The Bible is the literal word of God, Discuss?

... My family have already gone on ahead of me.

... I have work to do that God has given me and it's very intersting work.

... But the day will come when my work is done; and then I'll be ready to go Home.

... You must be quite young, Teller.

... And--HEY!-- I keep running into you all over the place, don't I?

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg

... You must be quite young, Teller.

I find this a highly patronising supposition Emily. Point one: You perceive me to be young and equating youth for lack of knowledge; Point two: You are accusing me of this youthful lack of knowledge purely due to the fact you think anyone who does not concur with your ideas or ideology must be a lesser intelligent force. Was Christ young in your definition of �young�?

... But the day will come when my work is done; and then I'll be ready to go Home.

I pity you that you are counting down the days left of your life and wishing for a home you have never had and placing all your blind faith in finding a place you could never have in life in death. I pity you because I feel you are a very lonely woman who has struggled to come to terms with life for all her days. If the waking hour is the pain then God is the panacea.

.. And--HEY!-- I keep running into you all over the place, don't I?

Yes, how do you know I am not YOUR omnipresent God??????

He doesn't lecture me. He has a kind heart. He doesn't intrude on my struggle, just keeps saying, "It'll get better; it'll get better."

I'm working at not lecturing people so I'll not lecture you back.

But, if I'm not particularly good at hiding my feelings, I'm wondering whether you really need to climb all over my case.

I life is what it is; it has not been easy and sometimes I feel very old.

As for you, you simply sound like a young person possibly because you use the language of the younger generation. For all I know you could be sixty.

[shrug]

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
He doesn't lecture me.

Oh well the whole of the Christian church seem to be doing such a good job of doing it for him though.

But, if I'm not particularly good at hiding my feelings, I'm wondering whether you really need to climb all over my case.

I never meant to make you feel bad, but in all your replies to me in all debates you espouse a piece of knowledge you think you have gleamed about me and relay that back as some exposition to ascertain my standing within your ideological structure device.

As for you, you simply sound like a young person possibly because you use the language of the younger generation.

Not quite sure what young language you are particularly leaning to. I am English and speak and write and read English.
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

I believe that many people want to take everything in the Bible literally when in fact some of it is stories used to infer a moral stance on things.

Some inferences may in fact be true, but not to their exact literal meaning. For example, God created man. The bible doesn't say exactly how, but it doesn't discount evolution either. It only says that God made man. It says God made woman from one of Adam's ribs. Sounds a lot like cloning to me

Oh, you're English.

Well, I'm sorry. I mistook your way of speaking.

Wasn't trying to be rude. I simply misjudged you.

Is forgiveness possible?

You don't have to apologise for mistaking "my way of speaking" I am in fact from the land that invented English, the language American's almost speak, the most widely used language in the world.
But thanks for thinking I am young; in fact I am young, but probably not as young as you think.

Is it not written that we are to love our neighbors, to do unto others as we would have done unto them? Is the Bible literal or is it not and explain why.

I'm just eighteen years younger than Her Majesty Elizabeth Two--and a cousin of hers on the distaff side.

But she and I belong to different generations.

We both have an Andrew [both fortyish] and an Edward, and my daughter is Heather Anne.

Never intended those coincidences, really.

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
I'm just eighteen years younger than Her Majesty Elizabeth Two

Elizabeth Two, she's not a film sequel she's a monarch. I trust you'll find that is Queen Elizabeth the Second. Not that I care because I think the Monarchy is an anachronism that is a contradictory of democracy.
Yeah everything is relative. The Bible is relative to fiction, religion is relative to cult, god is relative to nature etc.

Expect change. [Why don't you go get some sleep--or do you work all night like some of us?]



[edit on 22-11-2004 by Emily_Cragg]

Originally posted by Emily_Cragg
Expect change. [Why don't you go get some sleep--or do you work all night like some of us?]

