Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Infallible Bible

One of the pretenses of Christian Fundamentalism is that the bible is the infallible word of God. The statement often made in support of this is that God has overseen the bible’s development and directed its additions into its current form. Yet, the bible used by these people is incomplete and edited.
The King James Version is the core source of ALL protestant translations of the bible (whether admitted to by subsequent authors or not). Even this version has been intentionally changed many times in history. Several books of the King James Version and subsequent protestant bibles have been completely removed over the years to suit current tastes. The stated reasoning for this is that these books had dubious origins. So, if God is caring for his bible so well, why did he allow dubious sections to be included in it for over 500 years? Additionally, many individual scriptures have been removed, edited and reworded as late as the 1990’s! What? So, fifteen hundred or more years after the bible was painstakingly assembled, some group of protestants declare that part of the bible was unnecessary or needed editing? How can anyone believe the bible is infallible if it is constantly being tinkered with by their religious leadership? Is that leadership so arrogant that they believe they are God’s modern day prophets allowing them to mangle his word?
Furthermore, this same process of tinkering was very likely a major factor in the earliest days of the bible’s origins. Except now, no record of that tinkering exist because of time itself, destroyed documents and intentional rewrites to suit then current political and religious agendas. Basically, if tinkering exists now, it certainly existed then.
The bible is a great guide to live by, but to take its current form completely literally is a self-contradiction.
I have a message to the Christian Fundamentalist and other clergy who pretend that they believe the bible is infallible: You can’t have it both ways. If the bible is infallible, then stop editing the bible and undo the ongoing edits. If you accept the ongoing edits, then admit that you really don’t believe the bible is infallible, stop lying to your followers, and stop trying to cram your personal exobiblical believes down everyone else’s throats.

3 comments:

Mickey Glitter said...

along those thoughts, why was the book of mary magdalene removed? was she 'the Woman Who Knew The All' and did that somehow threaten the early church?

i have argued this with my sister (a stout believer) for a long time and while my point is the bible is simply man's translation and interpretation of god's word and therefore cannot be held as THE final authority of god (for how can a mere mortal put into words what god has said?), she says it must be taken on faith.

to which i say, no thank you.

www.magdalene.org for more information on the magdalene...

happy thanksgiving!

Anonymous said...

Religion is about control. Even my heirloom Bible copyrighted in 1927 indicates it was edited and whom and what group, and the religious credituals of those involved. This Bible is massive I am quite certain my Bible has message/passages/scripts that later version do not. Oh yeah my old Bible has a page numbered 666 funny?I was a preacher's brat growing up. Even as I child I challenged faith over evolution. No matter what scientific proof humoids existed well over 500 years ago Religion must maintain control of masses at all costs. Its' about money its about morals and ethetics and even health reasons its about a reason to go to war. Control thats all it is. Blind faith and believe. Give yourself to a higher power so you have an excuss to not do for yourself and your own.

Don't get me wrong religion is good for some. I think there is aspects in many different religions that have the same underlining message. Be good El-i-ot!

What happens when a preachers brat grows up? Sees that the preacher parent doesn't live what preaches. It's all an act playing the role.

I wish you a happy thanksgiving and hope all of your banking issues come to a happy ending. notme

fcsuper said...

A quick point about 666: The original number was 616. Later ancient translations changed the text from 616 to 666 to adopt the scripture to then modern political changes that occured. Basically, the number represents a hated ruler of Roman (I forget which one...I'm getting rusty LOL). Anyways, when one particular subsequent ruler became hated, the scripture was changed so that the number code represented his name.
Later next month I'll prolly get more into my religious transformation from a blind follower to a person of free will.
One more thought: Faith is supposed to be enlightening, so how can it require followers to be blind in order to be faithful?