Don't be obtuse. The Bible is an ancient document and there are thousands of real experts that have studied it for many centuries. Obviously, I don't believe it is the word of God. But it is among the oldest extant human literature and history and it is of great interest to millions.
the bible was assembled from a bunch of arbitrary nonsense, many, many years after events in it occured. it is a haphazardly assembled book of 100% bull****. it is terrible and has no redeeming value. it is derivative folklore, repeats of common myths. the great flood, the messiah, all of this has been done before and since. it has the same value as the koran and the book of mormon and dianetics, it is crap, laughably transparent bull****. wizards and monsters and hellfire, it is like a child's fantasy.
we all do, brother. but in this case, i am just more willing to give an honest appraisal of something than you, because it would be too extreme for you. there are lots of historical texts and lots of collections of ancient folklore, the bible is one among many, no better than the rest.
Come on, amigo. That personal diatribe was not an honest appraisal. It must be apparent to you that the bible is a major influence on Western Civilization. Just because it includes much Hebrew mythology and folklore does not preclude it as outstanding literature and history. Not really. The Bible has no peers among ancient documents. And it there is no question that is is more influential than any book in human history. For this reason alone it is worthy of study. The Bible is an amazing collection of ancient texts and of great interest to many researchers. It's just not Holy. That doesn't mean we must dismiss it as "arbitrary nonsense of no redeeming value, crap, or laughable bullchit". <<Damn: I can't believe Brees took that safety!>>
The Bible is conditioned by time and culture. So some of the prohibitions are more reflective of the culture at the time than they are of absolute human values. You have to be able to distinguish one from the other.
Genesis 19:1-8 1. And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2. And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 4. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him. 7. And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. That is word for word from the KJV and it promotes the RAPE of 2 girls. IF you want to take the Bible as Being Factual then you MUST take the WHOLE WORK! You CAN NOT pick and Chose which parts are Factual! Faith and Belief are one thing, But The Bible as Factual Proof is the Greatest Scam in the History of the World!
influential is not the same as good. hitler was influential. the bile is a self contradicting and unoriginal bunch of nonsense. so is the koran. if you want the stories from the bible, you can get them from other sources. they are retellings of common myths. for example, if you want a flood story, you can read a babylonian version, or a sumerian version. the bible has nothing unique. plus, there are lots of messiahs, many of them with followers, just like jesus. you can read about joseph of arimithea or jim jones if you want. all through history there have been messiahs. nothing is special (or necessarily true) about jesus. you can call it "outstanding literature", and it is in the sense that it stands out in terms of popularitity, but that is arbitrary. you could substitute another bunch of tripe in its place and nobody would notice. you could asseble another council of nicea and this time pick a different guy to be the christ, and some different ancient myths and maybe the book of mormon and some other crap and make a new bible and it would be exactly as good. urban legends are fascinating, i am obsessed with them and have spent lots of time reading about them. the bible is just another legend. i understand that the bible is important from an anthropolgical standpoint, because so many morons believe it, but that doesnt mean it has any inherent value, either as a history, or as a piece of literature. have ever sat down and read the bible? it is is awful. shakespeare it isnt.
You are taking Lot's action way out of context. He is offering the girls to the mob to protect the angels. The men of Sodom don't want to have sex with the girls. They want to rape the angels. Also this is not promoting rape. We don't see God commanding someone to allow his daughters to be raped. We have a retelling of the action Lot took to protect the angels. This is a man taking what he sees as the best course of action. No value judgement as to whether this was the optimal course or not is made or implied. Why? It is clear that the books of the Bible are written with different themes. Some of them are prophecy, some are history, some are parabolic in nature. Why does it all have to be taken as literal? I think that all depends on what you are trying to proove. There are many things the books of the Bible can be used to proove factually.
Would YOU give your daugthers to a mob? OK I know this but prophecy is not based on facts, so it cant be said that everything in the Bible is Factual Proof that these events happened. We know dinosaures were here because they LEFT proof, we know that there were early humans because they LEFT PROOF, Hell we know that the Indians once ruled Americas because they LEFT PROOF. What do you have besides the words passed along as proof that the Great Flood happened? What proof besides the stories passed from father to son is there that the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt happened?
