Profane fact: the Bible is just a book. It is also very flammable.
Sacred: The stories of the Bible are divine.
The stories and wisdom of the Bible are eternal- not the printed/recorded/digitized media.
Whenever we drink a Coke or a beer, we never say, “Pass me a can.” You never hear a beer drinker say, “I am can drinker.” The Bible is the same way, the media itself is just a can.
The Word is Coke, the Bible is a can
It is strange and superstitious when people call the Bible the Holy Book. I never hear anyone also call it the Holy Audiotape, or Holy Kindle Version(HKV), or Holy App…
Holy is, what Holy does — st. Gump
The burning question… Can we torch the Bible?
Profane answer: yes! Please burn your Bibles every Easter! This crazy idea comes from Alan Watts. I agree, burning your Bible can be symbolic of spiritual freedom. We are not bound to the Law, but we are filled with the Spirit. This an Incarnational envisioning, just like when Jesus divested himself of his power.
WARNING: some people worship their Bibles, and will be offended…
Sacred: People are more important than the Bible. Jesus said that if your eye sins against you- pluck it out. If the Bible makes you feel spiritually complete, get rid of it… True spirituality is loving others., Not memorizing ancient texts.
What is the Bible?
The Bible is an ancient library of stories that reveal God and his love.
Love? Doesn’t it condone slavery, stoning, degradation of women, and mass genocide?
Yes, but within the context of the time it was written. AND no, it does not endorse any of those evils for today. The only since a cool way to read the Bible is to read it contextually.
Here’s a brief summary of the Bible in context:
The Old Testament is the story of God revealing himself to the world through the creation, rise and fall of a nation. The Old Testament stories are set in the time of barbarians. And it is set in a time of death. Death was a way of life.
All the extreme laws and gorey animal sacrifices were God's way of trying to civilize a barbarian nation. These violent people are not the Sunday school cartoons from our youth.
In context, that is why the New Testament is much different. Jesus came during a time of civilized man….at least compared to the barbarians
In context slavery, degradation of women, stoning were normal for that time. Much like the way the same customs are currently in braced by Islam. It doesn’t make it right, it is just the culture of that time.
Do not be distracted by these cultural issues… Jesus taught that there are only two laws now love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s it.
So
Regardless of what Christians say is right or wrong all Christian laws/Commandments only come from Jesus two commandments to love God, and to love everyone else.
GOOD news! This is why Jesus said that his yoke was easy and his burden is light. We just have to follow those two commandments, and in our day, those two commandments lead us to condemn slavery, embrace the quality of women, and to denounce torture and murder.
Read the Red
The transcribed words of Jesus are the most important Scriptures. The rest of the Bible is filtered, or understood through these truths. You will never be tricked, misled, or go the wrong path if you trust in the sayings of Jesus first.
- some quick Bible reading tips
Use your intuition. If something doesn’t seem to make sense, or doesn’t line up with what you’ve learned in church- Trust your gut first. God is the one who wired our brains in the first place. It is important to question what you believe.
The Bible is a time capsule. The laws and customs do not apply today.
The Bible is not a rulebook, or a Constitution. The Bibles’ verses are not Commandments.
- My theory of the purpose of the Bible
God needed a way to reveal himself, or distinguished himself from man’s grand imagination of who and what God is. Humans are hardwired to communicate through story. The purpose of the Bible is to reveal who God is not by a scientific like definition, but through relational interaction with humans — who were made after the likeness of him. The oh testament is the grand story of revealing God through his relationship with the Nation of Islam real. Israel did not exist until God assembled these nomad barbarians and taught them morality, civility, and gave them government. Why Israel? Well he had to pick somebody… Why not pick the most unruly, poor and dysfunctional people and raise up a nation in the middle of nowhere. The New Testament is completely different. It is written much later, and includes the stories and transcribe sayings of Jesus, and the rest is the history of the early church as described through church letters. The New Testament is 100% about Jesus and how his story completes the explanation of God.
The Old Testament is an explanation of God on a cosmic level, on a nation level, and then Jesus is a more specific detailed explanation of God.
God can be explained as being eternal, Omni present, Omni powerful old testament. God is also all living , Inclusive, enjoys humanity, and seeks The enlightenment of all Jesus New Testament. God is also personal enough that he is intimate in the life of every human and when invited , Ken personally and have it a person — the Holy Spirit.
In summary, the Bible reveals God through stories. The Bible is not God, but it is an invitation to God. The Bible is God’s business card. The power of the Bible is not in its magical verses, but the introduction to the one who inspired the writing of it.
Cheers, Mars
Again if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, leave a comment or email me at [email protected]
This is probably one of the most exhaustive articles I’ve written about the Bible. It is in no way complete, and in many ways very disheveled and possibly incoherent at times. If you feel that some of this is confusing or contradictory, let me know and I will elaborate. This is not just my journey but yours as well…
Here are a couple of extra thoughts about the Bible that didn’t seem to fit above… I guess these are little extra bonuses LOL
Is the Bible the actual words of God?
No, Except for the transcribed words of Jesus. I do believe that the Bible is inspired by God and written by men. In contrast the Koran is believed to be the actual words of God transcribed by Mohammad.
Metaphysical Scarcity
A lot of Christians act as if they are stranded on earth and the only goodness is the Bible. It’s like God took a vacation and left the Bible as a user manual and he’ll send Jesus to come get it someday. We are not living in the movie the Book of Eli. God is present with us not through a book by his spirit. We are not abandoned alone on this planet.
Mars Eve Sacredly Profane on March 6, 2017.Exported from Medium on March 6, 2017.
Even though I agree most Bibles are just books, I still think burning them would be morally wrong. Not because it's specifically the Bible, but because it's a book. Books should never be burned for any reason.
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i think it is a matter of perspective... if something is digital, does it matter?
Destruction can be counterproductive in any area I guess....
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I think the permanence of a book is the difference in perspective.
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Interesting? What do you mean?
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Let's get something straight, the old testament is considered a part of the bible only because through the prophecies in it can Christians claim that Jesus was or is the Messiah. Otherwise the old testament is only a recopilation of Jewish stories which are the basis of their religion.
Without the old testament their is no new testament because there would be nothing to back the theory of Jesus' divinity.
And face it, the old testament is a depraved book, I don't remember where but it says if you have a rebel child take him to the elders of the town and then have him stoned to death. Would the God of the new testament really ask for this or are we talking about 2 different Gods?
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I think the Gospel of John can stand on its own. I think if someone only read that 1 book, a new & better Christianity would become clear.
The Old Testament is a deprived story because it took place in a deprived barbaric time... its not a how-to book.
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Then why use it? And another thing what we know as the new testament was a recopilation of a lot of manuscripts which were decided on by at least three synods of the church centuries after they were written, a church which by this time and according to protestants was already corrupted by satan, so I think we are in trouble if we think about this. Remember many manuscripts were left out solely on the decisipns of fallible human beings, so even if we are dealing with divine words, how can we be sure what we have now is what God wanted us to have? By believing in corrupt clerics?
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Hey, great points!
In one aspect, we don't need it. The first church did not have a Bible until 150 years after the death of Jesus. That was also the largest time at church growth. They truly live by the Spirit. Even after the Bible was put together, most people were illiterate anyway…
This is a quick reply more later…
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What if someone copied and pasted the Bible into Steemit? Would downvoting the post into non-visibility, be equivalent to burning a physical Bible?
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lol!! Maybe... it would be the apocalypse!!!
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