A: stop telling me to get some sleep, are you a fascist or something.
B: Yes I work all night and all day, I am the true Teller of all that is real and need all the waking and unawake hours to spread the word of the real god. Thank you.
I expect change in the monarchy every bloody day. Trouble is no one wants revolution enough. We are willing to invade other countries to "spread democracy� yet sit back and applaud the royal family for all the great work cough, cough, they do.

If every man is equal but some more equal than others how is it democracy??????
The Sex Pistols had it right.
No House of Lords, No Monarchy, but no president either, just a duly elected Prime Minister and a House of Commons represented by all parties.
That is the true democracy we need in the UK, but we have the best democracy in the world so it seems a little trite complaining.

Honey, I can't tell if you're bragging or complaining.

Are you being serious or are you joking?

You sound very angry.

I truly know no anger. I have only peace. I do not brag at all, I speak from the mind and from the soul. I have a message for the child alone. The house is empty but will be filled as it was filled and will be filled again. Kin is not who is made but also who is received and accept as kin. The message is clear but only for those who wish to hear, I will hold it back until only those who wish to listen have an open heart and an open mind. Until then it will speak itself only in whispers in shadows in corridors of emptiness.

I can totally see where you are coming from. I myself was raised Catholic and experienced the community it provided, but as I got older I did also notice some things that just did not make sense to me.

I also studied the bible, spoke with clergy and did whatever I could to really get all sides of it. I made up my mind to believe, as you, that the bible is a good guide ... but not one to be take literally. For every 5 people that told me one thing there was one that contradicted it. Even my own teachers (since I went to Catholic School) would imbue us with their spin on the bible.

In the end I came to the conclusion that the bible cannot be something you base your life on. It was written by too many people to have any consistency to begin with. And most people confuse symbology for prophecy of things to come. Yet, I think the bible still is abided by as much as it can be because people don't want to face the fact that they have lost their time and energy in an illusion.

I also have learned that debating with someone who truly believes in the bible to tell them otherwise is an exercise in futility ... for you cannot defeat a true believer ... but to each their own.

The only humans I know who are not subject to both pleasure and pain are either in a coma, or they're deep deep in denial.

Earth to Teller! Earth to Teller!

You can come down now!

[sheesh]

If the original writings ( God only knows where they came from) had not been tampered with and modified by the Freemasons we would possibly have a book for all races to understand, But Nooooo! they had to have control of the masses.......Now how do you suppose they did that?
Freemason Credo: "The smallest things will scare the people"
The smoke molecule is the smallest substance molecule, but when they are banded together it will have the scariest results with all people.
Add a few mirrors and you have the exact result you require to control everything and everyone.( the Wizard of Oz)
Letters and the words they can form, are very small compared with a nuclear bomb!
Arrange those words into a few different belief systems and you have utter chaos, but also control!!
If the Bible IS the word of God, then God is a pretty poor writer, as the Bible and ALL other religious books are totally Adverb/ Verb scenarios.
That's probably why the Bible is always in the Law courts!
There is not one Word calling God a Noun ( which I always thought He was) in any Bible, anywhere, but there's also not one legal sentence in any Bible on Planet Earth!

Never done this before. Very interesting discussion. A lot of you have well thought out ideas. First of all, the longer I live the more I realize I don't know. Life is a bit more complicated than I thought it would be when I was in my 20/30's. I AM a Christian, by that I mean I have chosen to believe that I am imperfect and needed His intervention. I have come to this conclusion primarily upon LOGIC, not faith. Faith is one of those enigma's in today's vocabulary that has lost it's meaning or has been interpreted differently by so many. My journey to this conclusion has a few factors that I will share with the forum/thread.

Point 1

Again before I go on I will try and be LOGIC-based and not bring in a bunch of Christian-eze mumbo jumbo.

Point 1

Remember Back to the Future and the Delorian (sp?) Imagine if you were Micheal J Fox and some one asked you to go to five (only 5) different time zones/geographical areas and meet one person in each time zone/area and ask them, "please write a book about God, I'll be back in 5 years to collect it."

