Just like any other organization or belief system or group, there are some serious nutjobs involved. The scripture writers you're talking about were just the people  claiming to be "the movement" , not the movement itself. The bible is obviously a multi layered document with some incredible allegories, some fake shit cut and pasted in, some pagan threads-in fact, it's a lot like "Lost" except from a different time.

I've been reading Elaine Pagels "The Gnostic Gospels" and it is blowing my mind.

The values inside the Bible that matter to me matter because they rise above the rest of the stuff and are, I believe, timeless and in their own way echo exactly the same values espoused by humanism, counseling psychology, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Don't treat other people like crap. Learn how to love yourself. Try to make decisions from love, and not fear or anger. Flush.

Last edited by icangetyouatoe (2009-03-03 11:22:51)

TheWretched wrote:

"Bible writers claimed repeatedly that they were transmitting the very Word of God, infallible and authoritative in the highest degree."

Of course they did. I bet those guys got all sorts of tail back in the day. "Hey, babe, I've got a direct link to the Creator. Want to go back to my place and take a look at my manuscript?"

(PS - 9:56 a.m., hmmm? I take it you were in computer lab?)

TheWretched wrote:

"Bible writers claimed repeatedly that they were transmitting the very Word of God, infallible and authoritative in the highest degree. This is an amazing thing for any writer to say, and if the forty or so men who wrote the Scriptures were wrong in these claims, then they must have been lying, or insane, or both."

So I get woken from Golden Slumbers to read a bunch of shite like this link?  Go AWAY.

Based on the few nuggets of inspired gold found in the Bible, some of the writers may have had good motives or actually were inspired by The Creative Force.  However, what we know as the Bible has many authors and editors other than the ones who are given credit and most of these uncredited authors and editors were more motivated by personal power and social control than by any desire to bring spiritual enlightenment to the masses.

Taint wrote:

Christiananswers.net wrote:

Dr. Nelson Glueck, probably the greatest modern authority on Israeli archeology, has said:
"No archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries."

Wikipedia on Nelson Glueck wrote:

Although he worked to develop a historical understanding of biblical events, Dr. Glueck always maintained that his faith was not based on a literal interpretation of the bible. To do that, he once said, would be to "confuse fact with faith, history with holiness, science with religion."

Hmmm.

Taint, you have obviously spent too much time fact-checking this bullshit link.  You need to toke a fat bowl, drink a few premium beers, and jerk your gherkin.

Taint wrote:

Actually, a toke sounds like an excellent idea. Truly, I have been divinely inspired.

So it is written, so shall it be done.

icangetyouatoe wrote:

Just like any other organization or belief system or group, there are some serious nutjobs involved. The scripture writers you're talking about were just the people  claiming to be "the movement" , not the movement itself. The bible is obviously a multi layered document with some incredible allegories, some fake shit cut and pasted in, some pagan threads-in fact, it's a lot like "Lost" except from a different time.

I've been reading Elaine Pagels "The Gnostic Gospels" and it is blowing my mind.

The values inside the Bible that matter to me matter because they rise above the rest of the stuff and are, I believe, timeless and in their own way echo exactly the same values espoused by humanism, counseling psychology, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Don't treat other people like crap. Learn how to love yourself. Try to make decisions from love, and not fear or anger. Flush.

We know the Bible is true because Jesus fucking said so.

Do we know each other?

I've been preaching the same shit to my Christian friends for 26 years. "All religions are regional interpretations of the same basic ideals: be good to each other, don't fuck up your neighbor, etc"....

Do you also have a strange fascination with the Mayan calendar and wonder why or how a white "god" appeared to the Native peoples of central/south America a couple thousand years ago?

Did we party together in the 80's?

Were you a fan of my break-dance crew, maybe?

TheWretched wrote:

"Bible writers claimed repeatedly that they were transmitting the very Word of God, infallible and authoritative in the highest degree.

This is actually not true.  The various books of the Bible are a collection of oral histories, recounting of stories, and letters.  I can think of one place where one of the letters claims to be the direct words of God.  There may be one or two more, but for the most part the words themselves do not claim to be dictated by God, although some books contain words that they claim God said.  That's a belief that came much later, after they were all bound together into a book.  To this day many if not most Christians I've met have absolutely no idea where the Bible actually came from, and haven't read enough of it to make an informed judgement.

I still like the stories about Elijah.  He was kind of a badass.  I especially liked the part with him making wisecracks at the prophets of Baal while they cut themselves and prayed trying to get fire to come down from heaven.

Make that a badass AND a smartass.

karenw wrote:

ptah13 wrote:

Wow.... you're braver than I.

Both my boys, even the 19-y-o, know not to come here.

Shit, I used to share the CSOTD with them when they were wee little ones. Good for a shared family laugh session. What else were we supposed to do for entertainment in the Hoosier state?

ptah13 wrote:

Were you a fan of my break-dance crew, maybe?

Pix or it didn't happen.

Everybody here knows of the existence of pix of me in my baggy red leather pants, wearing a gay-ass 80's hat.

I'll never never never post them here. I've seen some of the work they've done with the benign picture of Horse, I can't imagine how they'd homo-gin-ize me with the kind of ammo provided of a teenage Ptah, bi-level haircut (I would call it a mullet, but that would mean that I was "uncool").

Hey, if it was good enough for this guy, it was good enough for me.

I was always partial to Matthew 9:18-30 where Jeses raises a young girl from the dead. Most quotes from this passage, usually spoken at funerals, stop at stanza 29. But it's stanza 30 that is telling. After just raising a person who was stone dead, certainly his most powerful miracle to date in the bible, what's the first comment from Jesus to his followers in stanza 30? "Shhh, don't tell anyone..."

Last edited by GooberMcNutly (2009-03-06 09:01:33)

ptah13 wrote:

karenw wrote:

jesusluvspegging wrote:

That your kid or something Karen?

I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any such "kid or something."

Wow.... you're braver than I.

Both my boys, even the 19-y-o, know not to come here.

Children who come here are at risk for not only sad, short little lives as Hep C/HIV infected,  crack addicted prostitutes but also dating guys named Duane and having sex with tiny dogs. Seriously. They should all stay away.

Last edited by icangetyouatoe (2009-03-06 11:25:23)

There is no other book, ancient or modern, like this. The vague, and usually erroneous, prophecies of people like Jeanne Dixon, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, and others like them are not in the same category at all, and neither are other religious books such as the Koran, the Confucian Analects, and similar religious writings. Only the Bible manifests this remarkable prophetic evidence, and it does so on such a tremendous scale as to render completely absurd any explanation other than divine revelation.

The universe is a big fucking place, and "God" is too big to fit in any one religion.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad predates Christianity by many years before their so-called "perfect book" states the world was created.

But the Bible has the market cornered on truth and righteousness and anyone who disagrees is going to hell. So does the Book of Mormon. Jesus and Friends meant the Bible as a rough draft only.

Here's their reasoning: Jesus is God, because he said he was. Buddha is not God, because he never said he was.

Oh, and by the way - I'm God, too. The kind of God who smites shit for fun, and watches and keeps track of all the gheys having sex so I can damn them for eternity.

What, you thought God doesn't like porn? Whythefuck you think they're all calling my name when they fake their orgasms?

sofaking wrote:

What, you thought God doesn't like porn? Whythefuck you think they're all calling my name when they fake their orgasms?

God doesn't like porn - he only reads it for the articles.