Interpreting the Bible
If you never thought there was something seriously wrong with the Holy Bible, maybe you should see what devout Bible teachers have to say about it and its foretelling of prophecy:
The way to identify the beast is by counting. In ancient times, letters of the alphabet served as numbers. The first nine letters stood for the numbers one through nine, and the next nine for the numbers ten through ninety, and so on. In Greek, the current alphabet did not have enough letters, so certain obsolete letters and signs supplemented the system. Every name yielded a number.
However, the identity of the person represented by the number 666 should not be a subject of speculation until that person arrives on the earthly scene. The person to whom 666 applies must have been future to apostle John’s time, because John clearly meant the number to be recognizable to someone. If it was not discernible to his generation, the generation to whom it will be discernible must have lain in the future. If 666 is the number of a future individual, attempts to identify past entities through the number are futile.
This is just sad. There is an entire Bible Prophecy class if you are so inclined. How about judging the Bible in its historical context versus establishing basic human rights for all:
Often Bible verses that seem unfair or discriminatory to us need to be viewed within their historical or cultural context. For instance the Bible does not condemn slavery and in fact the Bible actually codifies the rules for keeping slaves. Today we find slavery abhorrent and for some of us the idea that the Bible codifies how slaves are to be treated is very upsetting. But in its historic and cultural context that codification of how slaves are to be treated was in fact a hard thing for people of that time to live up to. In other words, that codification made the life for the slave in Israel better than the slaves life would be someplace else.
Jesus H. Christ in a hand basket… slavery has always been abhorrent. You think that GOD – the creator of the universe, good, evil, etc. would have clued humanity in a couple of millenia ago if it slavery was bad, right? This alone should invalidate the Bible for any right-minded person. And then there is Gordon Atkinson who successfully made it out of the muck, but then slid back:
I looked in the restroom mirror and said, “I do not believe in God.” I knew this was the truth and felt the need to say it out loud. I was on the other side now. I was an unbeliever. It was like waking up in Tokyo and noticing to your great surprise that you’ve become Japanese. You weren’t raised in Japan, and you have no idea how to use chopsticks. What the hell are you gonna do with yourself? [Huh?]
It wasn’t the experience with Jenny [a woman that died of breast cancer that could not be saved with prayer] that caused my break with God. It was the kids in Mexico, my difficulty in believing parts of the bible, the phony Christians I met along the way, and the hundreds of prayers that seemed unanswered. Jenny was just the last ping of a hammer that had been working on my foundation for a long time.
It breaks my heart. Here is a man that “works his ass off” [his words] helping people and doing good works, and then he gives the credit to God. What the hell?! Dude… there are plenty of people doing good in the world that are not beholden to mythology. I wish you would reconvert to your birth state (non-believer, pre-brainwashing) and join us without the distraction of God looking over your shoulder. I think meditation (aka prayer) is wonderful, but don’t pretend someone is listening.
Hope you’re not the type to say, “Shit, how did that guy find this?” and be worried about that. I’m not in the least threatened or bothered by your observations. Fair question from your point of view. Two things to add to the discussion:
1. What does it matter where one’s metaphysics leads them if they are seeking to do good in the world? With so many people seeking to do bad, sometimes I wonder why the ones who want good don’t feel a kinship and just say, “To hell with where you get this impulse. Go with it.”
2. You should check out Jung. He felt that myths are the dreams of humanity. Same dynamic taking place on a macro level. And humans go psychotic without dreams. Dreams tell us things. While you have been fortunate to have a great education and be born with a sharp mind – obviously – it might be a bit harsh to speak so strongly against the way that humans passed on tradition and values for most of our history. And there are a lot of people who still participate in myths at very simple levels. And some of us are still participating because the expression of meaning in these myths can be so incredibly beautiful and joyous.
I’m speaking here about authentic and old spiritual traditions. Not any kind of abusive religion, abused and misused by modern people for dubious reasons.
peace,
gordon
rlp
@Gordon Atkinson
On the contrary! I’m thrilled you found this!! Means I am indexed much better than I thought. However, I am getting a little mistrusting of Google Analytics when it says I have 3 readers in a given day and I know I had at least 5.
Not that I thought I would be striking up a conversation with you, but since I have you… I must say, I am humbled by your service and your writing. Having found RLP only a few days ago, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
I am all about some kinship and beauty. I loved the way it felt when I was in church with my friends and family and a particularly moving hymn would play, and we would hold hands, and the music would swell, and I would get goose bumps. However, in my work with people and animals, I find that I get that feeling and MORE several times a week versus an occasional Sunday. Even just solving a difficult problem, working on a team, or listening to a child laugh does it most days. It’s been my experience that religion does not inspire good works or good feelings… it detracts from them.
The meaning of life is not in the myth, but in the life. I’m not so sure Jung’s collective unconscious and dream psychology provide sufficient grounds to retain a belief in supernatural… Natural is just fine with me.
You are a rare enigma, my friend. If you must retain and propagate ancient spiritual traditions, then so be it. I would work next to you any day.
Peace to you also,
Hugh
@Hugh
Sometimes I wonder myself what the hell I’m doing. But I guess anyone with any humility does that. For my part, anyone who is serious about truth and intrigued by the meaning of life and honest in seeking is okay with me. I feel much closer to to my atheist friends who fit that bill than to people who are religious and do not.
This summer we had a series of Franciscan retreats at our church. Since we don’t try to convert people but were willing to let anyone hang with us in this, we had a number of interesting people join us. Including a guy I consider to be a close friend now. An atheist from New York City. Keith. We invited him to receive communion as a non-believer – because he is a friend. The theology behind it meant nothing to him, of course. But we had just finished a weekend of really great conversations and he felt like a close friend. A brother even. It meant a lot to him to be invited because he knows that ceremony means a lot to us.
If there is going to be peace in this world, then we have to respect each other. Religious people have been the ones who have not done this. For that I’m sorry.