(April 30, 2015 at 5:15 pm)paulpablo Wrote: I don't think anyone really knows what the bible says, hasn't it been translated and re translated, copied and re copied.
You can still refer to the original texts in their original languages. They are remarkably well-preserved in about 7000 extant copies. How much is available depends of course on which part of the bible; the gospel of John is better-attested than the book of Job. The real problem with "knowing what it says" is that ancients didn't think the way we do; their linguistic categories differ from modern ones, and they didn't see a need to "prove" everything "rationally" the way we demand today.
The modern Christian conception of God is very different from that of the 1st-century Christians; they're not exactly the same religion even.
