LINK Nashville Pastor Criticized After Admitting the Bible Isn’t the “Word of God” | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos
GracePointe Church, a progressive Christian church in Nashville, posted a graphic on Facebook earlier this month explaining their stance on the Bible. Like other more liberal Christians, they accept that it’s a man-made book, full of errors and contradictions and indefensible passages, but still worth taking seriously for other reasons. They also don’t think it should be used as a science book — take that, Ken Ham — or as a weapon against LGBTQ people.
The image they posted, however, got conservatives riled up because it also claimed the Bible was not “the Word of God”:
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Serious truth-seekers get criticized often by those who are lacking in understanding of what constitutes a free and responsible search for truth.
AlasBabylon
Level 8
Mar 7, 2021
2
I don’t have anything against realistic Christians like this. I’m pagan and wife Presbyterian. Her pastor (woman) does not believe the Bible word for word. The pastor-ess lol, knows I’m Pagan and admits Pagans are pro earth and she’s environmentally responsible too! She lets me enlighten the congregation on the original origin (usually pagan) of each holiday we come too
SocialDarwin
Level 5
Feb 24, 2021
2
This "Word of God" image is ridiculous, when any intelligent person gives it some serious thought. It's as though the faithful believe that the authors were taking dictation from the almighty ... something he apparently is no longer interested in doing, by the way. To those who claim to have heard the 'Voice of God,' I would like to know what it is they actually heard. The voice of a baritone? A soprano? Did this voice use a formal dialect, or did it resort to a more common form of speech? Is the Voice of God, like Data, unable to use contractions?
Or perhaps there was no voice, just an assertion that the authors were 'inspired' by God. If that were the case, the Bible would surpass all writings of its time, and even the future. It would be superior in all that it comments upon, from its biology to its astronomy to its history to its morality. Can any honest and objective person claim that the Bible clearly attests to its 'inspiration' when comparing it to all of the other so-called uninspired books?
Does its morality surpass that of the Buddha? Are its dictates an improvement on the ancient Hindu Vedas? Does its commentary on the sciences show an advancement beyond the common wisdom of its day and region? Could the authors of the Bible claim an awareness of Newtonian physics? And when reading it as literature, could we truly say the Bible is of greater quality than Shakespeare?
p-nullifidian
Level 8
Feb 23, 2021
2
Why do Christians think parts of their bible are called "the book of Luke" or the book of Peter?
Maybe because those parts were written by Luke & Peter & etc?
Alienbeing
Level 8
Feb 21, 2021
1
Actually NONE of the New Testaments were written by ANY of the so-called Mythical Apostles since it WAS WRITTEN circa 327 C.E. AFTER the Council of Nicaea DECIDED what it should contain as the Bible of the Messianic Sect/Cult which become Christianity ONLY after the 2nd Council of Nicaea decided upon its present name.
@Triphid You are correct, however some of what was attributed to various Apostles probably came from them. I really don't know, nor care that much.
@Alienbeing Neither do I, but as one with a ThD who is also a Life-long Atheist btw, I find it 100% impossible that ANY of the Gospels attributed to ANY of the Mythological Apostles could have come from them since the intervene years of 300+ in number would make it 100% improbable that they'd be remotely accurate to start with at best.
Not only isnt it the word of god, the translation used by many evangelicals, King James, is considered one of the worst translations.
I was driving 700 miles yesterday and listening to various NPR stations. One quoted an evangelical minister who said that Jesus wrote the bible, and since the constitution was inspired by the bible, thus Jesus helped write the constitution. One cannot makeup more stupid than there actually is anymore.
Beowulfsfriend
Level 9
Feb 21, 2021
7
Read "The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American" by Andrew L. Seidel (an attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation). I actually honestly recommend this book to everyone here.
@phxbillcee For sure. 2 of our first four Presidents were Unitarian. And Jefferson made his own bible - cutting and pasting. And, the Constitution is based in part on the Iroquois Confederation (Franklin brought that to the meetings).
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