The great and all powerful religion thread!

[Dak]

Translation errors are a primary reason for the it seeming like a cryptic code, tbh.

Language has changed over the last 2000 years, and it's been translated over and over again since the Christian religion's inception.

I actually agree with this to some extent. One problem when translating something from it's original language, especially going from Hebrew (which is action based) to Greek/Latin/English which are abstract based, is that you lose meaning as there will be things that just don't translate over well.
A second problem is that when a translator comes to something that doesn't translate directly, it is nearly impossible for some bias not to enter into the final arrangement.

Then on top of these potential losses for original meaning, you have forced interpretation issues by people trying to twist the Bible to meet their own aims, and the avg 21st centuries person lack of knowledge on life during those historical periods, which can also help with a correct interpretation.

This doesn't even go into the fact that there are more than likely some books not in the Bible that should be and some that are in there that shouldn't be.

Just to throw this out there, heaven and hell are two of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible, even by Christians. No one is going to heaven or hell forever. The way those concepts are understood by the majority are of pagan origin.

 

[AchrisK]

What i'm amazed by is how if you as a Christian can find a single contradiction in The Bible, still can believe it's something you can use as a guideline. If i'm in first grade and get a mathbook where the first side says "1+1=3" i'm not going to keep using that book for my studies since the authors obviously made fools out of themselves.

Find a contradiction and then do a search and read the explanation that you will find at a Christian website.

 

[AchrisK]

I actually agree with this to some extent. One problem when translating something from it's original language, especially going from Hebrew (which is action based) to Greek/Latin/English which are abstract based, is that you lose meaning as there will be things that just don't translate over well.
A second problem is that when a translator comes to something that doesn't translate directly, it is nearly impossible for some bias not to enter into the final arrangement.

Then on top of these potential losses for original meaning, you have forced interpretation issues by people trying to twist the Bible to meet their own aims, and the avg 21st centuries person lack of knowledge on life during those historical periods, which can also help with a correct interpretation.

This doesn't even go into the fact that there are more than likely some books not in the Bible that should be and some that are in there that shouldn't be.

Just to throw this out there, heaven and hell are two of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible, even by Christians. No one is going to heaven or hell forever. The way those concepts are understood by the majority are of pagan origin.

These things have some truth. I need to do more reading about the process used to select the book used. But there are plenty of people who want to know the real truth, and plenty of people who study the customs and practices of the times from which these documents were originally written, and plenty of people who study in the original languages. It's all out there for anyone to evaluate, and there are checks and balances. Heck, even Atheists have much to gain from becoming literate in these languages and evaluating the original documents to prove the whole thing a sham. I do not believe we have something drastically distorted from the original intent.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

There are a ton of different kinds of Christianity, including kinds that probably hate you but still consider themselves Christians so just saying "well, search on Google and go to the closest site with Christian in the name that offers an explanation on the contradiction you detected and you'll get it" doesn't really help much.

 

[Blind Guardian]

Find a contradiction and then do a search and read the explanation that you will find at a Christian website.

Ok not a contradiction by The Bible since it makes damn clear what it's meaning here but, Earth is 6000 years old? The Bible says so, are you saying 6000 is misinterpreted? The only way for you to not contradict yourself here is to say that you indeed believe Earth is 6000 years old, in which case i'm out of this thread.

 

[Dak]

This is an analogy that just came to me, and maybe its a piss poor analogy but here goes:

Picking a religion to me would be like trying to pick which fast food burger joint is the healthiest. The fact is fast food isn't healthy. This does not however rule out food as necessary, and healthy food usually requires personal effort and study.

Edit:

Ok not a contradiction by The Bible since it makes damn clear what it's meaning here but, Earth is 6000 years old? The Bible says so, are you saying 6000 is misinterpreted? The only way for you to not contradict yourself here is to say that you indeed believe Earth is 6000 years old, in which case i'm out of this thread.

The genealogies/Genesis put life existence and solar systems makeup at roughly 6,000 years. Genesis does not put matter existence at 6,000 years though.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Um, since health food is pretty much the opposite of fast food, and you said fast food is like religion and it's all bad (I guess?) and health food (atheism?) requires personal study and contemplation...what are you even saying?

 

[Dak]

Um, since health food is pretty much the opposite of fast food, and you said fast food is like religion and it's all bad (I guess?) and health food (atheism?) requires personal study and contemplation...what are you even saying?

Guess I should have pointed out I was correlating God(YHWH to be specific) with food. Like I said, probably was a piss poor analogy.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

So, he's food...because you need him? I'm doing a good job living without YHWH I think. I'm...alive anyway.

 

[Dak]

Well I would say people do need him to live a full life but that is beside the point.

The point being you can't throw out the concept of God purely because [religion] is bad.

 

[Blind Guardian]

The genealogies/Genesis put life existence and solar systems makeup at roughly 6,000 years. Genesis does not put matter existence at 6,000 years though.

So there existed no life more than 6000 years ago? That's equally insane.

 

[Dak]

So there existed no life more than 6000 years ago? That's equally insane.

If dating techniques are dating the age of matter as opposed to the age of life, I don't see how it's that insane.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

The point being you can't throw out the concept of God purely because [religion] is bad.

OK, I can accept that pure spirituality and religion are separate things, and the concept of "God" (not Yahweh) can exist within a non-theist's mind, but I still don't really get what you are saying. If I hate religion, I'm hating the entirety of its tenets. Which I do.

 

[Dak]

So you don't believe in true love because prostitutes and divorce exist?

 

[Blind Guardian]

If dating techniques are dating the age of matter as opposed to the age of life, I don't see how it's that insane.

The C14 method uses the point where a living organism stops absorbing carbon; when it dies, as a way to determine age. This method has been used to find a 10000 year old settlement near where i live.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

The Christian concept of love is fucking stupid and trying to impose it on me is silly. That said, the concept of love is really one of the only things I'm at odds with Nietzsche about so clearly I think love exists, true love definitely exists in a certain way that I'm really not ready to declare because I haven't experienced it (as much as I may have previously thought I did).

 

[Dak]

The Christian concept of love is fucking stupid and trying to impose it on me is silly. That said, the concept of love is really one of the only things I'm at odds with Nietzsche about so clearly I think love exists, true love definitely exists in a certain way that I'm really not ready to declare because I haven't experienced it (as much as I may have previously thought I did).

I wasn't referring to [Christian love]. My point was that despite bad substitutes or ripoffs of "love", you still believe that theres a "Mrs Right" out there.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

If that's really what you want to find me guilty of saying, sure. I believe it.

 

[Dak]

The C14 method uses the point where a living organism stops absorbing carbon; when it dies, as a way to determine age. This method has been used to find a 10000 year old settlement near where i live.

Yes but with the variables that affect C-14 dating, just off the top of my head, the generally accepted "water canopy" theory pre-flood could skew anything older than aforementiond flood, and 6000-10000 isn't that big of a jump [relativily speaking],since you have all the other dating going into millions and billions of years and C-14 dating has a limit of accuracy around 60,000 years. So we can't even attempt to trace life farther back, at least not that I am aware of.

If that's really what you want to find me guilty of saying, sure. I believe it.

So why wouldn't religion and God be the same thing? Throw out religion, find God anyway.

 

[Blind Guardian]

Yes relatively speaking there's no big time leap between 6000 and 10000. But even so that still proves that The Bible is wrong.