Political Crossfire Forums

pyrodude208 · Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 5

I just wanted to know what everyone else's opinion on this is: Do you believe that the Bible is a story of actual events that happened in the past, or do you believe that it is just a set of stories that are meant to be used as guidelines on how we should live our life?

Todd D. · Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:41 am Post subject:

Combination. The Bible is a product of Hebrew writing, and as such uses several Hebrew literary devices that may not be evident to the common reader today. As an analogy, imagine if I wrote a biography, and mentioned a time that I was very hungry. I might say "I was so hungry that I could have eaten a horse". If that was found 1,000 years from now, and American culture and literature has passed away, a casual reading of that might lead to the conclusion that I either had some sort of superhuman stomach or I was lying, when neither is the case. The use of hyperbole doesn't make somethiny any less true, and I would suggest that is true for any number of other literary devices.

connermt · Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1526 Location: CMH OHIO

Combo baby!!

Saf · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 377

Voted combination. It is a quasi-historical account of a person called Jesus Christ which is based in reality, but attributes clearly impossible things to the man; I blame these embellishments on the apostles, bad translations, &tc.

LetsGetReal · Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 5791 Location: Peoria, AZ

Oh come on Todd are you serious thats whats called a translation and could you point out something in the Hebrew text that relates to your situation. You make it sound like in 1k years people are going to become somehow less intelligent....

Todd D. · Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:43 pm Post subject:

LetsGetReal wrote: Oh come on Todd are you serious thats whats called a translation and could you point out something in the Hebrew text that relates to your situation. You make it sound like in 1k years people are going to become somehow less intelligent....
Combinations are sometimes incapable of capturing subtleties in literature, especially something as complex as Hebrew literature. That responsibility is left to the reader.

LetsGetReal · Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 5791 Location: Peoria, AZ

Oh well then why read it at all if we can't correctly translate? Your painting broad strokes Todd and your arguement is rather weak... Too say anyone at anytime can get the audience to understand 100% is a ridiculous claim.

John · Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 24244

Huh....yet again the Bible is proven as Truth.

Only a remnant will truly believe. :wink:

Todd D. · Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject:

LetsGetReal wrote: Oh well then why read it at all if we can't correctly translate? Your painting broad strokes Todd and your arguement is rather weak... Too say anyone at anytime can get the audience to understand 100% is a ridiculous claim.
Where did I say that we can't correctly translate? I said that sometimes pure words can not capture the subtleties of what is being said, and cultural references and the like have to be taken in to consideration as well. Nothing more.

LetsGetReal · Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 5791 Location: Peoria, AZ

Todd D. wrote: LetsGetReal wrote: Oh well then why read it at all if we can't correctly translate? Your painting broad strokes Todd and your arguement is rather weak... Too say anyone at anytime can get the audience to understand 100% is a ridiculous claim.
Where did I say that we can't correctly translate? I said that sometimes pure words can not capture the subtleties of what is being said, and cultural references and the like have to be taken in to consideration as well. Nothing more.
Stating that we can't catch the subtleties of what is being said, wouldn't be a mis-translation? And your example of an arguement was a statement not a word...

garyd · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 691 Location: tulsa, ok

It is both a factual account of which we find more and more proof everyday and a guide book as to how we should live our lives.

The Old Testament is in reality each individuals life in Macrocosm.

sLiPpY · Joined: 24 Nov 2004 Posts: 10094

The Bible is many things, to many people...as it was to it's writers and the individuals who embraced and placed the oral traditions in context to their own society and lives. Which is very much how the modern church, tends to embrace and present the text. All across America, and the globe...each and every Sunday morning.

What is the Bible to me? Doesn't really matter in the scheme of things, with emphasis on the word "scheme." :wink:

SilveryMinnow · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 3143 Location: Rio Grande River

What a biased poll.

The bible is the word of the Lord.

sLiPpY · Joined: 24 Nov 2004 Posts: 10094

SilveryMinnow wrote: What a biased poll.

The bible is the word of the Lord.

Why does this Lord person, have a need for written word to speak? Or is it something eh' cooked up one day, so that eh' wouldn't have to interact with humans. err...sort of like email? :lol:

garyd · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 691 Location: tulsa, ok

If you have to ask the question, slippy, you wouldn't understand the answer. It should be pretty much self evident.

connermt · Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1526 Location: CMH OHIO

SilveryMinnow wrote: What a biased poll.

The bible is the word of the Lord.
There is absolutely NO way you can prove this is a biased poll because it isn't. There are only a few possible answers: YES, NO, SORT OF. All of which are listed above.
How is that biased?

connermt · Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1526 Location: CMH OHIO

garyd wrote: If you have to ask the question, slippy, you wouldn't understand the answer. It should be pretty much self evident.

What is evident is that the Bible was written by flawed people after years of stories being passed down orally by people who were not that intelligent to begin with (compared to today's standards at least). EXAMPLE: Some one sees a earthquake hit area & thinks the people in that area must have angered God & He did something. Not necessarilly. Natural disasters happen - that doesn't mean anyone did anything to anger God.
At that time, that would have been a common sense assumption to people who didn't understand the natural world & had a strong belief in God - you can't fault them for this.

To think that anyone could have written down the thoughts & words of God 100% is inaccurate. No one can fully understand God back then, today or 1000 years in the future. So the Bible should be taken as a guide for one's life, not as a 100% accurate historical description.

John · Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 24244

So...Todd D., connermt, Impartial1, snow, Saf, and soldierofchrist believe that parts of the Bible are fictional and just serve as a moral guidebook. Interesting.

connermt · Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 1526 Location: CMH OHIO

John wrote: So...Todd D., connermt, Impartial1, snow, Saf, and soldierofchrist believe that parts of the Bible are fictional and just serve as a moral guidebook. Interesting.
I can't speak for the others, but I will speak for me.
I think the Bible is a book of stories, many of which are based upon fact. Soddom & Gamorrah for example. I believe that the odds that the cities were destroyed were pretty good. But the reasoning as to WHY there were destroyed I question. Nevertheless, the story still has a point, as understood by mainstream Christianity, that is relevant today.
To me, many biblical accounts are similiar to this. I think people spend too much time trying to prove what God did & didn't do & not enough time to understand the meaning of what the BIble shows as happening.

I am not saying the Bible is 100% untrue - many events probably DID happen. But the portrayed reasoning for some stories I have to question & weigh against what I know about that time frame (granted isn't a whole bunch, but I am still learning), what I know of people in general, how people perceived things throughtout history, etc.

Hope this helps everyone to understand why I picked what I did.

thefranzkafkafront · Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:11 am Post subject:

soldierofchrist wrote: Todd D. wrote: Combination. The Bible is a product of Hebrew writing, and as such uses several Hebrew literary devices that may not be evident to the common reader today. As an analogy, imagine if I wrote a biography, and mentioned a time that I was very hungry. I might say "I was so hungry that I could have eaten a horse". If that was found 1,000 years from now, and American culture and literature has passed away, a casual reading of that might lead to the conclusion that I either had some sort of superhuman stomach or I was lying, when neither is the case. The use of hyperbole doesn't make somethiny any less true, and I would suggest that is true for any number of other literary devices.
Worddd.

Thirded.