My feelings are that the bible is merely a scrap book of a mixture of mainly fairy tales, with a smattering of probable truths., this guy did probably once exist, but the overall acceptance by millions of his different followers, over the centuries, has brought nothing but death and destruction to millions of innocent people. and continues unabated to this day.. A non believer certainly interprets the bible in a different way to the faithful. [ faith is that characteristic which one must have, in order for the follower to believe the unbelievable. ].

Early on Christianity separated from it's Jewish origins. The Bible was then interpreted literally using pagan magical ideas. Early anti Semitism led to a complete devaluation of the original Hebrew understanding of both the old and new testament. This is why there is virtually no logic behind traditional Christian interpretations and why these interpretations are susceptible to illogical magical thinking. They are all equally invalid.

I lean toward allowing only Jews to interpret the Old Testament. Christians get crazy with the Old Testament.

How do you interpret Harry Potter? Who cares, it's fiction. Every Christian interprets it differently, anyway which takes away more credibility.

I started my degree in religious studies with the outlook that the Bible is the word of God. I just assumed God wrote it. Then, I came to learn more about the history of Christianity and the formation of the Bible and completely change my interpretation of how it works.

A believer approaches the Bible looking to confirm its veracity while those who don't believe will be looking at it more skeptically. If you start with the belief that you're reading the words of the creator of everything, it's not easy to back off that position. Skepticism will lead you to find the explanation that best fits the evidence.

This is good...watch
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The Bible was written by many authors with many ideas of what god was. So we have many opinions of God's opinions in the book. Interpretation is the readers opinion of the authors opinion of God's opinions. We have many translations of the bible. So now we have translators opinions of the original authors opinions, of God's opinion that must be assessed through the readers opinions, that all end up with different opinions of what it actually ment.
Of course that's just my opinion.

May be the same information but is not the same frame of mind. Perception, purpose of the reader. Agenda. Never the same result.

yes its a waste of a good tree

I actually began my quest for truth by examining the origins of the Bible. That religious section of any library will always have a few dozen books on the subject. If you want to have a debate with Christians on this topic, then it is mandatory to understand the Septuagint, The Vulgate, and the origins of the King James Bible.

Like the game telephone, each interpretation changes to fit the orthodoxy of the time, but there are no intact originals.

It’s because you he Bible is so vague, so haphazardly compiled and so inconsistent that you have to think up clever ways to recincike it with itself. There’s also no absolute truth outside logic. It would be nice to treat it as a historical document and reconcile it or at least explain it historically, but being a “holy book” that’s not possible.

I don't believe in absolute truth, but the bible is a book written by many authors at different times. And I believe that has helped it's longevity. If one shoe doesn't fit, there is a whole shoe store to shop from in that book.

I'm a questioning Christian and my fellow Christians have labeled me as a non believer because I question God's word. I think the Bible is out dated. Not sure if I'm agnostic, believer or even athiest.