[T-Toe]

This question is directed mainly at religious people.

The bible has been modified consistently for centuries. There were bound to have been errors along the way. Also, the Bible was not directly written by God or Jesus. It consists of the recollective accounts from man (who I believe are imperfect, therefore prone to making errors). The messages from God or Jesus were likely to have been misconstrued, or heavily influenced by culture.

I tend to really respect non-religious good people. They discriminate less frequently and seek to be good without expecting an everlasting reward. That demonstrates an act of selflessness. Surely God should appreciate that more?

So long as you retain integrity and remain a good person. What's the issue?

Now back to revision...

[Aj12]

As was the Quran for a time. (wonder how many negs that will get me :P) Not sure about any other religious books though apart from the biible. Seems bizarre to me to want to be part of any religion that has constantly changed or that had different sects and denominations. Surely if these books are the one true word of God they would only have one interpretation and there would only be one denomination of that particular religion?

[rainbow.panda]

I think it's fine if you want to believe the contents of these books but they should never be used to justify bad behaviour towards others, ie. bigotry, terrorist attacks, discrimination. I think the stories should be taken with a pinch of salt and not taken literally.

[dead101]

(Original post by T-Toe)
This question is directed mainly at religious people.

The bible has been modified consistently for centuries. There were bound to have been errors along the way. Also, the Bible was not directly written by God or Jesus. It consists of the recollective accounts from man (who I believe are imperfect, therefore prone to making errors). The messages from God or Jesus were likely to have been misconstrued, or heavily influenced by culture.

I tend to really respect non-religious good people. They discriminate less frequently and seek to be good without expecting an everlasting reward. That demonstrates an act of selflessness. Surely God to appreciate that more?

So long as you retain integrity and remain a good person. What's the issue?

Now back to revision...

They shouldn't be taken literally. People pick and choose what they like from such books and bend it so it suits them, even so that they can be awful people and say it's okay because 'god said so'. The bible speaks about stoning women etc. and that is not taken seriously, yet issues like homosexuality are argued against because of it. Also, they're often very contradictory. It's very silly. Books shouldn't affect decisions in the government etc like laws, but each to their own otherwise. As long as you're not affecting anyone else, then believe what you will. And I agree, you shouldn't need an ancient book to tell you what's right and wrong.

[Rhadamanthus]

Yes, since it is a collection of materials ranging from history and poetry to interesting stories, and has probably been the most influential thing ever written. It should obviously be taken seriously as a text that allows us to understand past and present beliefs, and where a lot of our current public morality comes from.

[T-Toe]

(Original post by Aj12)
As was the Quran for a time. (wonder how many negs that will get me :P) Not sure about any other religious books though apart from the biible. Seems bizarre to me to want to be part of any religion that has constantly changed or that had different sects and denominations. Surely if these books are the one true word of God they would only have one interpretation and there would only be one denomination of that particular religion?

Religious is very much intertwined with culture. God did not write the Bible Himself and the book is saturated with so much historical culture; most of which are irrelevant today. Wouldn't you prefer religion to progress (not necessarily God's fundamental messages) than remain in 100 BC?

[T-Toe]

(Original post by Rhadamanthus)
Yes, since it is a collection of materials ranging from history and poetry to interesting stories, and has probably been the most influential thing ever written. It should obviously be taken seriously as a text that allows us to understand past and present beliefs, and where a lot of our current public morality comes from.

No so much its history but biblical messages that influence your daily life.

[navarre]

There are actually Christians who believe the KJV Bible to be the very word of God, passed on to mankind and written by God.

It's absurd. There are good passages and some wisdom to have in every religious text, but I can't understand basing an entire life around a centuries old book with so many contradictions, inaccuracies and with little relevance to the modern age.

[Chuck Norris]

No

[Alpharius]

Lets face it, theists will say yes.

I say otherwise. They have all been modified at some point. The Bible is constantly being modified. The Qur'an was mistranslated/modified in the early years. Very early copies that have been studied recently confirm this.

They were written by people who understood nothing, in a time where the most educated of people were completely ignorant in comparison to the most average person today.

I don't take anyone seriously if they back up their arguments using religious text. Otherwise I don't care what they believe.

[Perseveranze]

(Original post by Aj12)
As was the Quran for a time. (wonder how many negs that will get me :P)

Actually, from a secular perspective, the Qur'an is considered the least likely religious book to have been altered. Rather the evidences are in more favor that it hasn't been altered (since the time of Muhammad(pbuh)).

"Few have failed to be convinced that what is in our copy of the Quran is, in fact, what Muhammad taught, and is expressed in his own words". - Peters, F. E. (Aug., 1991) "The Quest of the Historical Muhammad." International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 291-315.

Talking about Western circles here, Muslims of course have no doubts.

[.eXe]

Whats wrong with them being modified? Humans arent perfect, translations can go wrong and may later need to be corrected. Whats the big issue?

As the bible stands currently, whats the problem with it? Is there something wrong with forgiveness of sin? Does turning your other cheek sound immoral? Is loving your enemy a bad thing?

If anything my question is why shouldnt the bible be followed? Its not as if it teaches us to be criminals, immoral or evil. Quite the opposite infact.


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[cambio wechsel]

The truth of the claims of these books can of course be disputed as can the value of the message. Nonetheless, these are among the most important and influential texts of all time. Of course they must be 'taken seriously'.

[madaboutmambo]

There are reasons as to why it shouldn't be taken seriously: Firstly, the bible and most other holy books have been written by believers - there is no unbiased information as to if the accounts of Jesus, for instance, are really true. Hence it is difficult to take it "seriously". At the same time, almost all the holy books seem to contradict each other so we can't really be sure as to which one can be taken seriously.

