Originally posted by: Arkitech
I was raised in a religious household but now that I'm older (and hopefully a little smarter) I find it hard to trust the bible as being reliable. Naturally that kind of distrust carries over in other things as well such as God and religion for starters. So for you people who are familiar with the bible how would you explain these things:
1. - In the early books of the bible God makes it clear that he is different from the false and pagan gods of the land and that the worship of those gods are detestable. But yet all through out the Hebrew scriptures God requires blood sacrifices to atone for the Israelites sins, he also tested Abraham by commanding him to slaughter his son. So my question is would'nt child and blood sacrificices mirror the same kind of worship that the people who served pagan gods performed?
The biggest thing to remember is that the Israelites were conquered and reconquered many times before the writing of the Bible. It is often seen that the victors force their religion upon the conquered. Knowing that, it is highly conceivable that the blood sacrifices had been pushed into their religious observances prior to the first books of the Bible actually being written down. What made the Israelites different from the other religions of their day was the concept that there was one God (monotheism) instead of many gods (polytheism). Where a lot of the confusion comes in is that they were in a position to have to make their stories conform to the conquerers religious philosophies while still trying to communicate their own beliefs.
2. - Most people are familiar with Noah and the ark. God destroyed all of mankind with the exception of Noah and his family, after this event took place God vowed never to destroy the world in that manner again. Why would God promise never to do that again if it was'nt a mistake? Also part of the reason that mankind was so bad during that time was because angels from heaven came down to earth to couple with the daughters of men resulting in the giants called Nephilim. The bible says that these giants or Nephilim were the cause of much violence. So why would God kill the humans and not the angels who were involved in that situation? Would that truly be justice to spare the angels from the same type of punishment? Also why were the children not spared, should'nt they at least have had a chance to prove themselves?
When God created the universe, he also set into motion many laws to govern it. I believe that He is just as bound by those laws as we are. The flood story is repeated in some form in virtually every ancient culture around the world. There are even descriptions of it in the heiroglyphs of the ancient Maya. Due to the propensity of the story, it seems logical to assume that this was an actual event that occurred. Where I believe that the difference comes into the stories is in the ancient mind trying to explain the phenomena. I think that the "vow" to never destroy the world again at the end of the story in the Biblical account was also an attempt at the ancient mind trying to explain the phenomena of the rainbow. Will a similar situation never occur again? There is no way to know for sure. It all really depends upon what actually happened to cause the flood to begin with and there is still much scientific debate on that.
As for the giants, I have never been exposed to that story and would greatly appreciate more information as to its origin...
3. - Another disturbing issue is that of Job. Basically Job was viewed as one of the most faithful men on the face of the earth. Satan claimed that Job only was loyal to God because he had a good life, so God gave Satan permission to do whatever he wanted to Job as long as he did not kill him. This brings up many moral issues, first off Satan killed all 10 of Job's children. Is it right to take away the life of innocent children over a wager? Also is it right to allow Satan to do whatever he wants to those who are trying to be righteous and faithful? Its hard enough to do the right thing without knowing that God is allowing Satan to beat you over the head to prove a point.
I believe that the entire story of Job was to prove a point about monotheism to the polytheistic cultures that surrounded the ancient Israelites. It is even possible that the story was influenced by the polytheism to begin with. Consider - if you have a single God that is not capable of allowing bad things to happen to his chosen people, who do you blame the bad things on? Also, if you examine the story as an allegory, it becomes a powerful method to teach others moral choices. Even today, preachers are told that it is better to teach moral choices with the use of a story than any other method. You also find many books that have been written as children's books today that write down oral history stories that have the same idea behind them.
4. - Something else that has always bothered me is the notion of free will. Is it really free will if there's only one choice to make that will let you live? Its like a man with a gun to your head who says he will shoot you unless you give him your wallet. Is there really much free will involved in a situation like that?
Yes, there is free will. There is the notion that you can pick his choices or create a third. I have learned self-defense to give myself a third option in many situations. I also can choose to use that knowledge or not. I have learned that there are never just two choices but a continuum of choices, and it is up to me to be prepared to carry out those choices on demand. And for the man with the gun to your head? He has a third choice, too - get your wallet, take two steps, and shoot you anyway. Another continuum...
The other piece of the puzzle that most Christians (and yes, I am one) ignore is that the Bible as we have it today is not the Bible as it was in ancient times. It is a clearly documented fact that King James edited the Bible to include the content that he thought was important and to eliminate those ideas that did not support his position. It is also documented that one of the purposes of the Crusades was to find and eliminate all wisdom documents that were not included in the Bible as King James had decided it would be. Fortunately for us, many ancient minds caught on to what the Crusades were about and they hid many scrolls of the ancient wisdom that have only been found in the last century. The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and other documents in the Nag Hammadi library give many different perspectives on all of the issues. These can also be read as allegories to be used for moral teaching.
Belief in the Bible is individual. I have long held to the idea that an unexplored faith is no faith at all. So, I have tried to explore the history of the Bible itself. My conclusion is that there is great wisdom in the Bible that should be integrated into life but that it is not infallible. There is just as much wisdom (if not more) in the writings of the Buddha, in the Tao Te Ching, the stories of Ananzi the spider (from Africa), the Koran, and many other books of wisdom literature written throughout history. And if you still doubt free will, then examine why you are able to ask these questions at all given your background and see if the question still remains in your mind.
Peace,
Alatariel
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