Whenever a question arises as to what the Bible teaches, nothing ever seems to be set in stone. There is debate as to what is parable and what is fact, what words really mean, and lets not even get into the Book of Revelations. As it now stands, you can pretty much justify any position using the Bible, making it useless as a source of authority.
How did Judas die?
How old is the Earth?
What is meant by “Thou shalt not kill”?
And many more.
Would it be possible to write a clarified version that labeled parables, stories and facts, that defined or updated words so that we actually understood what was being said, that gave prophesies that were clear and concise and without multiple interpretations?
And what happens when someone determines that something is being treated as a fact by the bible, but clear anthropological and archeological evidence evidence points it out as a fiction?
IMHO that’s what makes it so useful as a source of authority, and explains much of its appeal. If the bible was reduced to just the commandments (all of them) and they’d all be unambigious and strictly followed, christianity wouldn’t have survived more than a couple of hundred years.
The title of your OP asks whether the Bible is flawed. To answer the question whether something is flawed, we have to know what it’s supposed to do. Your OP seems to be based on an idea that the Bible is supposed to be capable of use as “a source of authority.”
I’m not sure what kind of authority you’re talking about. What kind of authority are you talking about? And why do you think the Bible is supposed to be capable of use as a source of that kind of authority?
How does one decide, for example, which creation story is the correct one? Or which 10 Commandments are the Real Deal?
For that matter, which is a parable and which is not?
And the whole point of ambiguous prophecies is so they can be interpreted as you wish. It’s a cardinal rule of soothsayers. Nostrodamus wouldn’t be worshipped as he is today if he had been definite on anything.
I’m quite sure you could find “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” L. Ron’s “Dianetics,” and “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” somewhere in the Library of Congress. Does that make the LoC fatally flawed?
It is an apposite parallel. The Bible is an anthology of a wide selection of ancient books from a variety of sources and written in a variety of styles. It is only the Modernist tendency to look on everything as either factual historical narrative or false in some way that produces this scenario – Genesis 1 is no more ‘false’ than Oedipus Rex is false – both contain eternal verities told in a style that is not Time Magazine reportage. There should be nothing in the world more obvious than that the Jews loved story – haggadic fabulism with a point. Why regard Scripture by a standard that nothing else can live up to either? Because someone makes outrageously hypertrophied claims about it? File them with the “Bush and Obama are both secretly controlled by the Illuminati” nutbars.
Flawed how? Flawed as in not perfect? Obviously. Flawed as in totally useless? I don’t think so. It does have some good advice, but a lot of it is just ancient superstition.
Well, he would be if had been definite and correct.
Right. Unlike, say, the Koran, which Muslims claim is a single work dictated by God himself, the Christian (and/or Jewish) Bible is a collection of writings in a variety of genres. Some of it is intended as history (though not as a modern historian would write it), some of it’s poetry, some of it’s practical wisdom, some of it’s parables, legends, and folklore, some of it’s letters containing a mix of theology and rules for living, some general, some addressed to a particular situation. What does it mean for poetry to be “flawed”? Whatever it means, it’s different from what it means for a work of history to be flawed.
Christians consider it, collectively, to be the “word of God,” but they differ widely as to what that means, what kind of authority it has, etc. Almost certainly, some of these understandings of how the Bible is to be used are flawed.
Depends on what you mean by “correct”: Which is the one the ancient Hebrews told to their children? Which one better explains the human condition through symbol or parable? Which one corresponds to what you’d actually see if you could jump in a time machine?
I think some of the problems you’re having with the bible aren’t specific to it, and in fact come from the fact that it’s used as a source of authority. What this means, though, is that people will use it to find interpretations that support their beliefs. You find this in every religion, and not just there. Look at the different interpretations people have come up with regarding the US Constitution, for instance.
Given the disparity of the sources of the various passages of the Bible, it blows my mind that so many people can guarantee to themselves that each and every bit is the inerrant word of God.
The origins are “mysterious”, so that means it must have a supernatural origin just becaue you imagine it to be so, right?
Nicely done. One criterion I find useful is to figure out what a given book was originally supposed to do. Why was Luke written, for example? Job? Ruth? Romans? When you have an answer you’re comfortable with for those questions, you can begin to reason sensibly about how to understand their contents.
They’re looking for security, certitude, in a world that doesn’t promise it. Somebody pronounces that you can find it in this hyere Book, so they flock to it – and start coming out with “logical” conclusions that the entire freakin’ world is lying to us, because it contradicts what a given Bible passage would be if it were written as Chapter N of “A Child’s History of the World”.
Czarcasm, maybe a better question to ask is, what is it good for? Seems to be good as a work of literature, for example. There is probably some actual history that you can untangle from the myths.
Is what you’re asking, since the bible seems to be so self-contradictory, how can it be used as, say, a moral compass? It does seem to be, well, worthless as a guide to how to live since nearly everyone seems to have their own interpretation and gets their own rules out of it. Homosexuality is bad! No, it’s not! Divorce is OK! No, it’s not! Work on the Sabbath, don’t work on the Sabbath, killing is bad except when it’s not. Making money is OK, but you should live like a pauper. Get saved through faith! No, through works! No, both!
The result seems to be that the Bible is absolutely authoritive and clearly written, for those things I agree with. And, it’s obviously just a metaphor for those things I don’t agree with.
However, it’s not worthless as a source of poetry, some history (or at least a guide as to where to start digging to find out what really may have been going on), some pithy aphorisms, interesting, if baffling, stories.
The Bible is the Word of God, who IS God. How can you expect man to understand God on his own? Man is not capable of understanding God unless God allows and teaches man.
That path is available to man, God’s word points out how to do it. ‘Seek the Lord with all your heart’ and ‘lean not on your own understanding’. But few take these instructions and then don’t understand the truth of the Word.
In man’s understanding the Word of God can not make sense and would appear flawed. But follow God’s instructions and you will see that the Word it absolutely true and man’s understanding of the world is fatally flawed.
By falling from grace, which happened before he was born.
I believe about the 5000 yrs, possibly a lot younger
, or murder, Killing is the process of causing another to ‘fall’ and is committed in the heart. IMHO it is a condition of the heart that sets events into motion to cause a person to lose their life.
And many more.
It is clear if you follow God’s instructions, and properly labeled. It is God who wants to reveal His truth, God does not want you to learn deep insight of His Word from man, as it is God who gets the glory, plus He is your Father and delights in teaching His children personally.
Jesus was predestined to die. It was his purpose. Judas then, was predestined to be the betrayer. That was his purpose. So, if he was born to play a predetermined role, and was cursed/damned/“not a very nice person” for it, how would this square with justice, mercy, free will, and all that other inconvenient stuff? He was doing what he was supposed to do. If he hadn’t, there would be no crucifixion/resurrection/christianity.