Handcuffed wrote:shell wrote:
Well, I do not like relgion....dislike it a lot I guess. Religion is man made. It's certain thoughts about God, that they put together in a neat little package, with rules and more rules.
Out of curiosity, how can you consolidate your beliefs that religion is a human creation with your Christianity? The Bible claims it is the word of God.
Like I stated, I see myself more as a child of God, then a "Christian". Just a preference thing...not a big deal.
I have lots and lots of viewpoints and opinions about God, that don't fit into the world's perfect picture.
The Bible is one of them.
And yes, I know that THIS will not be accepted....and I am not asking that anyone accept it....it's my thinking and I'm okay with it.
First, God did not sit down with pen and paper and write, with his own fingers, the Bible and I am speaking only of the King James Version, in this post.
The Old Testament was created for a few reasons, just listing a few here.
1. To teach people how to stay alive...such as "don't eat animals that are dead on the street, it will make you sick."
2. To give us a set of rules, (commandments) to follow, while the rest of God's plan took shape.
3. To give those that wanted it, someone - a being, to form a bond with, that was bigger then they were, that would help them get through though things, like being put in a lions den and coming out unharmed.
When God sent Jesus to earth, the old testament was ...shall we say...finished, when Jesus was put to death.
The New Testament gave us one rule that replaced the others. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Each of the ten commandments can be met in that one command.
Sorry, had to say that part, before getting to the point of your question. *smile*
So, God had thoughts and words he wanted spoken to man. He would pick men out that could hear him, not a "audible" voice but just a quiet inner voice inside. He shared his thoughts with the man and the man would write them down.
I think Jesus asked people that he came in close contact with, became friends with, to keep journals....look at the first four books of the New Testament, four different viewpoints of Jesus's time here on earth.
Both through the Old Testament times and then the New Testament times, these thoughts that were given to men, and the journals that were kept, all had to go to...shall we say, to the editor before publication. We all know that editors don't include everything that the author originally had in his "book".
I think the editors were also listening to God, don't get me wrong.
But the common factor that both the authors and editors have...they are all human....
I think that yes, the Bible is the Word of God......the Word of God, written my "human's".
I think if you get the basics, the things that are repeated, the general gist of the fact that God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us, that he wants to be that someone you come to when you are happy, sad, need something, or just to talk about nothing more then cloud pictures.....that he is a God full of grace and unconditional love.......I think when you get the basics......you will begin to hear directly from God.....and that is so much more fulfilling then reading a book, written so long ago, at least for me.
My mom would disagree with me, but then she disagrees with a lot of my thoughts about God. *lol*
So, that is why I said what I did....the Bible is God's word, but written by man, with man's influence...influence on the times and era, not with the infinite foresight of the hear and now.
People can't have too masters after all, or maybe they can.
