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"ven if I believe completely in the Christian conception of reality, how could I possibly trust a book that has been changed and translated and retranslated and reinterpreted so many times over the course of the intervening centuries?"
Hmm. Save, that in adopting a Christian worldview, no matter what brand of Christianity you adopted, you would invaribly be influenced and affected by the Bible as the founding document of the Church... Simply, i find it hard to imagine a Christian with out any trust in the bible.
That said, i'd share some concern with proof texting, the practice of simply quoting a verse with no context, in a manner designed to close off debate. "God Says"ing...so to speak. But, i also hate to give my context to every verse i cite...i want people to go read that verse, and to figure out what the context means to them...and while i'll often give my commentary, i try to fall short of "explaining" a verse, since i can only explain it to me, and even then, i'm often confused...its a tough document, and one that's very much alive to new thoughts, revelations, interpretations.
To the "who cares" allegation...i'd raise the question of sincerity. If you get in a debate with someone, but don't give a damn enough to fire up an online bible, and pop in a verse citation...i dunno if you really ought to be debateing. I will read any easily available outside sources a poster links to if it will help me understand their arguement....i don't think that's a unrealistic expectation.
To the idea that the bible is unreliable due to human causes...unreliable for what? I'd be the first one to acknowledge that there are places where the Bible, as we have it today, is mistaken and wrong. But, it's also one of the richest written spirirtual tradtitions on the planet, and freed from literalism and fundamentalism, has intensely relevant and meaningful things to say about our lives, and our relationship with God. And i don't think this is a assertion that must be taken on faith-simply in the study of scripture, i think there is great potential to learn, regardless of what authority one assigns to that scripture. To those who charge that the Bible, as a document is irrelevant in such as fashion as has been done here...i wonder how much time you've really spent reading it.
I don't mean this as an insult-i absolutely don't expect everyone to be a bible nerd, and to love reading it in their spare time. But i would hope that the citations we sometimes make will be invitations in to the text, and whether you think its a collection of myths or the eternal Word of God, i think you'll probably see something important.
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