Five years later you went and picked up the five books. Logically speaking what are the chances those five books would agree? What are the chances those five books would build upon one another? What are the chances you could make any semblance out of them...to live by or the like? Snowballs in your know where, right?

Different people! Different cultures! Difference Time frames! Different Premises! Different World view! etc etc...

Logically speaking you would have five unconnected books with five different perspectives, right?

Well, the Bible (torah, prophets, gospels, epistles, revelation) are not 5 books by five authors, but66 books by 40 authors...who did not know one another, did not live in the same town, did not live in the same time line...authors were of every occupation and financial status........yet......the Bible is a one-themed, continuing story. Doesn't prove it God's Word yet though...just something that might warrant another look.

Point 2

Here's an undisputable fact (I believe at least after examining) Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be God, his followers claimed He claimed to be God...and...non Christian journalist (such as Josephus) claimed He claimed he was God. Doesn't appear here to be different agendas going on. He said it, His followers said He said it, third parties said He said it and even his enemies said He said it (Sanhedrin, Pharisies, etc)

SO...with all that said...we have only two LOGICAL outcomes. No religious double-talk here) Either you BELIEVE or you REJECT. Really no other options right? If you believe, then to you HE IS LORD. If you REJECT there are really only two options for you.

1) JC knew he wasn't telling the truth, therefore he would be A LIAR

2) JC didn't know he wasn't telling the truth, therefore he would be A LUNATIC.

That's the only three logical outcomes...LIAR, LUNATIC of LORD. There is no room for him being a good guy and all, no room for him being a prophet as every other religion on the face of the earth calls him. Because prophets don't lie and they are not usually in psych wards.

Point 3

Most direct followers were killed for believing in JC. If they had stole his body and the romans excused, at least one of them would have squilled just before their execution right? I would have...but NO-All these ordinary folks were willing to die for what they saw...WOW!


I have much more reasons why I choose now to believe, that I'll share later. hope this creates some more interesting discussions. Thanks for the opportunity guys!

Old Thinker
Phillipians 1:3

Malcolm X said it best, "God's words are not a hustle." I am not going to let my emotions get the best of me regarding this subject. God's words are real and should be taken literally. The things that are described in the Bible for us to do to recieve God's blessing of eternal are instructions that must be followed to the letter. Some things change with the times, but that book would not have been created if it could be used for God's children to find salvation. Its all about faith. Everyone does not possess it. Any time a person can say that the Bible is a book filled with fables and that its boring is too far gone for my taste. What happens when the prophecies described in the Bible begin to come to pass. Some of the prophecies have already occured, but if you have not been looking for them, then you won't recognize them. It is going to take one of the catastrophic prophecies to happen to get some people's attention. Yes, we are supposed to love our fellow man as we love ourselves, yes, we are supposed to turn the other cheek, yes, we are supposed to live by the Ten Commandments, just to name a few. We as humans are so arrogant, that we think we know it all, well we don't. If we did we would not be going to the worldwide problems we face daily. Jesus is coming again to set it all straight. My brothers and sisters, get ready.

Here is another of your indisputable facts about the Bible: "The Lords Prayer was written by a Lawyer"
GOD IS NO LAWYER!!!!!!!! He IS the law!
The Lord's Prayer is totally Adverb/Verb, and I'm quite sure GOD does not speak that kind of legal jargon.
Why do you think the Pope is getting sick? He's only just been shown the Lord's Prayer written in the Truthful Language and has finally agreed that He now understands what it really says.
Because of this, he along with other Church officials now know what they have to answer for, after eons of genocide, apartheid, rape and pillage of the worlds unsuspecting citizens, and GOD is descending in waves upon those stumbling blocks of the past!
Interesting to note also is the fact that nobody has yet come with one valid answer to all my threads relating to this matter!
As we say in Australia: "The TRUTH really hurts"