Stories that make the Bible

[melody]

I ask myself how authentic are the stories that make the Bible? These stories were not written down right away as the events took place, but were passed on aurally from a person to the next person, from teacher to another teacher.

We all know, when we pass on any story, it sometimes acquires very distorted proportions. Even passing on a short message, like in a game "Broken Telephone" when you are supposed to pass on exactly what you heard from a person on one side of you to a person on the other side of you, the original mesage gets completely distorted when it gets to the end of the line.

Maybe some of you know exactly how long it took to write down the stories of the New Testament after the actual events took place? If you do, please tell us. I seem to remember reading that it took about two centuries. For all that time the stories just got passed on in an aural way.

Each person is a unique individual with a unique understanding of the reality and how to interpret it. These people  might have also thought they had a mission to convince their audience. So I wander if those stories might have been distorted.

The stories did came from separate sources, form separate apostles, but all those sources must have came together at one point and were taught as a whole before being written at the same place. Or am I mistaken? Were all the bible parts written separately at different locations and brough together? And in this way it was revealed that the apostles basically told the same story?

Please tell us what you know about this.
 

[will1123]

You know, i've oftentimes wondered the same thing.  I've asked ministers and other christian leaders about this and usually the answer I got was that it doesn't matter because God wouldn't let his message get distorted and that "all scripture is inspired by God."  The concept of all the scriptures being inspired by God doesn't really do anything to convince me of the "inerrant" nature of the bible.  I mean, for example,my wife could "inspire" me to write a song about her, but that doesn't mean it would be something that she would have written.  And it may not be a song that she even likes!

[Werp Weg Alles]

Hello Melody and will 1123,

The bible yes was originally the works of many different apostles and teachers and etc.  Later on and in many cases after the passing of the original teacher the works were written down, and even later still the works were combined in one book to prove and teach of Jesus, and the Christian "God."

And yes the fact that all scripture is inspired by God makes no sense, becuase EVERYTHING is inspired by God. God, the source, is in ALL of us!  We are all equal aspects of "God," so of course everything in the bible was inspired by god, we are all thoughts in the mind of god, so of course all inspiration comes from him.

Werp

[Talker]

Well now, same puzzle, new view.  The Holy Bible, some swear by it, some swear at it, some swear on it. Some believe it, many dont. Questions still abound. Gods words, or mans! Who wrote what, or for whom! Why no common consensus among religions! Questions, questions, questions, but no real meanful answers. Will say and admit, that I have gained a new respect for the bible, and what the words represent to me. Regardless of who said the words. That being said:

 Had posted this , back in 2004. ( my " Razors Edge " blog )
 No one left any comments, so seems it was just a bunch of words, just resting there. What I had written then, is still valid for me.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2004
# 8 Religious Quandary
7/18/2004
Religious Quandary
The Talker
Shopping for a bible! Which one? King James Version, KJ2, KJ2000, KJ21, the New King James or the Revised King James, or maybe the Revised Standard Version, or perhaps the New Revised Standard. Not satisfied with those, how about NIV, NIRV, NAB, NASB, NCV, NEB, NET, NJV, NLT,NLV, or NWT , versions . So , I started a "small research" project. Believe it was Elvis Presley ( spelling ?) that had a song with the words '' All shook up " in it, that describes how I ended up, feeling wise.

Found that there are 125 Asian and African languages, with another 500 language variations, of some portions of the bible. There are , in english, more than 3000 versions of the entire bible or portions of the bible.

So when I hear some one ask "do you read the bible", I now ask "which one".

Well, it all starts with " there is no one bible". No one complete version of what "God said " exists, in any form.

Along with the above mentioned versions , there are: Jewish, Catholic, African, American, non-sexist, Husband, Recovery, Living, Good News, and Jerusalem versions that are supposed to be "Gods Word".
Problem is that the versions, sadly, have only one thing in common, and that is a "variance" in what was supposedly said by the Creator.

Comparing " edited and sanitized" bible verses and wording , leaves me wondering " what was said originally ". If there is no agreement on a version, of what " God inspired men to write", how can one know or agree on what the bible verses actually said.

Bibles are the culmination of an extended process covered with inky fingers, human finger prints, of story telling, writing, cutting and pasting, translating and biased interpretations. This was done by astronomers, geologists, biologists, comparative religionists, archaeologists, anthropologists, philogists, scripture scholars, and theologians.

Anyway, at one point, I " threw the baby out with the bath water". "Oh, woe is me" , went my shaken belief factors. What now?
 Past experience has shown that " ones lack of understanding about a thing does not mean its false, nor does understanding a thing make it true".

