts. It really lacks a sense of humor. God is always so grouchy, and then you have Moses, who is always so bossy. I don't think there is a way 'Christians' want us to take it, as there are so many different opinions on it. But to me, it's a dark, morbid and gloomy tome, and I've seldom read anything quite so messed up and violent. I wish they'd make a new version, that celebrates the beauty of gay sex. They sure left that out.

 

I don't personally believe in God, but going to Church makes my Dad happy and from my experience, the passages in the Bible read previously are interpreted by the pastor to apply to modern society. This could be because my priest is fairly liberal, he's mentioned to me he's pro gay marriage and disregards Revelations as not having anything useful to teach.
He tends to take the bible passages and point out the underlying message of love and acceptance, and also to use that God wants us to make informed judgements and stay open minded. He never asserts that the bible is factual, but more or less a parable of how to live decent lives.
That might be a bit looser than most Catholic Masses, but its the way I've seen the Bible interpreted.

 

If you ask me, an ass(donkey) talking is pretty funny. :lol:

 

People pick and choose the bits they want to take literally or not. It's funny how they never reveal the method as to how they determin what is supposed to be taken literally.

Of course, for those who have actually done scholarly research into the bible, you can see it is based on copies of copies of translations of copies by anonymous authors with no originals. Furthermore, the gospels of the bible were pretty much put together by committee.

From my experience, most xtians don't have a very good grasp of their bible (and the horrors contained within). That's why they go to church and give money, so someone can read it for them and pick out the warm and fuzzy bits.

Generally I find atheists tend to know a lot more about the bible than xtians as they have took the time to study it, hence why they are atheist as they can see how absurd and evil it is.

Fortunately it's all fiction, so not to worry...

Happy days

 

personally, as a former christian, i think the bible can be interpreted any way you want, however if you take the bible literally then you should not be a rich slime bag cheating people out of their money. then got to church and give a fiery speech on how LGBTQUIA+ is wrong, there are more verse in the bible about the evil of money and greed than any on sex.
this reminds me of the time an openly gay priest came to our GSA at school and he talked about how when people say being gay is wrong, he tells them, that doesn't Jesus tell us to love everyone and even if they think being gay is wrong are they really loving their fellow man (hehe). and he talked about even the few verses that are seen as being against the gay movement, that back then it was more referring to rape that would be seen during war time, than an actual loving relationship (personally I've seen more gay couples that are more sincere and loving that straight couples).
another thing the bible says nothing against anything trans* and such or Intersex people either... i have friend who, several years back when i was still a christian, convinced me that if someone is intersex, how can they have gay or even straight sex, which is what convinced me to become an ally. i remember asking my dad about intersex people, he says that that's rare and shouldn't be considered.... well believe it or not there are Intersex people and if being gay is wrong then its not ok for intersex people to exist or have sex!
ok sorry i think i strayed off topic a bit lol

 

No they just bull shit everyone because they'll disown anyone who doesn't do what they do because they expect everyone to kiss there ass but I won't and I hope u won't either

 

Personally, I think it was literal in the "olden" days and it then became a moral judgment in more recent times. People were put to death for sexual sin a thousand years ago. Today, it is overlooked by many and, on the other end of the spectrum, those engaging in sexual sin are marginalized and/or harassed by judgmental people. On a more symbolic level, it probably means a spiritual death. Now this is if you think sexual sin is a sin to begin with, but I'm going with just answering the question. However, if it is a sin, then stealing, cheating, gossiping, and harassing someone represent a spiritual death as well, no?

A friend of mine went from having a religious background to BEING his new religious background, 24/7. We are no longer friends. Upon driving through a "gayborhood," he mused "the wages of sin are death." I also know he's got dirt under his rug. He then said that THEY need to change their ways and turn to God. I asked him "didn't Christ die to save sinners?" He didn't answer. He just repeated "the wages of sin are death" several times. He'd make a great wind-up puppet.

The Bible is depressing. It's not a happy book, though it is supposed to bring good tidings. If you can just walk away with one message - "treat others the way you want to be treated," then it was worth its weight in gold. If you want to over-analyze it and beat yourself up over what it could mean and whether you are in conformance, it could bring someone to a state of needing to be locked up.

So, do Christians and Catholics, who are Christians, know the Bible? Yes and no. They know its contents. Almost all of them don't know what it means with certainty. Even the brightest of scholars are in disagreement over its meaning and messages. It's best to gloss over if there is time and interest, get some messages about liking yourself and how to treat others, discard the negative ones that will depress you and saddle you with guilt, and get on with your life. And, make sure that you do not let people who quote the Bible repeatedly into your life if at all possible.

 

I haven't read the bible so I'm only working on what I know and have been taught/told.
I believe that people interpret what they want from the bible and are too afraid of change to accept that they've been wrong about homosexuality.
The "rules" of the bible I think are guidelines on how to live life as a good person, not strictly there to force you to behave. Back in the time and place the bible was written it was underpopulated and I think some of these rules where to insure the increase of reproduction (Homosexuality) and influence the behaviour of the population to be a civilised society (the 7 sins).