Your opinion on the Bible

[THEHOOLIGANJEDI]

I'm a Deist so I think for the most part that the Bible is mostly bullshit. But There are probably some nuggets of truth here and there.

[Darth Wong]

Seriously, the Bible is chock full of social control goodness and manipulation of the masses. Hell, its tortured prose by itself serves that function quite well, by being too daunting for the average practicioner to read through. Instead they get the predigested interpetations from their ministers.

Good point about the tortured prose. The Bible is the sort of literature which is obviously, stupefyingly, contemptibly awful if you were to translate it to plain English. It only retains its aura of mystique through deliberately clunky translations which keep people from actually reading the thing for anything other than the occasional passage to which they are directed by a preacher.

[Perinquus]

Seriously, the Bible is chock full of social control goodness and manipulation of the masses. Hell, its tortured prose by itself serves that function quite well, by being too daunting for the average practicioner to read through. Instead they get the predigested interpetations from their ministers.

Good point about the tortured prose. The Bible is the sort of literature which is obviously, stupefyingly, contemptibly awful if you were to translate it to plain English. It only retains its aura of mystique through deliberately clunky translations which keep people from actually reading the thing for anything other than the occasional passage to which they are directed by a preacher.

On the other hand, what I wonder about is the people who do read it -- regularly -- and still love it, bad prose, contradictions, immoral behavior held up as moral, and all the rest. My grandmother is like this. She is a dyed-in-the-wool, Free Will Baptist, Bible believing Fundie with the capital F. She reads the Bible frequently. She's read it all the way through many times. But she was raised in rural North Carolina, by parents who were themselves fundies, and she's so heavily indoctrinated, that her critical thinking, which works just fine in any other sphere than religion, is just shot to hell on this subject. I saw her yesterday, along with my mother and my sister. The conversation turned to the fact that today they would begin the process of electing the new pope. The fact that the old pope was very conservative on some issues came up, and I mentioned that a lot of catholics were hoping they would elect one who would moderate the catholic church's stance on birth control, for example. After all, the catholic church has changed its position on certain issues before. My grandmother, with all of a hardcore fundie's belief that catholics are not actually real Christians at all, sniffed: "God's Word doesn't change. It's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow." My mother nodded solemnly in agreement. I wanted to turn to her and ask: "Why is it then that we no longer follow the laws laid down in Leviticus, for example? Why don't we sacrifice bulls? Why am I allowed contact with women who are menstruating? Why don't we own slaves (provided they come from other nations, and not our own)? Why do we not put people to death anymore for working on the sabbath? And why don't we observe the many other ancient laws laid down in the Old Testament?" I don't understand how the hell she can say something like "God's Word doesn't change". She's read the damn thing herself, and damn well ought to know better. She has read laws we don't follow anymore. Hell, her whole religion is based on the idea that "God's Word" does change. Supposedly there was a change from the old Mosaic Law to the "New Covenant" brought to man by God's supposedly incarnate son, who came to earth for that express purpose!

Every time I talk with a really religious person, I marvel at the human capacity for denial, rationalization, and self deception.

[Darth Servo]

On the other hand, what I wonder about is the people who do read it -- regularly -- and still love it, bad prose, contradictions, immoral behavior held up as moral, and all the rest.

Its called "brainwashing". For your typical fundie the good book can do no wrong.

My grandmother, with all of a hardcore fundie's belief that catholics are not actually real Christians at all, sniffed: "God's Word doesn't change. It's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

Then why did it take so many centuries to write the thing? Why didn't the book just float down out of heaven in its perfect form instead of being written by many different people over the course of time....oh wait, the fundie idiots often DO think the thing floated down from heaven.

Hell, her whole religion is based on the idea that "God's Word" does change. Supposedly there was a change from the old Mosaic Law to the "New Covenant" brought to man by God's supposedly incarnate son, who came to earth for that express purpose!

never expect fundies to be self consistant. Thier whole system of thought is "what ever God says right now, whether it be 'love thy neighbor' or 'persecute, segregate and kill the heathens'"

Every time I talk with a really religious person, I marvel at the human capacity for denial, rationalization, and self deception.

ANY pseudo science quack whether they be fundies, psychic scam artists or rabid sci-fi debaters always push that facet of human existence to new depths.

[Lord Pounder]

I'm going with #4. Geting into the religious gave has been the biggest con of our times and to make things worse people, intelligent people, still fall for it. Ever meet a poor Priest? Ever drink the communal wine from a tea cup? Why does god need us to give away 1/4 of our wealth?

[Illuminatus Primus]

Every time I talk with a really religious person, I marvel at the human capacity for denial, rationalization, and self deception.

There is nothing closer to bonafide, genuine Orwellian doublethink that the tortured loops of logic required by each hardcore fundie. Nothing else quite like it.