TheSpiritualPilgrim Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Perfection… is there such a thing? In Christianity I was taught that Jesus was the only perfect human but I would argue that if He was in fact human then He was not perfect. Part of being human is our imperfections. We all have flaws and that is a fact of life. The Bible was written by a bunch of imperfect humans at different points in time. It was then compiled by a group of imperfect humans. Sure they were guided by Spirit and led by prayer but I don’t think they had anymore Spirit or prayer back then than we do these days. No matter how much I pray I will still make mistakes. No matter how much I press in to hear God’s voice I will still have to filter what I hear through my culture, intellect and personality. That’s exactly how the Bible was written so why on earth should I believe that it’s inerrant? It’s because if it’s not inerrant then it’s no longer a nice, neat religious package. People get so into their creeds that it’s appalling. It’s all based off of their need for control and their fear of uncertainty. One of my biggest doubts against Christianity is that Christians don’t get along with other Christians. There is so much division between different churches and denominations all arguing that their creed is correct and everyone else is wrong. There are groups of Christians that claim that other churches are actually demon possessed—believe it or not. Both groups will openly tell you they love Jesus but then go yelling demon possessed heretic at the other group of their “brothers and sisters in Christ.” It’s disappointing and makes me not want to belong with any of them when I see this division in a religion that is supposed to be based on love and humility. But if we say that the Bible may be flawed then our nice package has fallen apart at the seams and it becomes messy. It becomes messy because then it’s up to us to determine which parts to believe and which parts to reject. That means the religious leaders lose control. That means people have to think for themselves. In a sense it’s what they all do anyways. Everyone seems to just take the parts of Christianity that they like and decide that’s what they’ll believe in. It’s just one big giant mess if you ask me, and that right there shows that it is flawed… severely. -post from: http://thespiritualpilgrimblog.wordpress.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSpiritualPilgrim Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 This was a post I wrote a little over a month ago when I was first starting to sort things out and denounce my faith. I thought some may find it an interesting topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdelsolray Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Perfection… is there such a thing? In Christianity I was taught that Jesus was the only perfect human but I would argue that if He was in fact human then He was not perfect. Part of being human is our imperfections. We all have flaws and that is a fact of life. The Bible was written by a bunch of imperfect humans at different points in time. It was then compiled by a group of imperfect humans. Sure they were guided by Spirit and led by prayer but I don’t think they had anymore Spirit or prayer back then than we do these days. No matter how much I pray I will still make mistakes. No matter how much I press in to hear God’s voice I will still have to filter what I hear through my culture, intellect and personality. That’s exactly how the Bible was written so why on earth should I believe that it’s inerrant? It’s because if it’s not inerrant then it’s no longer a nice, neat religious package. People get so into their creeds that it’s appalling. It’s all based off of their need for control and their fear of uncertainty. One of my biggest doubts against Christianity is that Christians don’t get along with other Christians. There is so much division between different churches and denominations all arguing that their creed is correct and everyone else is wrong. There are groups of Christians that claim that other churches are actually demon possessed—believe it or not. Both groups will openly tell you they love Jesus but then go yelling demon possessed heretic at the other group of their “brothers and sisters in Christ.” It’s disappointing and makes me not want to belong with any of them when I see this division in a religion that is supposed to be based on love and humility. But if we say that the Bible may be flawed then our nice package has fallen apart at the seams and it becomes messy. It becomes messy because then it’s up to us to determine which parts to believe and which parts to reject. That means the religious leaders lose control. That means people have to think for themselves. In a sense it’s what they all do anyways. Everyone seems to just take the parts of Christianity that they like and decide that’s what they’ll believe in. It’s just one big giant mess if you ask me, and that right there shows that it is flawed… severely. -post from: http://thespiritualpilgrimblog.wordpress.com/ Just to discuss one point from your post, the Christian religion itself teaches members to shun those who do not believe, to walk away from them and to label them with a plethora of pejoratives. Indeed, this particular religion teaches that those who do not believe correctly will be destroyed. Should you be surprised that members employ these teachings themselves? That is what they are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 It isn’t so much that the bible is flawed. It’s the failure of people to put the “stories” in context. The stories aren’t about historical events they are myths written in the form of allegory, metaphor, and parables. They would more correctly be