The Bible is the most sold book of all time...and ironically, the least read!
Not a great number of people really know (or care) what it says. Many religions take out bits here and there and organise them in such a way, as to say what they want to say. Amazingly enough a good modern translation of the Bible is not difficult to understand. But very easy to misinterpret intentionally
Imagine we all read a Harry Potter book and then discussed it afterwards.
Chances are we would all have a basic knowledge of the characters and what they do.
Some misinterpretations of the Bible are so blatent there is no basis for them.
Take Mary Magdelen for example, often called a 'prostitute'. It does not say in the bible that she was a prostitute. So where did that idea come from?
Possibly the fact that according to John 8:3 the scribes brought forth a woman who was accused of 'adultery'. (They were trying to trap Jesus into telling every one to stone her so that they could accuse him of something). Jesus told those who were without sin to stone her...we all know the story. So she was an adultress. That is how the church could have come to call her a prostitute.
Dan Brown wrote a very controversial novel stating that Jesus actually married her. This would not seem right to me. Jesus was very religious and of course this woman was already married. And it would be very unlikely that he should marry a divorced woman. (Mat. 5:31)
So we have old misinterpretations and new.
There is quite a list of them actually but i dont want to go through them all now.
I would just like to say. After reading a novel or book sometimes we can loose the plot. With the bible this is so true that many just loose the plot, if they didn't, then they could not misinterpret it as they do.
Friday, 29 February 2008
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Main Characters
Adam and Eve had two sons. I think that is common knowledge. Also common knowledge is that one slay the other...did Cain slay Abel? or Abel slay Cain. Yes it was Cain.
After he killed his brother God said that Cain would become a fugitive and that anyone who found him could strike him down...
After a while it seemed that nobody had 'struck him down' So Cain went off and got himself a wife!
Most people can't understand this part of the Bible. It is confusing. It also confuses me. The only real logical explanation would be that Cain and Abel had brothers and sisters. They may have left their parents and gone to live soemwhere else. They were most likely dissobedient.
Possibly not worth mentioning. Until these times.
When we watch a film for example with Mel Gibson (when he was cute) and some hot leading lady, little emphasis is placed on background characters. The man sitting behind them in the cafe or the lady passing them on the street, is not important factor to the plot of the story, therefor they don't have a major role to play.
The (his)story of Cain and Abel, I believe is a little like that.
What is your veiw?
After he killed his brother God said that Cain would become a fugitive and that anyone who found him could strike him down...
After a while it seemed that nobody had 'struck him down' So Cain went off and got himself a wife!
Most people can't understand this part of the Bible. It is confusing. It also confuses me. The only real logical explanation would be that Cain and Abel had brothers and sisters. They may have left their parents and gone to live soemwhere else. They were most likely dissobedient.
Possibly not worth mentioning. Until these times.
When we watch a film for example with Mel Gibson (when he was cute) and some hot leading lady, little emphasis is placed on background characters. The man sitting behind them in the cafe or the lady passing them on the street, is not important factor to the plot of the story, therefor they don't have a major role to play.
The (his)story of Cain and Abel, I believe is a little like that.
What is your veiw?
Monday, 25 February 2008
Adam and Eve
Were Adam and Eve just a simbolic couple or were they real people?
It is rather like the chicken and the egg dilema.
According to the bible they were both created, first the man and then the woman. Woman was the last thing created. (It does not mean she is inferior!)
They were told to go forth and multiply. To create more perfect beings as themselves. Unfortunately the woman was missled by the serpent. God had instructed both of them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. He said that they could eat all the other fruits but not from the Tree of Knowledge.
This is interesting, many people say that it was an apple tree, and more oftern than not Eve is seen eating an apple in most paintings. Weird.
They were completely innocent. They didn't even know they were naked...until they ate from the tree of knowledge. Then they became 'as a god, knowing good and evil'
God punished them for this grave error. Man was to work hard to produce food and woman to suffer pains in childbirth.
In actual fact man continues to suffer, because he sought knowledge were he was told not to seek it. God would have instructed Adam and Eve, but they decided to go and 'find out for themselves'. This way is often the hard way. Learning by our mistakes.
No wonder the world is in the state it is.
Immediately after they ate from the tree of knowledge God decided to protect the Tree of Life. A tree that actually produced life, or rather, eternal life.
That was very astute of him, imagine this world with immortal men. I shudder to think.
It is rather like the chicken and the egg dilema.
According to the bible they were both created, first the man and then the woman. Woman was the last thing created. (It does not mean she is inferior!)
They were told to go forth and multiply. To create more perfect beings as themselves. Unfortunately the woman was missled by the serpent. God had instructed both of them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. He said that they could eat all the other fruits but not from the Tree of Knowledge.
This is interesting, many people say that it was an apple tree, and more oftern than not Eve is seen eating an apple in most paintings. Weird.
They were completely innocent. They didn't even know they were naked...until they ate from the tree of knowledge. Then they became 'as a god, knowing good and evil'
God punished them for this grave error. Man was to work hard to produce food and woman to suffer pains in childbirth.
In actual fact man continues to suffer, because he sought knowledge were he was told not to seek it. God would have instructed Adam and Eve, but they decided to go and 'find out for themselves'. This way is often the hard way. Learning by our mistakes.
No wonder the world is in the state it is.
Immediately after they ate from the tree of knowledge God decided to protect the Tree of Life. A tree that actually produced life, or rather, eternal life.
That was very astute of him, imagine this world with immortal men. I shudder to think.
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Creation
How many people actually believe that the worls was created in 7 days?
Time is a funny thing. It can depend mearly on our perspective. For example how many times has a day just seemed to never end and to a friend that same day has flown by?
On earth time is split into years, months, weeks, days, hours and minutes. The funny thing is, that is only here on earth. The further we go away from our planet the more time takes on a different dimention. Hence the theory Einstein had about travelling at the speed of light. That an astronaut could leave the planet and return again only to find that he had hardly aged whilst the people he left behind aged or even died!
God travels at the speed of light. In the time it takes us to think of him, he is there. He is omnipresent.
A day to God is as 1000 years and a 1000 years as a day. God is the author of time.
Time is a funny thing. It can depend mearly on our perspective. For example how many times has a day just seemed to never end and to a friend that same day has flown by?
On earth time is split into years, months, weeks, days, hours and minutes. The funny thing is, that is only here on earth. The further we go away from our planet the more time takes on a different dimention. Hence the theory Einstein had about travelling at the speed of light. That an astronaut could leave the planet and return again only to find that he had hardly aged whilst the people he left behind aged or even died!
God travels at the speed of light. In the time it takes us to think of him, he is there. He is omnipresent.
A day to God is as 1000 years and a 1000 years as a day. God is the author of time.
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