Posted by laramiebob on 12/21/2022 10:30:00 AM (view original):
Matt. Please weigh in (for me) on the "claim"/fact that Jesus had siblings. A couple of bros and a couple of sisters. Apparently the actual names of 2(?) of the brothers are known. I had never heard of this in all my years (until recently).............what say you?

Posted by laramiebob on 12/21/2022 10:28:00 AM (view original):
"...for what he gave us to write down."

What? does this mean? US??
What do you mean, us?
A select few white men? What?

Why is it always us? What makes us so daggone special?
Why not them?
Why isn't their spirituality as good as ours/yours/mine?

It's arrogance. Pure and simple.
And that kind of thinking was the primary cause of OUR inability to learn from those who came before.
And what dooms us to self-destruction.

IMO, of course.

Posted by Mwett on 12/21/2022 10:46:00 AM (view original):

Bible was altered to fit the Christian narrative (obviously not by Christians...).

Thanx for including end tag; very fair of you. It's tough enough when doubters or worse fight our whataboutisms for us.

I subscribe to the melting pot of Christian Protestantism which unfortunately and routinely is pointed at by others as having enough of its own in-fighting with different denominations. What I haven't and won't at this time is introduce Catholicism into the mix which is part of what you reference. Completely different ballgame which adds to the confusion. While there's many good Catholic people (as there are in many other beliefs) and some do claim Christ, corporately and led by their heads of state even while initially having good intentions, turns out to be a disservice of apples Christ from the heart to oranges by deeds and works. When people talk about walking away from the church, how many happy Christians do you come across relatively speaking compared to generally stern and gloomy Catholics ?

Posted by Mwett on 12/21/2022 11:47:00 AM (view original):
Honest civil discourse is what I offered, yet by its definition is something that's not of interest by more than a few in this forum, nor my Christ, only in attempting to trick or trip us up. But knock yourself out with a merry seminary festival but I already know it'll lead to nowhere but a lot of dumb disagreements like everything else around here and 0 prospects of actually winning or flipping anyone. I have enough Bible study in my life with like-minded individuals not trying to tear each other down but edify and build each other up to not have to fight the lnf or doug fight with those nowhere remotely near interested in honesty and civility.

Posted by Mwett on 12/21/2022 10:58:00 AM (view original):

Posted by laramiebob on 12/21/2022 10:28:00 AM (view original):
"...for what he gave us to write down."

What? does this mean? US??
What do you mean, us?
A select few white men? What?

Why is it always us? What makes us so daggone special?
Why not them?
Why isn't their spirituality as good as ours/yours/mine?

It's arrogance. Pure and simple.
And that kind of thinking was the primary cause of OUR inability to learn from those who came before.
And what dooms us to self-destruction.

IMO, of course.

"Us" being I believe original believers, who based on their geography probly weren't white. Jesus probly wasn't either and I and many who are of all the different worldwide colors are ok with that. Who said anything about race ? I'd suggest you be reeeeaaally careful right about now . . .

Posted by tangplay on 12/21/2022 1:51:00 PM (view original):
Yall my family is very Christian and I gotta say the Bible isn't the word of God, and biblical literalism is really, really dumb. Most of genesis is metaphor. It's very obvious. Come on, guys.

Posted by lostnfound74 on 12/25/2022 12:50:00 AM (view original):

Posted by Mwett on 12/21/2022 10:58:00 AM (view original):

Posted by laramiebob on 12/21/2022 10:28:00 AM (view original):
"...for what he gave us to write down."

What? does this mean? US??
What do you mean, us?
A select few white men? What?

Why is it always us? What makes us so daggone special?
Why not them?
Why isn't their spirituality as good as ours/yours/mine?

It's arrogance. Pure and simple.
And that kind of thinking was the primary cause of OUR inability to learn from those who came before.
And what dooms us to self-destruction.

IMO, of course.

"Us" being I believe original believers, who based on their geography probly weren't white. Jesus probly wasn't either and I and many who are of all the different worldwide colors are ok with that. Who said anything about race ? I'd suggest you be reeeeaaally careful right about now . . .

Lefties, I have a new commandment for you. STOP making every comment a racist thing. it gets tiring

and have a very Merry Christmas

Posted by bruceleefan on 12/21/2022 11:10:00 AM (view original):

Posted by Mwett on 12/21/2022 10:46:00 AM (view original):

Bible was altered to fit the Christian narrative (obviously not by Christians...).

Thanx for including end tag; very fair of you. It's tough enough when doubters or worse fight our whataboutisms for us.

I subscribe to the melting pot of Christian Protestantism which unfortunately and routinely is pointed at by others as having enough of its own in-fighting with different denominations. What I haven't and won't at this time is introduce Catholicism into the mix which is part of what you reference. Completely different ballgame which adds to the confusion. While there's many good Catholic people (as there are in many other beliefs) and some do claim Christ, corporately and led by their heads of state even while initially having good intentions, turns out to be a disservice of apples Christ from the heart to oranges by deeds and works. When people talk about walking away from the church, how many happy Christians do you come across relatively speaking compared to generally stern and gloomy Catholics ?

You edited the quote...

It is a well-accepted fact that the King James Bible was altered to fit the Christian narrative (obviously not by Christians...).

When I say (obviously not by Christians) I mean to say while it is a well-established fact, obviously this is not well-accepted among Christians.

I 100% disagree with the concept that having honest, civil discourse concerning the Bible while non-believers are "in the room" is inherently bad.

I think one of the things that drive non-believers away more than almost any other single item is the refusal of "Christians" to intelligently discuss legitimate and well reasoned objections they have concerning the Bible, it's authenticity, and (real or imagined) contradictions and inconsistencies.