(January 10, 2015 at 10:29 am)whateverist Wrote:(January 10, 2015 at 9:08 am)Grasshopper Wrote: It's like no one's even read what I wrote
Just read it. So would you say the bible's intended audience has come and passed? Is it still relevant today?
Of more interest to me is why you think the bible is of special value. Isn't it a book like any other subject to interpretation like all the rest? Why do so many Christians read it to receive direction on how to lead their lives? Why do so many think it is a book of authoritative facts (such as the age of the earth) which should be believed in lieu of empirical research?
You know I don't know why people read it. Hell I don't know why I read it. I haven't completed it yet. But most people get stuck during the first five or six books thinking it endorses evil. I take the bible to be factual ( or semi factual) only from the book of Samuel onwards.
But the later books in the old testament and epistles in the new are often ignored or overlooked by atheists and I admit some christians.
For example there's one in which a person is angry at god and questions him rudely about why bad things happen to good people. He later gets an answer and believes.
Then there's a book about a man testifies about getting hope once he put faith in god after something happened. Then there's proverbs, that talks about wisdom, psalms, which have uses even in modern life.
The epistles of paul are good. Especially colossians. Then again I haven't completed it yet so can't go into much detail