The Bible is the most widely purchased, extensively read, and deeply revered book in the history of Western Civilization. Arguably it is also the most thoroughly misunderstood, especially by the lay reading public.
- Bart Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted, Ch 1, p. 1
But serious questions can be raised about this perspective, questions raised by the text of the folktale itself. For one thing, many readers over the years have felt that God is not to be implicated in Job’s suffering; after all, it is Satan who causes them. But a close reading of the text shows that it is not that simple. It is precisely God who authorizes Satan to do what he does; he could not do anything without the Lord directing him to do it. Moreover, in a couple of places the text indicates that it is God himself who is ultimately responsible. After the first round of Job’s sufferings, God tells Satan that job ‘persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason’ (Job 2:3). Here it is God who is responsible for Job’s innocent suffering, at the Satan’s instigation. God also points out that there was ‘no reason’ for Job to have to suffer. This coincides with what happens at the end of the tale, when Job’s family comes to comfort him after the trials are over, showing him sympathy ‘for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him’ (Job 42:11).
- Bart Ehrman, God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—-Why We Suffer, Ch 6, p. 167-8
The narrator then moves to a heavenly scene in which the ‘heavenly beings’ (literally: the sons of God) appear before the Lord, ‘the Satan’ among them. It is important to recognize that the Satan here is not the fallen angel who has been booted from heaven, the cosmic enemy of God. Here he is portrayed as one of God’s divine council members, a group of divinities who regularly report to God and, evidently, go about the world doing his will. Only at a later stage of Israelite religion (as we will see in chapter 7) does ‘Satan’ become ‘the Devil,’ God’s mortal enemy. The term the Satan here in Job does not appear to be a name so much as a description of his office: it literally means ‘the Adversary’ (or the Accuser). But he is not an adversary to God: he is one of the heavenly beings who report to God. He is an adversary in the sense that he plays ‘devil’s advocate,’ as it were, challenging conventional wisdom to try to prove a point.
- Bart Ehrman, God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—-Why We Suffer, Ch 6, p. 165
Most people who read Job do not realize that the book as it has come down to us today is the product of at least two different authors, and that these different authors had different, and contradictory, understandings of why it is that people suffer.
- Bart Ehrman, God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—-Why We Suffer, Ch 6, p. 162
what if church was called jesuscon
#That would require more people to be familiar with what Jesus said, and familiar with the rest of the “good book”, so there could be interesting debates and discussions.
#Because sometimes I feel like many debates on Christianity consist of people quoting approximately 5 to 10 verses out of the entire Bible.
A popular passage from Galatians 3:28: ‘there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,’ is often mistaken for an egalitarian avowal. It signifies quite the opposite. Paul is simply dismissing wordly inequalities as being of no great moment, urging his followers to focus on the higher, ethereal equality we presumably enjoy in God’s eyes. One’s station in life matters not, for God loves all equally as one—-but with a love that leaves earthly hierarchies intact, no matter how unjust they be.
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Michael Parenti, God and His Demons, Part I, Ch 4, p. 47 (e-book)
#This is what I was thinking when I read Galatians, and while reading Parenti’s book, I was glad to see that he points it out.
25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
26 And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
27 And the Lord did not ask him again.
- Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett)
(Source: discreetmath)
There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Illúvatar ; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.
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J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, Ainulindalë, p. 15
#In which The Silmarillion reminds me of the Bible
“Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.”
-John 8:43
wait
did Jesus just say the equivalent of did I stutter
Jesus is so sassy
“Aramaic, motherfuckers, do you speak it?” was considered too controversial for the early disciples and therefore was edited out.
#I don’t meant to be a downer, but I’m the kind of person who, when someone quotes something, goes to to look it up.
Here’s some context, in two different translations (with links that go to the entire text of John chapter 8).
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (New International Version Bible, John 8:42-47)
Copied from http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=220117660
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42Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. 43Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word.44You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.’ (New Revised Standard Version Bible, John 8:42-47)
Copied from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8&version=NIV
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So, yeah, it just seems significantly less awesome in context, because it’s insulting people not of the same religion and is a passage that’s been used to promote bigotry (particularly anti-Semitism) in the past.
I’m not making any of these accusations against the people who posted or responded to this, but I just find it interesting that the Bible is so commonly quoted in our society without mentioning the surrounding context of the quotes.
(Source: cutie-police)
Yesterday’s post at my primary blog.
Excerpt:
“How would I describe the experience of reading the Bible? What difficulties are encountered? How would one describe the writing? Which parts are enjoyable and which are excruciating? Which parts are well-known and which are surprising? These are some of the questions I want to address. This is not meant to be a complete review, as I have many more thoughts on specific passages, but is meant as an expression of the experience of reading the Bible, of what it’s like to read this collection of texts that is so often discussed and so infrequently read in our society. Reading the Bible is like traversing a diverse landscape about which one has heard much from many others, most of whom have never actually visited the location.”
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