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Old 08-12-2003, 01:40 PM   #25 (permalink)
lurkette
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I am more agnostic than atheist, but I certainly don't believe in the divinity of the Bible. (And I have read it through, cover to cover, several times.) I think you have to look at different pieces of it through different lenses. Some of the Old Testament is mythology, some of it is history, some of it is advice for how to live in those times in those places. I don't think any of it is the literal truth or divinely inspired - I think it's the written record of an ancient oral tradition. The New Testament is even more problematic. The gospels were written at different times, by people who may or may not have been present at the events described. The entire works of Paul are suspect IMHO. He exhibited what would be described in modern terms as schizoid symptoms, and much of his work is vitriolic and small-minded, and I don't know why they saw fit to include so many of his epistles. The canonization of the New Testament was full of political intrigue, and many books were discarded because they didn't suit the purposes of those present at Nicea. (I think there's a book called The Lost Books of the Bible that describes other works that were left out and why - I heard the author on NPR. If anyone knows the actual title I'd be grateful.)

Again, I don't think the New Testament is divinely inspired and I don't think that Jesus was the son of god. Look at the Dionysus myth for a suspiciously similar resurrection story that precedes the supposed resurrection of Jesus by a whopping number of centuries, and tell me that the divinity of Jesus wasn't invented by a bunch of opportunists who saw a way to spread their interests throughout the Latin and Hellenic cultures.
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