Bix

I think you are quite right, but maybe therein lies a message.

Most people have played Chinese Whispers where an original statement undergoes a series of interpretations to the point the final result is flawed to say the least.

Maybe over the many years of interpretation, translation and even censorship the words of the bible have been similarly flawed.

What is presented today may not actually be what the original was but in fact a historical distortion.

However, as in Chinese Whispers does that detract from the fact the original was a true statement ?

Just maybe the religious believers are able to see past the distortions that closer inspection brings to light and look at the bigger picture.

Just maybe it's the non believers who are missing the boat.

themerlin

piss funny

asher

history is usually written by the victors!!noone knows what really happened!!

anyone who translates the bible has added their own slant to it and probably their own prejudices

noone knows what the original bible said and even that was not supposed to come from Jesus but assorted followers who also got to stick in their opinion.

themerlin

Do you lot think there are more bible bashes over here then in the UK ? It's one thing that bugs me as I can't stand them

Bix

Exactly my point.
So if you allow for some modification who's to say the underlying theme is incorrect ?

Everyone has to have faith and belief at some time. To me religion is a major one but there are equally minor ones.

The instructions on my latest electrical gadget is a translation from Chinese. In Chinese I'm sure it's perfect. In English I have to read between the lines a bit to get the message of how it works.

My company says they will pay me at the end of the month. Do I work and trust them or do I not work.....in which case I won't get paid anyway.

Civilisation is founded on belief and trust.
As individuals we decide how far we are happy to take that.
Religious people take it farther that's all.

arkon

Most certainly.

Bix

Haven't seen any yet.

Ahem.....thank heaven.

JackTheLad

Yeah, I've ordered that book from amazon, at the same time I ordered this one

The God Delusion

For some reason, the God Delusion turned up a week before the others, even though it was sent seperately because it was delayed?

I've only just started reading it, he's quite defensive at the start, he has obviously had quite alot of abuse about his book, so for the paperback version he's written a sort of defence. I want to hear both sides of the story, so I ordered, the Hawkins Delusion as well, which is some religious guy trying to debunk the God Delusion.

That'll keep me amused for a few months.

Oh and I loved the Ricky Gervais clip

JTL

northerner

This isn't aimed at you JTL, but isn't it interesting how much time and money many people (who publicly call people idiots who even half believe in there being a creator) waste on buying books and reading up on the issue?!

It really interests and fascinates people.

Various people state with absolute conviction that it's all rubbish and anyone who believes it is a freak - there's absolutely no evidence etc.,, etc...

Well here's a simple, non inflamatory question - why are we in the year 2007AD? AD being Anno Domini. Surely that must mean something?

Also, as a passing comment, I personally find it far more unbelievable that we all evolved from some cosmic goo - this is what the most (apparently) intelligent scientists would have us believe!!!! WTF?! Are you for real? Ooooh yeah, a bit of goo (oh, by the way - how did the goo get there?) that developed into what we see in 2007. Oh yeah - I buy that LOL

Sorry, this is long winded. But what annoys me is people who catagorically say it's crap and it's 'obvious' that we just happened to be and quote some book written by a scientist as 'proof'. What crap.

Graham

arkon

Yikes, a believer. Where to start. The AD statement or question, It's as good a method as any for marking the passage of time. One day when the world is cleansed of it's religious fanatics a more enlightened population might then decide to create a new calender. Just because we us the AD system as a measure of the passing years doesn't mean we all have a glimmer of faith or there is any truth in it. It's just an arbitary date in the past, that's been used for the last two millenia. I'm sure 2500 years ago the population of the planet were not using 493 BC as a measure. Probably something like 50million PD (post dino).

The cosmic goo thing. How can you seriously think there's more merit in a non existant, no proof being that just magiked us all out of nothing, than that we might all be the end result of a set of chemical reactions and combinations that has had for all eternity to find the right combination and mix to eventually create life. Mix 3 common chemicals together and you get gunpowder, The odds of picking those 3 in the right combination are infintesimally small yet here we are with gunpowder after an eternity.

As for believing what a scientist tells me after he's spent a life time proving something, experimenting, testing, and re creating the results, usually following on from where a previous generation left off, well that's a lot more credable than a fairy story handed down the centuries, edited to buggery, containing no evidence, no proof, and it's only defense is you just have to have faith and believe. Well there's no contest, if you have a sane and rational mind, with no insecurities how can you possibly belive in God, because it says so in the Bible!?

polo

The bible in my opinion was created as a highway code of life. To put "the fear of god " into people.

I was once at a funeral where the minister was explaining why the elderly gentleman who was a great believer had suffered such a traumatic and horrendous end to his life over a 3 year period and that god had wanted him to suffer as god did at the cross.

Thats ok then.......WTF

arkon

A person of few posts and even fewer letters. B

polo

Sorry Arkon... Getting the hang of it now, edited the last post

arkon

LOL. And there was me thinking, you thought the first mistake in the bible was the fisrt letter written. But the first letter in my bible is a 'G'. Welcome to the site and the debate.

northerner

Not really, just someone who DOES have a mind of their own to think and not believe something to be catagorically true because someone in a white coat told me so.

You state that scientist have 'proven' we came from goo, and that there's no proof whatsoever that the Bible is anything other than a fairytale. Well I haven't seen any proof - just a bunch of scientists who refuse to believe that there could be any other possibility than us all evolving from goo. And by the way - I'll repeat - 'where did the goo come from?' Where did the chemicals come from that sparked a reaction?

If you have a sane and rational mind, with no insecurities how can you possibly believe we all came from goo?

I'm not going to harp on about the AD/BC thing - but it's not just a date in time where someone decided to call it year zero. It marks the time when a guy called Jesus was on this earth (BC - Before Christ / AD - Anno Dominai, Year of our Lord) and was killed. People of the time obviously thought it an important enough event to base time on the event. Read into that what you will.

Anyway, I'm off.

Graham