IF THE BIBLE is so darned great---why don't people JUST read IT?

Terry

Working in a bookstore I notice the thousands and thousands of books "explaining" what the Bible really "means."

Those are what people read.

When people say they read the Bible they are really saying they "try". But, it is like reading Chinese.

So, what they end up doing is reading opinions.

Opinions, conjectures, hypothesis, fantasy, imaginative ruminations, fanciful concoctions......OTHER PEOPLE'S ideas presented as documentary fact.

Why don't we drop the charade about the Bible?

If the Bible is so darned great---why don't people just read IT?

If you call yourself a "Christian" your understanding of what being a Christian is depends on the opinions in the books of your denomination which purport to explain.

No two denominations are a match up. If there was a one on one you would not need SEPARATE denominations in the first place.

Martin Luther had the opinion that the Catholic Church should never be the SOLE arbiter of Bible truth, meaning, interpretation and orthodoxy.

Luther presented his own peculiar view: SOLA SCRIPTURA.

That means THE BIBLE ALONE. Alone. Alone.

One person. One Bible. One Truth.

Luther was full of wild blueberry muffins if you ask me.

All those thousands of denominations prove one thing. One person plus one Bible =confusion, division, difference of opinion, estrangement and sectarian arguments.

"What church do you go to" is an invitation to judged. One person's peculiar standard of Truth vs another.

Both Christian.

The BIBLE is totally useless for anything.

Luther was wrong.

What each and every Christian ends up doing (and they won't admit it) is choosing an INTERPRETER to give their personal opinion.

Then, they call it BIBLE truth.

What a crock!!

Interpretation is opinion.

Opinion isn't Truth. Opinion is just opinion.

Jehovah's Witnesses turn their lives over to interpretation---not from the BIBLE--but from old men in New York called the Governing Body.

Opinion.

Not Bible.

Found Sheep

Because you need the FDS to tell you what it means and how 1914 is so important and how the FDS is answer

leavingwt

The personal revelation is so much easier. Plus, it comes in all languages.

I did read it once, from Genesis to Revelation. It was required during my first year at Bethel.

leavingwt

Still, some prayer might improve your vision and hearing . . .

A study released today claims to have found evidence that, if specifically requested, God might heal those with impaired hearing and vision.

Candy Gunther Brown, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, led the study of "proximal intercessory prayer.” The study, published in the September issue of the Southern Medical Journal and titled "Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique," measured improvements in vision and hearing in a rural area of the Southern African country.

The team used an audiometer and vision charts to evaluate 14 patients who reported impaired hearing and 11 who reported impaired vision, both before and after members of a local church prayed for their healing. Subjects reported a small but statistically significant improvement in hearing and vision following the prayers.

. . .

http://news.discovery.com/human/study-if-asked-god-may-improve-vision-and-hearing.html

besty

placebos might improve your medical outcome - your mileage may vary.

in the meantime there is money to be made.

LostGeneration

I believe most people just want to be TOLD WHAT TO DO.

No thinking=No work

No thinking=No problems

No thinking=No difficult decisions

No thinking=No changing the "status quo"

but in the end no thinking equals no integrity

leavingwt

I believe most people just want to be TOLD WHAT TO DO.

IF you can convince a person that God is going to burn them in Hell for all eternity, they're highly motivated to find a means of escaping such an awful fate.

tec

I just read the bible. Everything else is just opinion. If I want someone else's opinion, then I will read what they have written. If I want to know what the bible says, I read the bible.

In fact, the whole reason I wanted to read the bible to begin with was to decipher what was opinion and teachings of men, and what was actually in it.

LostGeneration makes a valid point, though. There are many people who want to be told what to do and what to think. For a while, I was one of them, when I almost joined JW's. But I just couldn't stop the thinking for myself.

Tammy

Terry

And don't get me started on TRANSLATIONS.

GawdAllMighty.

It costs very little to manufacture a bible. You should see what these things sell for pricewise.

The TBN bible can go for a hundred bucks. (Trinity Broadcast Network.)

Max Lucado has his own version, there is the Criswell version, hundreds of so-called "Study" bibles.......

People sell us hundreds of personal bibles a week at the used books store I work in. Why part with the most important book in the universe???

Ha.

There is a war between translations, too.

Some people spit when you talk about the NIV. Gender neutral? Ohmygawd. You'll give them apoplexy.

I personally think the only version that is readable and understandable and wonderfully thought out is the MESSAGE bible.

But--I've had customers ready to send me straight to hell if I say that.

Rick Warren, Joyce Meyers, Joel Osteen....the list is endless of superstar Christians all purportedly channeling the Bible. Ha.

Justitia Themis

What each and every Christian ends up doing (and they won't admit it) is choosing an INTERPRETER to give their personal opinion.Then, they call it BIBLE truth.What a crock!!

Interpretation is opinion.

Opinion isn't Truth. Opinion is just opinion.

IF there is a god, I think holy books are his/her big joke! I have often opined that holy books, be they the Bible, Quran, or something else, are just mirrors. What we see in them simply reflects our internal state. If one is kind, generous, giving, and tolerant...that is what her or she will see. If one is angry, narrow-minded, and violent...that is what her or she will see.

The book and its substance do not matter; it simply reflects.

Also, usually those who fall into the later group see themselves more as the keepers of "the truth."

IF THE BIBLE is so darned great---why don't people JUST read IT?

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