The Religion Thread

[O Really]

And NO! Modern day "unbelievers" are not allowed to make stuff up.

The Bible is complete, from what God wanted to be written. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed. The prophets who wrote the Bible related what they saw and heard in human language, but their message came directly from God.

I'm not talking about "unbelievers." I'm talking about religious people from, say, 1200 on and continuing through to people such as Franklin Graham. If the Bible was complete, it should have remained unchanged (an un-added to) since BCE 200-300 for the Old Testament and since at least CE 90 for the New. And not all of the Bible, Old or New, was written by prophets, nor did all the authors claim they had personally been God-breathed on. So my question remains - who is entitled to add stuff they made up to the messages of Jesus?

[O Really]

BTW, there have been many manuscripts discovered from ancient times. Most, like the Bible, have gone through several translations. The Bible, for example, started out in an archaic version of Hebrew, and was first translated to Greek. Would you like to guess which, of all the documents found and translated, people are absolutely positive that all the translations have been made 100% accurately? From obsolete Hebrew to Greek, from Greek to Latin, to Olde Anglyph, to Middle Englysshe, to Medieval English, to a variety of other languages, and to contemporary English. Only one document - everybody who ever worked on it got it exactly right. No errors. No misinterpretations. No misspellings.

[Vrede too]

Beam me up Scotty

http://mentalfloss.com/article/68007/50 ... eally-said


But, but it's gotta be true, it's in the bible!!

11. "FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION."

No one on the Apollo 13 crew uttered this line, either. After all, the whole situation had arisen because failure clearly was an option.

42. "I HAVE NEVER KILLED A MAN, BUT I HAVE READ MANY OBITUARIES WITH GREAT PLEASURE."

Twain also didn't say this. That's a shortened version of a Clarence Darrow quote.

whoever said it.

[1 CAT FAN]

40 authors wrote the Bible over a period of 1,500 years. These Bible writers wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirithttps://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/ ... -the-bible

The Bible today is the same as what was originally written.
Some people have the idea that the Bible has been translated so many times that it has become corrupted through stages of translating. That would probably be true if the translations were being made from other translations. But translations are actually made directly from original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic source texts based on thousands of ancient manuscripts.
The accuracy of today’s Old Testament was confirmed in 1947 when archaeologists found “The Dead Sea Scrolls” along today's West Bank in Israel. "The Dead Sea Scrolls" contained Old Testament scripture dating 1,000 years older than any manuscripts we had. When comparing the manuscripts at hand with these, from 1,000 years earlier, we find agreement 99.5% of the time. And the .5% differences are minor spelling variances and sentence structure that doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.
Regarding the New Testament, it is humanity's most reliable ancient document. All ancient manuscripts were written on papyrus, which didn’t have much of a shelf life. So people hand copied originals, to maintain the message and circulate it to others.
Few people doubt Plato’s writing of “The Republic.” It’s a classic, written by Plato around 380 B.C. The earliest copies we have of it are dated 900 A.D., which is a 1,300 year time lag from when he wrote it. There are only seven copies in existence.
Caesar’s “Gallic Wars” were written around 100-44 B.C. The copies we have today are dated 1,000 years after he wrote it. We have ten copies.
When it comes to the New Testament, written between 50-100 A.D, there are more than 5,000 copies. All are within 50-225 years of their original writing. Further, when it came to Scripture, scribes (monks) were meticulous in their copying of original manuscripts. They checked and rechecked their work, to make sure it perfectly matched. What the New Testament writers originally wrote is preserved better than any other ancient manuscript. We can be more certain of what we read about Jesus’ life and words, than we are certain of the writings of Caesar, Plato, Artistotle and Homer.https://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html

No, O Really, the Bible doesn't have any blank pages for any man to make stuff up. God has given the message as He breathed it. You either accept His word, or you deny it.

[O Really]

Thoughtful response, CAT.
So if the Bible is read today to be exactly the same as it was written back in the day, why does anyone go along with parts of religious ritual, practice or beliefs that aren't in there? F'rinstance, celibacy of priests. Not in the Bible, not even in the Catholic church until 1200-something. Protestants feel free to ignore this type of thing, but they have their own list of made-up stuff not in the Bible. The Bible says to keep the Sabbath holy. Fine - most Christians had no problem with changing that to Sunday. Lots of Protestant sects find sin in many things not found in the Bible. The snake handlers rely on a couple of not explicit verses to justify their dangerous ritual. So are the right, or did they make it up? If they're right, why doesn't everybody handle snakes?

My point continues to be that very little of organized religion has much to do with following the teachings of Jesus. You might personally be different, but the fact remains.

[GoCubsGo]

Why do Christians celebrate Jesus's birthday on December 25?

Wasn't that date arbitrarily picked some 300 years after Christ was born?

Wasn't he actually born in August?

