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To me the bible is a tool used to brainwash the masses.
Maybe some of you are familiar with the study Ivan Pavlov did some decades back, in which he trained his dog to salivate whenever it heard a bell ring. Automatic response conditioning is what it is, and once religious orthodoxy has got it's hooks into you, it will suck you in even further by providing you with "All the answers you could ever need" in the form of the bible, which they will continuously urge you to study, memorize, pour over, meditate on and wrap your entire life around as swiftly and completely as possible.
To me the bible is a tool used to brainwash the masses.
Maybe some of you are familiar with the study Ivan Pavlov did some decades back, in which he trained his dog to salivate whenever it heard a bell ring. Automatic response conditioning is what it is, and once religious orthodoxy has got it's hooks into you, it will suck you in even further by providing you with "All the answers you could ever need" in the form of the bible, which they will continuously urge you to study, memorize, pour over, meditate on and wrap your entire life around as swiftly and completely as possible.
I second that. "The Opium of the people" does seem a very apt description.
I see it as a tool of mind control and one which has divided rather than united mankind for almost 2 millennia.
A book written over a rather long period of time by different men , long after the event it claims to describe as facts .
It does have some wisdom in it ( any book which calls itself a scripture that size really ought to, so not exactly a miracle there) but to me is mostly non-sense and supernatural stories.
I have read it a few times ( Catholic schools -I had to) and I can't think of many books I find more soporific or lacking in literary merit.
On the plus side I am extremely grateful it brings joy ,comfort and succour to people and that it helps some deal with their daily struggles. If it does truly help some then I guess it is not all bad.
I would personally rather read a good book than "the" good book though.
"a more excellent" devotion (1 Corinthians 12:31 and 13:13)
There have always been and still are alot of serious misunderstandings about the bible in every area of spiritual thought, mainly because it has not been commonly understood that it was written 2000/1900 years ago.
We are to LIVE according to every word that PRESENTLY proceeds from God's mouth ("sword of the spirit", Ephesians 6:17) and "walk by the spirit" (Galatians 5:16 and 25). Scripture (the word "bible" is not in scripture) is only the introductory doctrine of Jesus (Hebrews 6:1), the "word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, Ephesians 1:13, John 14:6).
What the creator's son did on the cross was completely sufficient that salvation should be AVAILABLE to everyone on earth (Luke 3:6), but we must also receive the purification of our conscience (Hebrews 9:14) in order to have the guarantee of salvation (2 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5, Ephesians 1:14).
The recognition that it is a very old book is very important, but also that it has two messages in it and that we'll find whichever one we are looking for, that is why it often seems contradictory.
Sometimes I Just Wonder How Much Better Things Would Be If Ppl Would Stop And Think Before They Talked, Said, Or Typed Things. Well, That Just Goes To Show That When U Don't Have God In Your Life, You'll Say And Do Anything. The Bible Is The True And Authenticated Word Of God. Man Has Come Up With All This Other Stuff, But In The End, The Truth Shall Prevail!
I find a few things interesting about your post itrustgod. Generally speaking (because of course, not every person is the same), most of the posts on this thread are thought out. And I loved the original poster's question- they are not asking for a "my beliefs (or lack there of) are better than yours" debate. The poster simply asked WHY aetheists do not believe in the bible. Furthermore, I wish *some* people "would Stop and Think Before They Talked, Said, Or Typed Things" and actually respond to the question asked. You are entitled to your beliefs and if in the end the "Truth Shall Prevail", then you can believe I'll get mine in the end.
As to the Bible, I find it an interesting book that profiles some historical events with an element of fantasy(I'm not referring to the magic unicorn kind of fantasy). It is an interesting read, with many aspects of many other religions, pulling quite a bit from the ancient egyptians and many pagan religions. I find it fascinating that the bible matches events described in other religious texts, and therefore, believe some things (such as a flood) happened, but that they were exaggerated (the flood must have been catastrophic, however, as pointed out before, the chinese did not experience the same flood- it was regional- floods happen once in a while- and the authors' world was in shambles after the flood because it appeared to them that the whole world must be flooded. The author saw water, the author's friend saw water- and likely, the authors did not realize that there were other civilizations in the world!)