labeled as wisdom writings in some cases. It’s likely the original story tellers, not the ones who actually wrote the stories down many decades later, were simply telling stories with an obvious or hidden moral. They never intended the stories to be taken literally because that is not the way the cultures thought or the way they communicated their stories at that time in history. That is evidenced by the way Jesus supposedly taught. He taught using parables which would be the way that culture communicated at that time in history. Much later these myths were literalized when they became sacred text instead of simply being stories with a message. They were literalized because the Church needed to establish standards, laws, and rules in order to survive. Note: My original post made no sense as written because I was at work when I posted it and I got distracted while I was writing it out. Then I didn't take the time to read what I wrote and edit it before posting. Those that were kind enough to read it apparently figured out what I was attempting to say. Thank you for reading what I intended rather than what I actually posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 You just said it all. Why believe in a religion if you can't totally trust it? Especially if the religion's god is supposed to be perfect, so he should be able to fix the errors and save a lot of people from going to hell. Since he doesn't, he must be a rotten god and not worth worshipping. I don't believe any true religion would require mental backflips that you have to do to ignore or get around the "errors." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 It isn’t so much that the bible is flawed. It’s the failure of people to put the “stories” in context. The stories aren’t about historical events they are myths written in the form of allegory, metaphor, and parables. They would more correctly be labeled as wisdom writings in many cases. It’s likely the original story tellers, not writers, because these are stories created by people that only existed in oral form for decades or even hundreds of years before someone wrote them down. When these myths were literalized the entire context of the writings were forever changed. At that point they transitioned from myths to sacred writings and the rest is history. You may call it wisdom but any book that professes love while condoning genocide even if it is in two "different" parts of the book is not what I would call wise. Hypocrasy is not knowledge. I can think of many other books that I would refer to as wisdom before the bible. Anyones bible if it deals with imaginary fantasy supernaturals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSpiritualPilgrim Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 It isn’t so much that the bible is flawed. It’s the failure of people to put the “stories” in context. The stories aren’t about historical events they are myths written in the form of allegory, metaphor, and parables. They would more correctly be labeled as wisdom writings in many cases. It’s likely the original story tellers, not writers, because these are stories created by people that only existed in oral form for decades or even hundreds of years before someone wrote them down. When these myths were literalized the entire context of the writings were forever changed. At that point they transitioned from myths to sacred writings and the rest is history. Yeah, I see what you mean that if we approach the Bible as being myths and read it more metaphorically then it's not so much inerrant because in that context it's not meant to be taken as literal truth. But as you know so many do not take this approach. Any churches I have ever been a part of wanted me to believe that the earth was 5000 years old, created in a literal 7 days and dinosaurs were on the ark. Yes, I'm not kidding... I actually sat through a teaching once about how Noah brought baby dinosaurs on the ark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Aw, leading baby dinosaurs onto the ark would be so cute! Not true, but cute! Oh, not meat eaters, just plant eaters. Baby stegosauruses being led up a ramp! That would be adorable, but how can any adult think it could be true, let alone teach it with a straight face? The bible is just so contradictory and unclear that anyone can make their own specific religion around a few passages which can save them and damn everyone else. Just my own thoughts on "perfection" from something I heard a preacher say: He said that when we die the saved will go straight to heaven where the souls there will all know each other because we will retain all of our earthly personalities and we will still be wholly ourselves, BUT (big BUT here!) we will also become perfect like Jesus. Ummmm, how can we still be "wholly ourselves" while also becoming "perfect" and "like Jesus"? Doesn't that mean that all the souls in heaven will be EXACTLY LIKE JESUS??? How will I ever recognize my cousin the slacker, or my aunt with the snarkiest gossip ever, or my best friend I like to get tipsy with? Hell, how will I recognize MYSELF? Oh wait, I'll be the soul leading a baby stegosaurus around!!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burt_Lemur Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Even if the Bible is taken as myths and not interpreted as factual history, it still remains as a horrible mess of writings about a monster god that is used as threat theology. This in my opinion is the worst creation of mankind. No one's going to defeat the Bible, but we sure as sweet-smelling hell can fuel the movement to be carried out for however many generations it takes to just forget about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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