[billy.pilgrim]

[discussed by quotes that were attributed to Jesus]

I don't know what your point is, CAT - obviously you didn't get mine, either. Here it is, shortened:
1. I picked, somewhat at random, two quotes that have been attributed directly to Jesus, and that I thought were good messages to use as life guidance.
2. I've pointed out that a lot of Christians are not actually followers of Jesus, but have instead followed humans who have made up stuff about what they think Jesus might have said/meant/done. Whether these people call themselves Popes, Bishops, Ministers, Preachers, or TV Evangelists, they're still making stuff up.
3. I've opined that Christians would be better off to follow what Jesus seems to have actually said, instead of following the false prophets.
4. I've opined further that most of the beliefs, practices, rituals, and culture of organized religion is based on what the humans made up, not on what Jesus said.

You fellas are a stubborn group.

'Unbelievers who have been constantly exposed to the gospel, even if only to attack the article and degrade the author, are still going to be accountable for hearing the truth so they have no excuse." "We know the Master’s will. It’s in the Bible. Jesus said, you must repent and believe." "Now, you are even more responsible for what you hear or read, just as we all are."

Why do you keep flipping back and forth between what Jesus said and the old sheep hearder myths

[billy.pilgrim]

40 authors wrote the Bible over a period of 1,500 years. These Bible writers wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirithttps://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/ ... -the-bible

The Bible today is the same as what was originally written.
Some people have the idea that the Bible has been translated so many times that it has become corrupted through stages of translating. That would probably be true if the translations were being made from other translations. But translations are actually made directly from original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic source texts based on thousands of ancient manuscripts.
The accuracy of today’s Old Testament was confirmed in 1947 when archaeologists found “The Dead Sea Scrolls” along today's West Bank in Israel. "The Dead Sea Scrolls" contained Old Testament scripture dating 1,000 years older than any manuscripts we had. When comparing the manuscripts at hand with these, from 1,000 years earlier, we find agreement 99.5% of the time. And the .5% differences are minor spelling variances and sentence structure that doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.
Regarding the New Testament, it is humanity's most reliable ancient document. All ancient manuscripts were written on papyrus, which didn’t have much of a shelf life. So people hand copied originals, to maintain the message and circulate it to others.
Few people doubt Plato’s writing of “The Republic.” It’s a classic, written by Plato around 380 B.C. The earliest copies we have of it are dated 900 A.D., which is a 1,300 year time lag from when he wrote it. There are only seven copies in existence.
Caesar’s “Gallic Wars” were written around 100-44 B.C. The copies we have today are dated 1,000 years after he wrote it. We have ten copies.
When it comes to the New Testament, written between 50-100 A.D, there are more than 5,000 copies. All are within 50-225 years of their original writing. Further, when it came to Scripture, scribes (monks) were meticulous in their copying of original manuscripts. They checked and rechecked their work, to make sure it perfectly matched. What the New Testament writers originally wrote is preserved better than any other ancient manuscript. We can be more certain of what we read about Jesus’ life and words, than we are certain of the writings of Caesar, Plato, Artistotle and Homer.https://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html

No, O Really, the Bible doesn't have any blank pages for any man to make stuff up. God has given the message as He breathed it. You either accept His word, or you deny it.

But, but, but you left out all the mormons. They had a guy talking one on one with the big guy not all that long ago.

And then there was Oral. He had some sort of direct god line he could use for explaining things to those of us who only have Obama phones.


Your explanation leaves out a lot of your christian folk.

[O Really]

Your explanation leaves out a lot of your christian folk.

That's where the "well, they're not REAL Christians..." argument comes in.

[1 CAT FAN]

How about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are you not concerned about their souls too?

[O Really]

How about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are you not concerned about their souls too?

Ummm, no.
But I'm guessing the 144,000 spaces in the JW heaven have already been taken.

[1 CAT FAN]

“and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count”

[O Really]

“and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count”

Context?

[billy.pilgrim]

“and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count”

sheep herders didn't larn much numbers past about a hunderd.

The roving marauder chosen ones were also a little behind their contemporaries in math, tall tales and education in general.

[1 CAT FAN]

Have you seen some of the sermons and activities that go on at that Seattle atheist church website?

[O Really]

Have you seen some of the sermons and activities that go on at that Seattle atheist church website?

No, and I don't intend to, but what is the context of your quote about the multitude, above?

[1 CAT FAN]

Have you seen some of the sermons and activities that go on at that Seattle atheist church website?

No, and I don't intend to, but what is the context of your quote about the multitude, above?

”numerous”

[O Really]

Have you seen some of the sermons and activities that go on at that Seattle atheist church website?

No, and I don't intend to, but what is the context of your quote about the multitude, above?

”numerous”

Maybe the "n" should be an "h"

[O Really]

Have you seen some of the sermons and activities that go on at that Seattle atheist church website?

No, and I don't intend to, but what is the context of your quote about the multitude, above?

”numerous”

Maybe the "n" should be an "h"

[1 CAT FAN]

Have you seen some of the sermons and activities that go on at that Seattle atheist church website?

No, and I don't intend to, but what is the context of your quote about the multitude, above?

”numerous”

Maybe the "n" should be an "h"

So you have seen the Seattle atheist church website.