Ummm historically some of it's major claims that people get from the bible has been proven to be wrong. Such as the Israelis being slaves. The fact they were a hired militia and were hired by pharo however when that pharos son came into power, he felt threatened. He made them do some hard labor. After doing some hard labor the Israelis were afraid of what to come and choose to leave back to their land. The Egyptians followed them. Moses (who was actually a brilliant military straights) used the terrain to his advantage, to cross a section of a river that would be crossable at one point of the day but the tide would make uncrossaible hours later.
And my view the bible was a way to gain control of people like the church did
To me, the mind is bendable, and the idea of religion just may be the most brilliant idea to control humanity of all time. As children we do not question authority, nor to we question our parents, this is where the idea of religion began. Few question who "they" were, who were the writers of the bible? To me, believing only in a book that has been edited and represented in so many ways is nearly impossible and closes the mind to all else that exists in this universe.
It is true that a 'universal book of indoctrination' would be the perfect way to control a culture, civilization, or all of humanity.
Of the many ways that scripture has been used/interpreted (there can only be one truth/understanding), it cannot really be denied that scripture was meant to offer a 'good' message.
While I agree that not every single verse has remained true to it's meaning (cross-language translation discrepancies and carelessness), I don't think it's reasonable to believe that any ancient culture would have the foresight, goodwill, and intellectual capacity to write 66 books that would not only be relevant to each other, but also would express that same good message to future generations in hundreds of countries.
All of humanity has always felt more comfortable INTERPRETING the true meaning (to their own convenience) instead of simply UNDERSTANDING the one true meaning (would you interpret a cooking recipe?). This is why the message has been so misunderstood all throughout history (called the "strong delusion", 2 Thessalonians chapter 2).
The second message in scripture (the true message) cannot be found by just anyone who knows how to read (only truly decent/peaceful people who have respect for humanity can have God's spirit). Many people simply worship with 'lip service' (Isaiah 29:13) and settle for wisdom that is found in parables... Blue Letter Bible - Search Results for RSV
After what God has done for all of humanity...
1) creation (Father)
2) salvation (Son)
3) Godliness teaching (spirit)
...the decision to simply 'become a book' and pay Him lip service instead of actually have respect for God, humanity and truth is the equivalent of the MOCKERY of all.
"...because they refused to love the AND SO BE SAVED", 2 Thess. 2:10.
What Jesus did on the cross purified our soul, but ask a christian about the purification of our conscience (Hebrews 9:14) and the guarantee of having a Godly spirit. Few, if any know of and understand these concepts (they'll give you double talk) because they simply don't care for the real truth ("depths of God", 1 Corinthians 2:10).
I could understand any sane person rejecting any practice of spirituality that resembles the traditional/institutional teachings of christianity, but many faiths are less peaceful/respectful towards humanity. True God worship is not a 'FAITH', it is a LOVE.
Last edited by more excellent way; 06-13-2008 at 02:34 AM..
Reason: explanation
Ever played the game of "telephone" as a child? Where you whisper a phrase to the person sitting next to you and they whisper what they heard to the person next to them and so on, until it gets back to you and only vaguely (if at all) resembles your starting phrase. This is what the bible is to me.
I think most of the stories in the bible were based originally on actual events, but they were passed down orally for a while before being written down and then changed in translation, or simply when a scribe thought the auther *really* meant something else. Eventually, we have what we see today. The moral and idea might remain the same in many cases, but the facts and specifics may have changed dramatically.
Sometimes I Just Wonder How Much Better Things Would Be If Ppl Would Stop And Think Before They Talked, Said, Or Typed Things. Well, That Just Goes To Show That When U Don't Have God In Your Life, You'll Say And Do Anything. The Bible Is The True And Authenticated Word Of God. Man Has Come Up With All This Other Stuff, But In The End, The Truth Shall Prevail!
there are plenty of religious people out there that don't stop and think, and as we all know religion has no room whatsoever to claim innocence when it comes to human atrocities.
so how are we to know that god authenticated the bible anyhow?
I think that religions in general offer people something very appealing. It offers them the idea that this isn't all there is to life. Most people see the world and recognize that mankind is ridden with horrors (we will mass murder our own kind) that no one really likes. they also see that the world is something that they cannot change, and if it were changed the alternative brings a different type of suffering. In shore there are no convenient, silver bullet answers to the problems of humanity. So buying into an idea, even if somewhere in the back of the mind the follower knows is bunk, they will pursue it anyways because it's better than what we have now.
Just my opinion, feel free to tell me that I am wrong.
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"a more excellent" devotion (1 Corinthians 12:31 and 13:13)
