Mark 16:17-18 (King James Version)
17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Okay so I am rereading the new testament and here's a puzzle. What exactly does this tell us?
I know that some who call themselves Christians do play with snakes and some have died. So if they misunderstood this verse then, what does it mean?
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Literal Bible Truth
Agnostics, Atheist, Anti-theist, Brights and now the Jews. Reading a thread at RFM, I clicked on the link and to my absolute surprise…proof that the bible is fiction.
Well, maybe not proof but certainly a step in the right direction. Someone else said it but I will repeat it here: I can’t wait to hear the Christians claim they know more Jewish history than the Jews.
www.nytimes.com/2002/03/09/books/new-torah-for-modern-minds.html
Well, maybe not proof but certainly a step in the right direction. Someone else said it but I will repeat it here: I can’t wait to hear the Christians claim they know more Jewish history than the Jews.
Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred. The same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a rallying point for a fledgling nation.http://
The notion that the Bible is not literally true ''is more or less settled and understood among most Conservative rabbis,'' observed David Wolpe, a rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and a contributor to ''Etz Hayim.'' But some congregants, he said, ''may not like the stark airing of it.'' Last Passover, in a sermon to 2,200 congregants at his synagogue, Rabbi Wolpe frankly said that ''virtually every modern archaeologist'' agrees ''that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way that it happened, if it happened at all.'' The rabbi offered what he called a ''litany of disillusion'' about the narrative, including contradictions, improbabilities, chronological lapses and the absence of corroborating evidence. In fact, he said, archaeologists digging in the Sinai have ''found no trace of the tribes of Israel -- not one shard of pottery.''
www.nytimes.com/2002/03/09/books/new-torah-for-modern-minds.html
Friday, February 26, 2010
What is the Lesson of Judges 15?
Judges 15 >>
King James Bible
________________________________________
1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
So just what are we to learn from this? If the Bible is the word of god, as Christians profess, then what is this all about? It seems to me that it is nothing more the a story told about a man, his wife and her interfering parents and the chaos that it causes.
King James Bible
________________________________________
1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
So just what are we to learn from this? If the Bible is the word of god, as Christians profess, then what is this all about? It seems to me that it is nothing more the a story told about a man, his wife and her interfering parents and the chaos that it causes.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Vengful God, I Guess!
One of my favorites, listed to the right, is the God of the Bible site. It is a skeptic’s guide to the atrocities of god of the bible. I went there this morning looking for a passage in James. Why?
Well, yesterday I took my car in for an oil change and while waiting for it I picked up a book Life-Lessons: Book of James-Practical-Wisdom. Never having seen it before, I began to read. It starts out telling about the author and that he is believed to be the brother of Jesus. I wasn’t there long enough to finish it but I think the idea is to use the bible to glean practical lesson applicable to living in today’s world. Nice idea; I guess.
So….my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out the book of James. That took me to the aforementioned website. From there I got to another site which gives a count of how many people god killed, based on the bible. How many has God killed? WOW!
So check it out. Bet you didn’t know what a ruthless guy your god is.
Well, yesterday I took my car in for an oil change and while waiting for it I picked up a book Life-Lessons: Book of James-Practical-Wisdom. Never having seen it before, I began to read. It starts out telling about the author and that he is believed to be the brother of Jesus. I wasn’t there long enough to finish it but I think the idea is to use the bible to glean practical lesson applicable to living in today’s world. Nice idea; I guess.
So….my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out the book of James. That took me to the aforementioned website. From there I got to another site which gives a count of how many people god killed, based on the bible. How many has God killed? WOW!
So check it out. Bet you didn’t know what a ruthless guy your god is.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Hell, what is it?
Now that I know I'm going to hell I wanted to do a little reading about it. While having my house painted this weekend I did a little reading...not enough yet, but just a start.
