Do you know more about the Bible than Christans?

[Shounen-Ai Fangirl Moegi]

Alright, I am a person that likes intelligent arguments- mainly on the topic of the supernatural and spiritual forces. Of course, if you are going to argue with someone, it's always good to get their side of the story. That’s only fair (and you can sometimes use that against them). Because the majority (and by majority I mean all) of my friends that also enjoy arguing with me are Christians, I read the Bible. In fact, I go to Bible study every Thursday just for the fun of it! I really am a fan of the Bible. It’s a great novel and that God character is absolutely evil! Sadly, the majority of these conversations aren’t as intelligent as I would like them to be. For example-

Moegi (dats me : D)- Okay, so you believe in the Bible, right?
Friend (I’m not going to use her name because this is a true story)- Yep.
Moegi- So why don’t you go to Church?
Friend- Cus I don’t have the time.
Moegi- but that’s one of the Ten Commandments. Ya know, remember the Sabbath day? For it is a holy day?
Friend- The Ten commandment don’t apply to me. I’m Baptist, not Chaotic.
Moegi- … Do you know what Leviticus is?
Friend- Uhhhh… no.
Moegi- Dude! You don’t even read your own set of morals set by the Lord your God! God hates you!
Friend- No he doesn’t! If you believe in Jesus and love him and if you are a heterosexual, God will love you and welcome you to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Moegi- Yes, yes he does! All that jackass cares about is for you to read his best seller, the Bible, and for you to abide by all of his laws like no porn, no sleeping around, and no getting drunk! You’re going to Hell! Don't make me go Westboro Baptist Church on your a**!
Friend- …I thought you didn’t believe in Hell.
Moegi- AHHH! (leaves the room in frustrartion)

 

[MercurialInK]

I know exactly what you mean.
I go to a very religious Jewish school, and I'm in the advanced Talmud and Gemarah track. This means that I get the advanced course on the laws of the bible as debated over a period of thousands of years, in at least fifteen different languages and hundreds of dialects, and over a distance of thousands of miles.

In this class, you have to know at least two languages fluently (Hebrew and Aramaic) and be able to read Rashi text (the style of lettering specific to the most prolific and widely argued brilliant commentator on the old testament ((Rumors that the questions in his commentaries were really those of his students and that the text was invented and written up by his daughters notwithstanding...)). It is also like reading a coded script).

So. That being said, I get into scored of arguments like this:

((This gem happened in the hallway))

ME: Explain to me the morality behind yehudah leading the escaped hebrew in the land of cn'aan and forcing the people who lived there into exile? We had never had a claim to the land before. Sure, Abraham lived there, but is it really right that we take the whole country?

The Teacher: Well, actually, that's the reason it says in verse-

Arrogant Jackass passing by: You're a horrible person! How could you doubt what it says in the torah?

Me: Do you know what this is a conversation about?

A.J (The jackass): You want to give Israel back to the b*****d arabs even though it's always belonged to us! Why don't you convert to Islam? Go pray to Allah!


((This kid managed to fail the normal Prophets class. He obviously has a very bad grasp on the history of his religion, yet he's willing to get into screamig debates over it.))  

[Shounen-Ai Fangirl Moegi]

That is also a prime example of people not wanting to take the time to examine their own book of morals.  

[Xiporah]

I don't know jack s**t about the bible.

 

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

I'm jealous that you get to go to a school where you learn about the history of Judaism in such depth. (Even though I don't believe that God is real in the sense that a believer would, I've always been a Jew-at-heart even though I was not born one. I think Christianity is a bastardization of Judaism and goes totally against what Jesus actually taught.)

I'm not brushed up on my biblical skills right now as I've been concentrating on other things for the past few years. But I plan to do some studying soon when I get the chance. Since I grew up believing in it, I think it's important to know exactly what I've come to disagree with and why, and I'm actually currently wanting to do a comparison between the Old and New Testaments in order to validate my ideas about how Christianity is based on false interpretations of Judaism.

 

[MercurialInK]

Daffodil the Destroyer

I'm jealous that you get to go to a school where you learn about the history of Judaism in such depth. (Even though I don't believe that God is real in the sense that a believer would, I've always been a Jew-at-heart even though I was not born one. I think Christianity is a bastardization of Judaism and goes totally against what Jesus actually taught.)

I'm not brushed up on my biblical skills right now as I've been concentrating on other things for the past few years. But I plan to do some studying soon when I get the chance. Since I grew up believing in it, I think it's important to know exactly what I've come to disagree with and why, and I'm actually currently wanting to do a comparison between the Old and New Testaments in order to validate my ideas about how Christianity is based on false interpretations of Judaism.