Reasons for holy books to be taken seriously:

Obviously these are the only scrutinized texts available and so present a written source of authority to the followers of a religion; they can be seen as evidence despite the fact that they only present biased accounts.

The reason for the constant updating of the bible; I believe this is in order to keep up with the modern day issues that arise which would have not been experienced years ago, for instance the question of homosexuality. Many people do not read holy books believing that one cannot follow something that was written in another time and culture. Hence religious leaders update the bible to take into account of the rising issues that people face. I personally believe that this is not wrong because firstly, there is an extent to which you can update or edit a holy book: accounts of jesus life, for instance, are not normally edited to preserve the religion.
Religious people are to simply take note of the core principles and then apply those to daily life.

Hope this helps...

[The_Last_Melon]

The bible is a worthy piece of literature to take seriously because it stands the test of time.

[CurtisDean]

Honestly, I think it is all about how we interpret Holy Books like the Bible or the Qur'an and how it influences our lives because generally, every religious person has a different perspective on the sayings and teachings in these religious books. I do believe that there are some people that use the Bible to discriminate against certain people - such as Homophobic people who continuously insult and abuse the LGBT community. Many people have the misconception that 'GOD hates Gays' when in actual fact, God loves everyone - he is omni-benevolent.
My main point is, Religious books are relevant to many people but some decide to use it as an excuse to act upon their hatred towards society.

[chickenonsteroids]

Ignoring the bible or Quran etc would be ignoring an important part of history. If they aren't taken seriously as religious books then they are fairly important pieces of literature.

[Sean9001]

(Original post by .eXe)
Whats wrong with them being modified? Humans arent perfect, translations can go wrong and may later need to be corrected. Whats the big issue?

As the bible stands currently, whats the problem with it? Is there something wrong with forgiveness of sin? Does turning your other cheek sound immoral? Is loving your enemy a bad thing?

If anything my question is why shouldnt the bible be followed? Its not as if it teaches us to be criminals, immoral or evil. Quite the opposite infact.


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There is something wrong with a book telling people that they are sinners in the first place. Turning your other cheek doesn't sound immoral, but in my experience the cheek doesn't actually get turned. Loving your enemy isn't a bad thing, but it does not happen.

The bible shouldn't be followed because it claims false authority. No shred of evidence suggests that there is a purposeful higher authority that spoke the words in the bible. In which case, Jesus was not Christ born on earth, because God doesn't exist to have invested himself in someone - as such, Jesus' bible teachings shouldn't be followed either.

When it comes to the argument of the bible giving us morality - that it is just nonsense. I don't argue that some of the content in the bible is 'moral', and that it has influence ours laws. But, humans will have never needed 'Thou shall not kill' to be written down to know that it is wrong to kill. Our instinctive feelings as to what is write or wrong guides us in that regard. We can see it today - morally, we know it is the right thing to move aside for an ambulance in our cars, yet there is no written rule to do so.

[maturestudy]

(Original post by T-Toe)
This question is directed mainly at religious people.

The bible has been modified consistently for centuries. There were bound to have been errors along the way. Also, the Bible was not directly written by God or Jesus. It consists of the recollective accounts from man (who I believe are imperfect, therefore prone to making errors). The messages from God or Jesus were likely to have been misconstrued, or heavily influenced by culture.

I tend to really respect non-religious good people. They discriminate less frequently and seek to be good without expecting an everlasting reward. That demonstrates an act of selflessness. Surely God to appreciate that more?

So long as you retain integrity and remain a good person. What's the issue?

Now back to revision...

Excellent points!

The main issue with the question is what do you mean by "The Bible"? As the Catholic Encylopedia points out, there is not one, universal Bible - it developed over a period of time in a process that involved both Christians and non-Christians (here referred to as 'doubters'):

The idea of a complete and clear-cut canon of the New Testament existing from the beginning, that is from Apostolic times, has no foundation in history. The Canon of the New Testament, like that of the Old, is the result of a development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with doubters, both within and without the Church, and retarded by certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not reach its final term until the dogmatic definition of the Tridentine Council.

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Canon of the New Testament

As for being heavily influenced by culture, possibly the best example of this is the official acceptance of a single Biblical interpretation on the divinity of Christ. This dogma was instated by majority vote of 300 bishops at the Council of Nicea and later enforced by Emperor Constantine, cutting all critical debate on the issue over night. Up to this point there were a plurality of views within the church.

With the current trend away from dynamic equivalence and towards modern paraphrase, which allow more room for the translators to introduce their own bias, one could argue that the evolution of the Bible continues to this day.

[maturestudy]

(Original post by CurtisDean)
Honestly, I think it is all about how we interpret Holy Books like the Bible or the Qur'an and how it influences our lives because generally, every religious person has a different perspective on the sayings and teachings in these religious books. I do believe that there are some people that use the Bible to discriminate against certain people - such as Homophobic people who continuously insult and abuse the LGBT community. Many people have the misconception that 'GOD hates Gays' when in actual fact, God loves everyone - he is omni-benevolent.
My main point is, Religious books are relevant to many people but some decide to use it as an excuse to act upon their hatred towards society.

You may believe that God loves everyone but then I'd have to conclude that you either have a very strange idea of what love is or you don't believe in the God of the Bible. When it comes to the Bible, it's easy to cherry pick the bits we like and ignore the bits we don't, but when you do that it's not a 'new perspective' on the original teachings - you are writing your own Bible!