So I only learned about the Bible through watered down Sunday School teachings and sermons.
And.. I'm feeling like Christianity isn't as relevant or appealing to me anymore. Or even an effective way of life because God has let me down or hung me out to dry despite me following His Word.
I was wondering how is the Bible from the historical perspective? I want to see things from a new lens. I have read some historians consider YHWH a monster or that there are actually contradictions in the Bible. Can some point me to videos or make posts that will grant me a new perspective?
>So I only learned about the Bible through watered down Sunday School teachings and sermons.
Never read the whole thing cover to cover then?
I'd start there
David Roberts
Historians (at least as part of their academic opinions on history) don't claim Yahweh is a monster, whether he exists and claims about his nature are part of theology and not history at all.
Julian Cooper
>reading cover to cover one of the worst ways of reading it tbqh, for NT you should read them together, so rather than mark then luke you should look chronologically, birth of jesus mark , birth of jesus luke , jesus fucking around mark, jesus fucking around luke etc.
Moreover you need context, need to know about bronze age history, bronze age religions, greco-roman civilization etc. A lot of things would not make any sense, If you cant point out corinth on the map or know who nebuchadnezzar is
I think a lot of christians shoot themselves on foot by trying to read bible cover to cover without having any backhand knowledge or context.
Matthew Fisher
Historians consider the Bible to be something humand made. The OT was collected over period of around 1000 years, the NT was written mostly by Saul & other guys that never met Jesus.
If you need a new perspective, read The God Delusion by Dawkins, it helps understand a thing or two.
Isaiah Allen
here's some commentary on Leviticus 27:29 which is in my bible which says it's a rule regarding human sacrifice. and here's the verse: >No human being who has been proscribed can be ransomed: he shall be put to death.
Sebastian Reyes
cont.
Gavin Miller
I'm not sure what the implication of this is?
Gabriel Phillips
>one of the worst ways of reading it tbqh, for NT you should read them together, so rather than mark then luke you should look chronologically, birth of jesus mark , birth of jesus luke
If you like gross inconsistencies and contradictions
Owen Hall
4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. 7 Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.
David Roberts
I like Romans 9 where God loves one of the twins and hates the other despite neither being born yet.
Aiden Martin
it's one of several pieces of evidence in the bible that human sacrifice used to be part of israelite religion
Jacob Phillips
>there are people in 2017 who ever actually took all this shit seriously.
Nicholas Hernandez
unfortunately
Cooper Wood
Devoted to destruction is not the same as sacrifice.
St. Paul did meet Jesus. And Dawkins' book is trash.
(The Harvard one is also on iTunes. It's taught by a Jew so you get a bit more Jewish flavor in it)
Chase Hall
Q from a non-Christian
How relevant is the Old Testament in Christianity? Is it a part of the bible?
Luke Clark
It's part of the bible but not studied often. Most Christians are familiar with the popular stories in Genesis (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Joseph), the Exodus, and some of the David stories from Samuel. The psalms are also popular, and you'll occasionally hear something from Proverbs.
Other than that, you'll only rarely see anything from the old testament used, except maybe a verse pulled here or there to highlight something said about Jesus in the new testament.
Connor Long
Technically? The council at Nicea only kept it in to appease the Jewish element in early Christianity so Christians could easily get the references necessary to understand Jesus message as it was entirely in Jewish terms.
In practice? It's absolutely necessary for large amounts of Christian theology, culture, and the source of many Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Most Sermons are based more in the OT than the NT.
"The Bible" is defined as being a number of books from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and a few select technically non-canon yet practically canon books (Revelations being the key one).
No, Paul did not. That's the entire crux of Paul, that Jesus appeared to him in a vision. He wasn't even in Israel at the time, he was in Damascus. And how would you know about Dawkins book, you've never read it.
Liam Flores
Follow up Q
>Cain & Abel
Who was Cain's wife?
Asher Gomez
>Image on pithos sherd found at Kuntillet Ajrud below the inscription "Yahweh and his Asherah", depicting the two as bulls with the Egyptian god/goddess Bes[23]
This is Yhwh, a weird panther being with a huge dick, and his wife Asherah. This is what Abrahamic have been worshipping all these years.
Ethan Anderson
...
Ryan Gutierrez
...
Jordan Gray
...
Julian Robinson
God was anthropomorphic in Judaism until Jews first read Plato in the Hellenistic period.
Easton Stewart
Reread Joshua
Nathaniel Jones
>God has let me down or hung me out to dry despite me following His Word.
If he let his own son, the greatest follower of his word ever, get trolled mercilessly, beat to shit, and nailed to a plank, that should tell you what you can expect, being only some failure sinner who has fallen short of following his word.
Bentley Ortiz
...
Jason Ortiz
>If you need a new perspective, read The God Delusion by Dawkins, it helps understand a thing or two.
Robert Barnes
Doesn't proscribed mean sentenced. That isn't human sacrifice.
Levi Jackson
I am not Jesus. He said He would keep me, bless me and protect me for having faith and following Him. He has not upheld his part of the covenant.
Liam Hall
Read the bible, all apocrypha and external books like dead sea scrolls and enoch and ascension of Isaiah and so on, then the gnostic texts.
Daniel Williams
>So I only learned about the Bible through watered down Sunday School teachings and sermons. well there's your problem, read the actual bible. Start with Matthew and read to Jude.
>Or even an effective way of life because God has let me down or hung me out to dry despite me following His Word. >"I Follow his word but I've never read the Bible" C'mon mate. Also, it doesn't work like that. You can't just insincerely be Christian to get rewards from God. On top of that your rewards aren't in this life, you ARE going to suffer in this life
>I have read some historians consider YHWH a monster God was justified in everything he did in the OT, don't listen to people who quote it out of context, read the preceding and following passages of such a verse
>or that there are actually contradictions in the Bible Things taken out of context or ignoring church tradition will give you that
>or make posts that will grant me a new perspective? Stop caring so much about this life. You've got maybe 70 years left, focus on eternity. The bible is the message to you from the creator of the universe. It was written for YOU, not just humanity in general but YOU specifically. Furthermore Christ died for YOU specifically, he died so that you could be free of sin and spend eternity in the world to come. He didn't die so that you could live a comfy life on earth, He wants you to forsake this world and follow Him, and bring others to follow Him as well.
William Collins
the word being translated as proscribed is the word used in the context of killing all the canaanites in joshua. it was a form of holy war that was a form of sacrifice to yhwh, in that all the potential spoils of the war were destroyed: people (potential slaves especially women, there's even regulations in leviticus for marrying a woman you capture in a war), livestock, grain, and the entire city. however, the context of this passage (chapter 27 is entirely about sacrifices to yhwh) indicates that the word is being used in the context of being "doomed to sacrifice".
Liam Brown
>inspiring philosophy
Logan Rogers
>it doesn't work like that Well it does. There's no "read the bible" commandment. And God said that you need to seek him through Church. How can I be insincerely Christian when I accepted Jesus and have faith? If anything people who read and "game" the Bible are more insincere.
>God was justified
>killing people for picking up wood on Sunday >repeated genocide >other dick moves
Camden Howard
>unironically recommending The God Delusion
Kayden Ortiz
*psssst, none of that shit is real. You're literally trying to have a relationship with someone who literally doesnt exist.
Robert Morgan
I felt the same way, Christianity on its own seems to be missing a lot of important points. Revisit the bible, especially the more eccentric and metaphorical books such as Revelations, once you've looked through the doctrines of other religions. Itll help you see what the mistakes the non-divine authors of a divine work made, especially in terms of what to take literally.