We actually have a Jewish History class in which the teacher really talks to us about the origin of religion in general. We learned that Christ wasn't actually trying to create a new religion - he was trying to reform Judaism. He felt that having shops and markets near the temple was a true bastardization of religion and an affront to god. Christianity as a religion was developed by his followers, the majority of whom never actually met him, or were born decades later.
So yeah, Christianity pretty much screwed it in terms of what Jesus intended. They totally missed the point.

But hey, its not like the Jews ever misinterpret things. Just to give you some perspective:

The talmud has six books. Each book has hundreds of double sided pages. Each page has at least four different commentaries ASIDE from the actual debate taking place in the actual talmud.

If that weren't enough, the talmud is written debate style, so it sets up arguments between rabbis, many of whom never even met, living years apart. So when one rabbi makes an argument that has even the slightest scientific reference (Ie: cows dropping dead because of climbing mountains because of the change in the air) it's impossible to know if the opposing opinion, which was probably given a hundred years before and miles away, would still be an opposing opinion.

Oh- here's the best part! You see, most of the talmudic arguments about Jewish law end with the word 'teku'. This means, literally 'there is no answer'. This means that the Talmud is abstaining from judgement on the whole subject.

And this is just the Talmud, which is fairly straightforward, debate style. The actual torah jumps back and forth in time.

The fun thing about the torah is: It wasn't originally divided into books, parshas (weekly reading portions), paragraphs, sentences, or even words! It was all one big blog of text!

Also, hebrew consists of some 10,000 words. The average college graduate in an english speaking country has a command of over 100,000 english words.

Which means context is everything. Example:

"B'reshit Bara haelokim et haolam..."

This is the first part of the first sentence of the torah. It can be either read:

"In the beginning, god created the world..."
OR
"In the beginning of the creation, god..."


You see how these could have different translations? One translation points to a single absolute creation. The other hints at evolution and a continual progressing creation.

So it's really no wonder you find misinterpretations everywhere in religion. The founding text of monotheism is about as clear as a swamp.  

[Zambimaru]

I've only read random pages in the Bible. I plan on reading the hole thing someday. Probably when I retire. But right now, I don't have the patience for it. I have however read the Satanic Bible by Anton LeVey. definitely a good read.  

[Kurdt Donald Cobain]

I know more than many Christians. I could point out that the Bible says such and such phrase, but I couldn't tell you: "Oh that's in Matthew chapter 2 verse 5" or anything like that. Other than that, I do know more about what the bible teaches than most Christians, at least the ones I hang out with or talk to.  

[Isaac742]

I personally have read the bible, torah, qoran (still can never spell it), and book of mormon (you want crazy read this). Its funny that i can shut down most "ITS IN THE BIBLE" argumets like that jeses said homo sexuals were bad. Nope  

[Celestial Fireflies]

Sometimes I do, which is a huge surprise since I barely know anything about the bible. It's telling about someone's character when they blindly follow a book they know nothing about except, "IT'S THE TRUTH AND... UH... GOD HATES YOU YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!!!" Okay, buddy, whatever you think.  

[JohnnyRingo45]

most christians don't know jack about their "good book". That's only because religion is meant as a quick fix for them. They're christian because they want an excuse not to have to learn anything. Not true for most of course, just speaking of the ones who know nothing about what they put their faith in.  

[MahouTragicQueen]

That's why I'm only friends with devote Christians. I can learn the Bible without reading the whole thing.

Of course, I know more about the Bible than my mother, and she HAS read the whole thing, twice, and I've only read random parts.  

[LimeIzMyFaveColor]

although i am an atheist, i have to attend a church because of my parents. we had this like competition test. and i had the highest grade: 97 percent
so yeah I guess I do know more about the bible than they do.  

[Falhalterra]

I might have read the Children's Bible when I was younger and gotten a glance at Revelations, but otherwise, I never, ever read the Bible in full.

I don't mind looking at verses for proof, but I can't stand to actually read it. And besides, I grew up Baptist/New Age...which is a retarded form of guilt, in my opinion. And quite honestly, I fell out of the Christian spectrum faster than New Age, and the New Age fallout is a bit recent...like 1-2 months ago...maybe 3.  

[eduardo galpaleano]

I read the "My First Bible" thing when my parents were trying to be diverse in how they raised me, and when I was older I took it upon myself to read several books of the Bible... and I know for a fact that this is a ******** of a lot more than some people get. The only friend I have who has more knowledge than me AND is a Christian would be my good friend Matthew. He, however, is an extremely intelligent and well-educated man who is willing to debate his believes amongst atheists and Christians alike, and he acknowledges that a great amount of his fellow Christians are completely wrong. He's also an Episcopalian, and they seem to be more liberal. Although he's mostly still a conservative... sort of. Depends on the issue, I guess.