There are legitimate areas of contention in biblical scholarship. None were raised in this thread. There is no contention about the verses recently posted.

If you wish to set aside the bible entirely that is your choice, if you choose to study it and based your morality around certain passages that you feel best exemplify god's will that is your choice, if you choose to believe implicitly every word as you yourself interpret it that is your choice, if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.

If you are set against the bible there is no way to change your mind IMO, however you can admit im sure that some portions are good parts for your own morality. The 10 commandments at least seem to be legit, the only one i can think of that may not apply to a non-believer is the holding other gods. The bible can be approached the same way, look for the good portions of moral guidance and set the rest aside. Approach anything you agree with as the word of god, and anything you dont as the word of man, Its really up to you, no need to even approach it at all if you dont want to, and i wouldnt suggest you do if you come into your studies with the impression that its pointless due to all of the translations. You may not be able to get past that bias. Just my 2 cents however.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Jul 23 2015 09:05am

believe this information to state even more absolute ignorance of the true message of Jesus that repealed all the old testament.
We consider only the consoling messages and only goal and exclusively MORAL.
the remainder should be dispensable.




Complement his argument saying that the interpretation is individual and each person has his only moment of awakening to the truth.

This post was edited by El Shadday on Jul 23 2015 09:24am

They don't understand the New Covenant.

biblical scholars, the vast majority of whom are christian determining what parts of the bible are up for debate

sounds legit

i think this are some great words.

My only problem is, that the bible is said to be the word of god. Why is this important, especially in the case that we dont know what phrases are from god and which one got missinterpreted?
For me the bible is just another book, not more, not less. I dont care to much about the "guy" who has written it as long as the text is good. For example: Do not steal is a pretty good advice. It stands for itself, no matter who has written it down. If we want to life together in a peaceful society its just a great advice to not steal your mates stuff. There is no need for god or anything to make the quote valid.
So my approach would be to take out those parts that make sence and leaf out the rest without thinking about the "true" author of the words

This is an similar example of what you guys are doing when trying to understand The Bible.

Example
My name is John and this guy named Jane was chanting death to america and pulled out a firearm and started to shoot people. As he started to turn towards me, I shot him in self defense.

Person A: John said Death to America, he's a terrorist, arrest him!
Person B: Read everything, that's not what John meant at all!

This post was edited by Superman on Jul 23 2015 09:33am

You're employing quite a bit of confirmation bias here IMO. and conjecture as well. The modern state, where stealing is considered faux paux without religious motivation, is the direct result of thousands of years of a religious system, where not stealing was at the very least partially motivated by religious beliefs. So we basically live in a day and age where religion has less of an effect than it used to, but our morality and cultural norms are somewhat based on the religious norms of the past. Would stealing have been taboo'd without any religion in the world, perhaps but we cannot conclusively say, all we can say is religion did help form the social norms we currently have. Past cultures would poison wells, steal women and resources, and cripple the men when they conquered other kingdoms. So there is some historical precedence for stealing being socially acceptable, the people you stole from just needed to be part of another social group you were against to justify it.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Jul 23 2015 09:53am