Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
Unless the inquiry is part of an endeavor to decide whether or not to believe, what does "getting it right" on this point do for us?
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We can't get it all right. But we can try.
(at risk of being moved to the new vent thread, but I will not use all caps or red ink)
Christianity is a joke. It is not evolving with the intelligence of the populace.
I do not find fault in Ohio's stance, for he is just being obedient to what he has been taught to believe. Most of us have been brainwashed since our youth that to be a Christian you must also accept as part of your faith that the Bible is the WORD OF GOD.
The Jews laugh at our New Testament, echoing the concerns of 2nd century Trypho. I once tried to act as Justin Martyr to a Jew and he could not get past Matthew. He criticized the text every which way to Sunday. I saw that I was not going to get anywhere with him.
The secular people laugh at us. We hold onto these traditions and that does not work anymore. There is way too much Biblical criticism out there for anyone to read.
We need to evolve for Christianity to survive. 'Evolve' is not the right word: we need to take the next step in reformation.
We need to publicly embrace the Bible for what it is: a flawed depiction of Christ Jesus. We need to own that. We need to change the names of the gospels and get off these tired traditions. We need to be able to admit that the virgin birth may very well have been a well-intentioned fabrication of a generation of post 70 AD gentile Christians who were weak on Judaism and the Hebrew language, apparently unable to distinguish between the Jewish heritage and the Greek alternative they were trying to fight against.
Clement of Rome used the mythical beast Phoenix as a God-given example of the truth of the resurrection. He was only one generation away from Paul.
I am sorry, but it is silly to insist that the New Testament is a canon of 100% inspired truth.
The world has moved on.