Image123:

@mantraa
That which you have(the Bible), study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed,rightly dividing the Word of truth.When you finish that course if you can(because its inexhaustible),then seek for more knowledge.

For you to truly understand the bible, you must study about the bible this includes bible history and origins. You must also understand the circumstances surrounding each book of the bible you read hence it might confused you or be quoted out of context. The bible is truly a very intersting book to read, but you would never be able to truly appreciate it or understand it under the tutelage of of organized religion. You have to read it with an open mind.

I have read the bible from cover to cover many years ago before i studied engineering at university. Reading it again with an open mind and the knowledge that i now have of the sciences including physics, geology, chemistry, astromony, and the origin and properties of materials is actually causing me to question a lot of the stories contained within it.
I understand the fact that when it was written, people did not understand the nature of this world and the universe as we do now, but as it was written by God, then why does a lot of it not make sense.
Like for instance: the stars falling down from the sky and being trampled underfoot. People didnt know how big stars are back then, but now we know that it would be impossible.
Or the story of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still at Gideon and the moon to stay over the valley of Aijalon so that his army could have a longer day to finish their slaughter when they thought that the enemy was about to escape under cover of darkness. We now know that the planets rotate around the sun and not the sun around the earth as was thought back then.
Poor old Gallileo was arrested by the church, charged with heresy, thrown in prison, forced to recant his research and finally put in house arrest until he died for publishing what is now known as a fact!
As a lifelong christian, but also with my knowledge of the sciences i am having difficulty with many other passages in the bible which i wont go into now.
A work colleague has recommended i read a book called "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. I saw it on amazon and see it has some very good reviews. Has anyone else read it?

@kunleoshob

For you to truly understand the bible, you must study about the bible this includes bible history and origins. You must also understand the circumstances surrounding each book of the bible you read hence it might confused you or be quoted out of context. The bible is truly a very intersting book to read, but you would never be able to truly appreciate it or understand it under the tutelage of of organized religion. You have to read it with an open mind.

I agree this things are good to study i.e history and origin.Some of us also study them and appreciate them.But they are not compulsory or pre requisite to understanding the Word of God.I've seen people who knew little or no history and yet are enviable Christians who have their names in the book of life and are going to heaven.They live fulfilled and prosperous lifes according to the promise of God.The sure way to understanding the Bible is to be a true child of God, to have the Spirit of God, and to remember all you have read in the Word as you read.It is the Spirit that gives life to the Word.Personal braggadocio and brilliance in maths and english wouldn't help.the letter killeth

@mantraa

I have read the bible from cover to cover many years ago before i studied engineering at university. Reading it again with an open mind and the knowledge that i now have of the sciences including physics, geology, chemistry, astromony, and the origin and properties of materials is actually causing me to question a lot of the stories contained within it.
I understand the fact that when it was written, people did not understand the nature of this world and the universe as we do now, but as it was written by God, then why does a lot of it not make sense.
Like for instance: the stars falling down from the sky and being trampled underfoot. People didnt know how big stars are back then, but now we know that it would be impossible.
Or the story of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still at Gideon and the moon to stay over the valley of Aijalon so that his army could have a longer day to finish their slaughter when they thought that the enemy was about to escape under cover of darkness. We now know that the planets rotate around the sun and not the sun around the earth as was thought back then.
Poor old Gallileo was arrested by the church, charged with heresy, thrown in prison, forced to recant his research and finally put in house arrest until he died for publishing what is now known as a fact!
As a lifelong christian, but also with my knowledge of the sciences i am having difficulty with many other passages in the bible which i wont go into now.
A work colleague has recommended i read a book called "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. I saw it on amazon and see it has some very good reviews. Has anyone else read it?

As you said,you still need to study it.Infact the Bible encourages us to study it daily.Meditate on it day and night.Study prayerfully and wih the help of the Spirit of God not just brain work.The bible is a spiritual book.Also build your biblical understanding's foundations on what the Bible says e.g I dont recall the bible saying that people were trampling on stars as stated above in bold or that the earth was created a particular number of yrs ago etc.Also hear that sciece study corroborates the story of Joshua delayuing he sun and moon.The Bible doesn't anywhere say that the earth is flat.It actually hinted that the earth was round in Isaiah.Anyway, signs and wonders are not orinary happenings.they are MIRACLES.i.e the laws and theories in physics and engneering may not cover them.It takes faith.What does science know by the way?they're still doing research.They just beginning to understand how things function

OLAADEGBU:

@~Lady~,
And if your answer is No, that you don't believe that the decalogue was to be read literally, or that it was allergorical, then do you believe what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 19:4-6 that "Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female . . ." as He quoted from Gen. 1:26-27 and 2:21-25

My question is do you or the Vatican think that Jesus really believe that the creation account as recorded in Genesis was literal or allegorical? Your answer to these questions will give us a clear idea who your allegiance is to.

