The sins of scripture by John Shelby Spong

by moanzy 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • greendawn
    greendawn

    There is nothing wrong with the Scriptures themselves but rather when they get wrongly interpreted and applied eg the JWs and the blood issue.

    Generally religion has always been taken over and used by selfish people as a means to serve their own personal ends of glory and wealth.

  • Ténébreux
    Ténébreux

    I've not read that particular book, but I have read a few other books of his in which he raises those same issues. "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" is a good read. He explains that Western readers make a huge mistake in trying to understand the Bible literally, when much of it it was intended to be understood in terms of the midrashic style in which was written. He likens the Bible to treasure in an earthen vessel. The treasure, the underlying message, is sacred; whereas the vessel, the stories which encapsulate the message, are not and were never meant to be. Personally, I don't really care whether Spong is right about this or not - the point is, he presents a different way of thinking about it, and that's always a good thing.

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