(July 10, 2017 at 7:39 pm)Simon Moon Wrote: I don't believe that the evidence points to the Bible being designed to control people. It happens to be a great tool for that purpose, but it was not by design.Well ... it wasn't by design in the sense that hooded men met in secret to plot out how it was written.
However, as the core of a set of interlocking memes that eventually become Christianity, I believe that it organically evolved to be "a great tool for that purpose". It wasn't a plot ... it was simply the process of elimination of what works and what doesn't to frame people's reality in a way that compels them to participate, proselytize, defend against competing ideas, and, in so doing, keep people "in line" for that purpose.
All holy books share certain things in common, mainly that they are suitably vague templates that are adaptable to any age's requirements. That's all that there is to being "timeless". As such, it isn't simply that the book is effective at controlling people, but also that it's manipulatable for that purpose.
