Hm. Well, I suppose I'm in a mood to throw in my $.02. I have to say I'm with Lil on this one: men wrote the bible, not God. As far as I know, God never took pen to paper and scribbled down some thoughts. Do I think men were divinely inspired? Absolutely. Politically inspired as well.
The bible was also EDITED by men. There were many, many writings by the disciples that didn't make the final cut. The new testament and the old testament were thrown together several hundred years after the death of Christ by a Pope, I believe.
Paul created the church under his own steam and was never directed by Christ or anyone else to create it. Least as far as I know and have been able to find.
Take any other book of law from 2000 years ago and try to apply it to today's society and you would have utter anarchy on your hands. Slip the word God into it and you've got yourself a new religion.
I have often wondered how many people would interpret the bible a bit differently if they spent even 1/4 the time studying the historical and cultural arenas during which the bible was written, not to mention just the time in which Jesus lived, because kids, they happened hundreds of years apart, and really understanding a time period is really crucial in understanding what those time periods produced. Many of the disciples chapters weren't even written until many hundreds of years later. Most of the disciples were uneducated and didn't even know how to write.
Ever played the game 'telephone' where you sit in a big circle and whisper a sentence in the ear of the person sitting next to you and then they pass it on? And by the time the sentence gets around to the last person, it is completely different?
Just to put this into some context, it would be like all of us collecting up diaries, notes, letters, songs, verbal stories, etc., of America's founding fathers, completely disregarding the two hundred year difference in word meaning, context, cultural norms and societal expectations, not to mention a COMPLETE ignorance and direct experience of living in those times, under those conditions, with an army from England numbering more men than the most populated city in your young country... then a few years later, throwing together the Declaration of Independence, the Land Ordinance of 1775, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Constitution, just for good measure, putting it all together in one book, claiming it was divinely inspired and THE WORD of George Washington himself.
Does anyone here know that the first draft of the Bill of Rights was taken directly from the six articles of the Northwest Ordinance? These 'articles' were added to the final document one week prior to its passage, (the entire document was nearly entirely recrafted in one week's time, as a matter of fact), and the document rewite, and those six articles were largely crafted and influenced by ONE presbyterian minister from Massachusettes who was acting on behalf of Revolutionary war soldiers who wanted to buy land in the Ohio country with their near worthless war notes as payment for service in the army. The funds from that ONE land sale, which that minister was there (New York, final act of the 2nd Continental Congress) to conduct, kept our country from going bankrupt and was what was used to start jump start our National Treasurey. ????
The Northwest Ordinance was the one document that kept slavery out of five newly formed states and led to the imbalance to free states and slave states, and it is the only piece of legislation ever passed in our country's history that exists in perpituity. It cannot be overturned except by unanimous vote. There's way more to the story than this, but I'll shut up.
All of this was carried out, written, passed into law, and shaped 2/3 of the development of the U.S. due to the efforts of war veterans who just wanted to be paid, and rightly so, for all they had given up to fight for our country. Most people don't KNOW this for they do not take the time to FIND OUT, and just assume that the very brief and inadequate history lessons in school are not only accurate, but wholly TRUE. We only get the tip of the ice berg, kids, and most people never even think to question it, nor wonder if there is perhaps more to the story.
But now knowing this, doesn't that change your thinking about things, even just a little bit, and we're only dealing with a little over 200 years of our own history?
My point to this little history lesson being... people take the bible out of context, out of historical perspective, do not bother to educate themselves on its historical, political or cultural influences during the time it was written and compiled, take it ver batim after it has undergone hundreds of translations through three languages... and claim it is THE WORD of God, and the accurate account of Jesus' time on earth.
Y'all are dickering over whether or not a few passages in the bible apply the same meaning to both men and women... are assuming it was intended to cover both parties... kids, women weren't considered citizens then!! Only men counted... women were treated as property, little better than slaves... and you now apply modern day considerations and regard for equality to writings crafted over 1000 years ago? Really?
Okay. I know, ya gotta believe in something... but gosh kids, if you believe that the bible is the definitive word of God, you also have to believe that He gave you your own mind and the ability of independent thought, the ability to question, the ability to reason, to explore, to examine...
