Since I have joined Armorgams . . .I see a lot of Atheists and their threads about why people believe in God etc . . . I wanted to start a thread about the bible and christianity.
The purpose of this thread is to debate a different book of the bible each week. We will discuss lessons, morals, and different stories.
We will have friendly debates. Please . . . if you are atheist or of other beliefs . . . you may discuss in this thread, just PLEASE no fighting, flaming, spamming, trolling . . . etc
This week we will begin from the beginning . . . .Genesis
Well . . .Since it is Friday, we will change Books. Now we will be in the book of Revelation. As requested by TSL3. To begin with, what are your thoughts about the book in general?
hmm... About the world ending huh? Well, that'll happen, just not now.
'In a time of great crisis...' Oops... Well, America's in a 'time of great crisis' economically, meaning that Obama might just be the anti-christ XD. jk.
Well, I personally think a lot of it is metaphorical. Like the Four Horsemen - War, Death, Famine, and Pestilence. I think that it's reasonably doubtful that there will be actual horsemen carrying those names riding around, but it could symbolize war, death, famine and pestilence spreading around the world, which is a conjecture I can support.
Like the Four Horsemen - War, Death, Famine, and Pestilence. I think that it's reasonably doubtful that there will be actual horsemen carrying those names riding around, but it could symbolize war, death, famine and pestilence spreading around the world, which is a conjecture I can support.
I totally agree.
[/quote]Famine, not so much[quote]
What about in Africa and other poverty stricken countries?
Is this the book where is says at the end of the world we will come back witho our perfect bodies like Jesus did? If so i wonder what my perfect body will look like...
Wow is alt actually agreeing with us.... lol jk alt =D Ya i think its a metaphore for those disasters, Famine might be the food and water shortages in small countries like snazzy said.
I think there is a lot of metaphorica (yay for inventing words!) in the Bible. A lot of the stories are too outlandish to be correct - so I think lots of them are metaphors for possible occurrences or morals.
I think there is a lot of metaphorica (yay for inventing words!) in the Bible. A lot of the stories are too outlandish to be correct - so I think lots of them are metaphors for possible occurrences or morals.
No doubt that's true. However, the danger in interpretation comes when we start to oversymbolize, i.e. overspiritualize the events in the Bible. The Israelites held these annals of judges, prophets, and kings to be historically factual, and we have received archaeological evidence to the effect.
As for outlandishness, it depends what you're referring to. You'd have to ask on a case by case basis about that.
I'd have to say Revelation is one of the trickiest books to read precisely because of the metaphors. Whether it is a representative prophecy or a literal reading of events is subject to personal interpretation. My own perception is a moderate stance, but leaning towards literal, to be consistent with my interpretation about the other books and towards the Bible as a whole.
You'd have to ask on a case by case basis about that.
Exactly. Though I'd call it a generalization that, for all intents and purposes, can be applied here. Not all of the stories are outlandish and highly improbably, but some are - and I assume that we'll stumble on one of them if this thread continues as it has been. and then, we'll have at it >
the danger in interpretation comes when we start to oversymbolize
I'd agree. We can't give the writers of the Bible too much credit - though we shouldn't give them insufficient credit either. I'd call the Bible, if not the Ultimate truth or something, to be a masterwork of literature - and we need to make sure that we don't give over- or insufficient credit. Especially when the thing to be interpreted is as important, old and cryptic as the Bible, interpretation can be very difficult.
I'd call the Bible, if not the Ultimate truth or something, to be a masterwork of literature - and we need to make sure that we don't give over- or insufficient credit. Especially when the thing to be interpreted is as important, old and cryptic as the Bible, interpretation can be very difficult.
That's quite true. Interpretation of the Bible is very difficult. In fact, the book of Revelations is one of the hardest to interpret.
So I guess the Lamb is Jesus then...
Yes, the Lamb, or more precisely, the Lamb of God is Jesus. When Jesus is referred to as the Lamb, it means that he is the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin. God sent Jesus as a sacrifice to forgive us of our sins.
On another note, I'm really shocked at what I call "Biblical illiteracy." People assume that just because they're not Christian, they shouldn't read the Bible, which is totally untrue. You cannot possibly understand fully the history or the literature of two millenia of western civilization without reading the Bible. Believe what you want about it, but I believe that everyone should read the Bible as a masterpiece of literature, if not a book of truth.