My son had this book at work and handed it to me one day. I scanned it and put it aside. Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld by Chuck Crisafulli and Kyra Thompson. However with my new travel plans I decided to do some research. I started with this book and went to the bible. I used the KJV and the internet, online bible sites. I was surprised to find how little mention there is in the christian handbook about this horrible place.
http://ecclesia.org/truth/hell.html
So now let's talk about hell. How do you know it exists? What verses do you quote to be sure of your knowledge about hell? Does the bible describe it?
Well, I'm just asking?
My son had this book at work and handed it to me one day. I scanned it and put it aside. Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld by Chuck Crisafulli and Kyra Thompson. However with my new travel plans I decided to do some research. I started with this book and went to the bible. I used the KJV and the internet, online bible sites. I was surprised to find how little mention there is in the christian handbook about this horrible place.
http://ecclesia.org/truth/hell.html
So now let's talk about hell. How do you know it exists? What verses do you quote to be sure of your knowledge about hell? Does the bible describe it?
Well, I'm just asking?
Monday, September 15, 2008
Everywhere I go!
This morning I made a visit to a doctor's office. (This is a new doctor since I have only recently moved here.)
The first thing I noticed was the absence of any magazines. One must always wait in a doctor's office....however, nothing but a television going on some religious station. I asked the receptionist if there was reading material available somewhere.
"Oh sure," she said and handed me a copy of the Bible. "We give them to all our patients," she proudly spouted. "It's free," she said, "take it home with you."
Okay what did I do? Nothing. But I certainly thought about it.
The first thing I noticed was the absence of any magazines. One must always wait in a doctor's office....however, nothing but a television going on some religious station. I asked the receptionist if there was reading material available somewhere.
"Oh sure," she said and handed me a copy of the Bible. "We give them to all our patients," she proudly spouted. "It's free," she said, "take it home with you."
Okay what did I do? Nothing. But I certainly thought about it.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Holy Days
Holidays are for family.
We've heard it all our lives but what happens when the "holy" in holiday becomes overwhelming?
My family is diverse. We have several ethnic groups represented along with differing religions, Mormon being the newcomer to the family. One of my daughters is "born again christian", and whatever that entails. Another of my children is a recovering alcoholic so AA is the religion of choice. One of my children has enough sense to be agnostic. My grandchildren are nothing I can put a handle on, some worship the dollar and others themselves and I...am an atheist.
Imagine this crowd at a holiday dinner. Do we say grace before the meal, after the meal or not at all? I didn't get into the discussion but we did it all. Before and after, I still don't understand why god needs to hear it twice, or why anyone but god has to hear it at all, for that matter.
Oh, do I sound bitter? I am in the sense that when I go out with my religious children for dinner in a restaurant I have to listen to them pray. Why? Do they not consider that they invited me, knowing how I feel and that I might not want to make a spectacle of myself in public?
Why does anyone pray in public? I read something about prayer being private here.
First time maybe, but it seems the bible agrees with me.
We've heard it all our lives but what happens when the "holy" in holiday becomes overwhelming?
My family is diverse. We have several ethnic groups represented along with differing religions, Mormon being the newcomer to the family. One of my daughters is "born again christian", and whatever that entails. Another of my children is a recovering alcoholic so AA is the religion of choice. One of my children has enough sense to be agnostic. My grandchildren are nothing I can put a handle on, some worship the dollar and others themselves and I...am an atheist.
Imagine this crowd at a holiday dinner. Do we say grace before the meal, after the meal or not at all? I didn't get into the discussion but we did it all. Before and after, I still don't understand why god needs to hear it twice, or why anyone but god has to hear it at all, for that matter.
Oh, do I sound bitter? I am in the sense that when I go out with my religious children for dinner in a restaurant I have to listen to them pray. Why? Do they not consider that they invited me, knowing how I feel and that I might not want to make a spectacle of myself in public?
Why does anyone pray in public? I read something about prayer being private here.
First time maybe, but it seems the bible agrees with me.
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