Rules that were created by a perfect God ought to be perfect, these laws were not so either they are a sham or your God is not perfect.

Chrisbenogor:

Rules that were created by a perfect God ought to be perfect, these laws were not so either they are a sham or your God is not perfect.

The moral laws is just the software that reminds you of the hardware written in your conscience, no matter how often you try to rewrite or silence the prompts of your conscience by evolutionary theories.  So you have no choice as to being created by God or as to dying a physical death, the choice you have now is to change your destiny in eternity by believing the gospel truth and practising the user manual for life.

I dont know if you guys know this but there is a huge problem with the ten commandments as followed by us Christians, considering that it is the most important part of the bible and written by God himself.

The first set of commandments in exodus 20 was later smashed to pieces by Moses when he came down from the mountain and saw the people dancing before the golden calf. He had to go back up the mountain to get them again!

It is quite revealing to read exodus 34: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and i will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, " So Moses obeyed, "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did eat neither bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, The Ten Commandments"

Here is the list Moses got the second time around:

1. Thou shalt worship no other god
2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
3. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep.
4. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest.
5. Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks.
6. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord God.
7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.
8. Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of passover be left until the
morning.
9.The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the
Lord thy God.
10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milk.

As you can see, the first, second and fourth commandments are the same, exept that 'molten' rather than 'graven' images are verboten; but the others are totally different. Did God lose his memory? What happened to murder, theft and perjury? Notice that these are not additional commandments; they are "the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest".
So, if you have ever been tempted to boil a goat in the milk of its mother, now you know better.

Other religions also have lists of laws. For example; The "Ten Precepts" of Buddhism (at least 500 BC) include:
1. Abstinence from destrying life.
2. Abstinence from stealing.
3. Abstinence from impurity.
4. Abstinence from lying.
5. Abstinence from strong drinks and intoxicating liquor,
And five more rules for monks only.

Notice that these are "precepts". not commandments, and that they also contain prohibitions against killing, stealing and lying, which did not originate on Mount Sinai.
This just shows that the human race has a tendency to make behaviour lists and that the Ten Commandments is not unique. Yet the first ten has been presented to the world by Christians as the highest code of moral conduct ever created. What about the new Ten Commandments after Moses smashed the first lot? Where they not the ten that were put into to ark of the covenant?

I thought huxley was joking about the exodus 34 being the most important, but good thing you are seeing the reality of the commandments why would a God thinking of boiling a child in the mothers milk.
Sick!

This exodus 20 & 34 issue is really thought provoking, maybe that is why Jesus Christ summarised the ten commandments in to two when asked about it.

Matthew 22:35-40:

35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Surely kunle you know that keeping slaves is not loving your neighbour as yourself or is it?

Chrisbenogor:

Surely kunle you know that keeping slaves is not loving your neighbour as yourself or is it?

@chris

lol. is kunle a slavetrader?

@carmelily
Lol I no talk so oh na question I ask.

ah! i been wan fear o!

@carmelily
How body any better these days, this place is becoming boring.

Hello, Chris

Everywhere's really boring! Any ideas?

Where is ~Lady~ or her brethren to come and answer the questions posted in post 59 and 68 or are they in hiding?

Hello carm,
I raised a thread about best and worst posters intended to be pure fun as it is on other sections but trust religious people they are just too serious.

Chrisbenogor:

Hello carm,
I raised a thread about best and worst posters intended to be pure fun as it is on other sections but trust religious people they are just too serious.

Abeg where link? _{goes off in search of the contentious thread}

@ chris

can't find thread

I already bumped up the thread.

KunleOshob:

This exodus 20 & 34 issue is really thought provoking, maybe that is why Jesus Christ summarised the ten commandments in to two when asked about it.

Matthew 22:35-40:

35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

An interesting observation to bear in mind is the fact that the scribes that wrote the OT and copied and transcribed it numerous times must themselves have been aware of the discrepancies. Ah ha! They were not stupid now! Yet they put it in there.

Well, either they were stupid and weren't reading their own works, or they knew what they were doing and there is more to it than meets the eye.

@pastor
Just a wild guess but just maybe the documentary hypothesis analysis could give you a clue.