So I just let it all lay fallow for a long period of time. During consolatory contemplation ( meaning , feeling sorry for my self) of what seemed to be a big problem , a thought came to me " if this were a piece of equipment that was not working properly, what would you do next? ". Troubleshoot it. Ahaa, so what's wrong with using ones skill in doing troubleshooting. You've been doing things of that nature for many decades, so try it. So now, trying to use logic in sorting out my disrupted beliefs, I looked at the bible as a piece of broken down equipment. ( had I lived in the 16th or 17th or 18th century , I'd have been in real trouble)
 So the saying goes,"how do you eat a big elephant, piece by piece". That is what I proceeded to do. Mentally went and gathered up the thrown out bath water, hoping I could find the baby that was suppose to be there.
Ah, sweet progress. Where all my questions answered? Nope. Do I now have all the answers, nope. Will I ever have all the answers, give me a break. Have sifted and winnowed through bibles and verses ( faith, where are you ?) until I thought I was going to lose it all. Little by little , pieces started to come together , like a huge jig-saw puzzle.
Wasn't as bad as I thought, it was worse. But at least a semblance of coherency started creeping in. Am I at total peace with all this, not really, so I'll keep nibbling away at it.
I don't have all the answers , maybe never will, but who does? My conclusions, sorry , that's another whole story, maybe another time.
Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, be talking ya another time.
End
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[melody]

Many people, including myself have questioned the authenticity of the Biblical texts. Basically, we are not familiar with the accepted historical procedures of investigating ancient texts and how the historians judge the reliability of historical writings as opposed to mere legends and invented fables. The investigation of the Bible based on the historians’ principles is well explained in the new topic I started “Evidence Jesus Existed”. Listening to those lectures the links to which are provided in that topic has helped me in seeing the reality of the biblical texts from the historical perspective.

[zensunni7]

Greetings All,

The Bible has been the center of controversy for centuries, and centuries to come I am certain. But " If mysteries did not remain mysterious, no-one would seek them out. " and perhaps this is the greatest gift of the Bible, for in the search we must delve deeply into ourselves and our own beliefs.
The premise that the Bible is the ' only ' true word of God is based in the proclamation that the Jewish people are the ' only ' true children of God. The majority of the old testament is the Jewish Torah, it is a history of the Jewish lineage. Although political correctness prohibits this, I would challenge that basic premise, that the Jews are Gods only true children, and that the Bible was Gods only inspired book of knowledge.
When one begins the journey back into Biblical history, be prepared for absolute truths to be shattered, and to be astounded by others. The current list of Bible versions, as so well pointed out by our friend Talker, all grew from the combination of two Bibles, one from around four hundred, and another around six hundred AD.
The actual elder of texts is in the monastery at Mt Sinai.
I feel the authenticity of it lies in the mind reading it. Historically many things in it have been proven to be true, many things were obviously tampered with for reasons of control over the readers beliefs. Many of the Gospels were rewritten by the interpreters and the Church, many , such as Paul's were completed for them, the actual text's that Paul wrote were rarely finished sentences in the originals, yet so  much of the Church centers around these incomplete texts.

Jesus said many times His was a living Gospel, and this perhaps was the truth we seek in the pages of any book regarding God, for God to be a living experience for us, and to understand the written words to be the experience of another's searching. Does the recorded Jewish experience devalue the others in the world?
I agree with Melody too - stories get added to as they pass from person to person. Yet some are destroyed to achieve specific goals. I feel the Bibles only value lies in that which it awakens in you.
I do not know if Jesus actually existed, yet it doesn't matter to me in the end because even if it is just a story made up around an ancient camp fire, it is a good one, and inspires me to believe beyond my current boundaries, believe in myself and my own possible potential - inspiration.
Albert Schweitzer searched in vain for the ' Historical Jesus ' in his book of the same name. His conclusion was that the historical and factual legacy of Jesus and even the Bible was so bastardized, edited, and even destroyed to ever find a clear remaining truth, the search was a lesson in futility. What mattered was only 
what he believed in his own heart.
I would have to agree with this. I would also have to agree that the search can open you to new perspectives and new avenues of light within yourself. For all we know, does Adrian exist? Was the Ultimate Reality inspired by God? Will future forum writers debate our existence?
Perhaps the thrill of the search is more valuable to us than the outcome. When Indiana Jones finds the treasure, he returns to being Professor Jones in a stuffy University classroom. The adventure is done.

WithIn Love
Darrell

[melody]

Hello Zensunni7,

According to the lectures that are presented in the Evidence Jesus Existed thread, and according to the historians studying ancient texts, the New Testament is a much more authentic and complete manuscript than some people believe (or wish to believe, or are led to believe??) This is apparently even corroborated by the recently discovered scrolls. Those lectures only deal with the New Testament – its reliability as a historical document, and explain that there are criteria by which historians extrapolate the historical reality from the texts available and written even long after the personages no longer exist. In comparison, the New Testament was written quite shortly after the events. The lectures also explain that although what we have are only copies of the originals why these copies can be trusted as very close, or even extremely close to the original.

As for your question whether Adrian exists or whether his OUR was inspired by God, as I said in another topic today (Solar Gazing Healing), at some point one has to learn to decide for himself what one wants to believe, and learn to rely on one’s personal connection to God. I therefore think it is the best to strive to create a personal relationship with a personal God.

Since Adrian claims we are all God, and therefore he is God, his OUR must have been therefore inspired by himself as the aspect of God as he understands Him, and the relationship he has with God (or rather with himself?  )

Does Adrian exist? I believe he does. On the other hand, we might have all been duped. By questioning whether he might not exist, are you implying that his name might be just a pseudonym as our forum names often are, or that he is a totally created persona, or maybe even an invented front to some society?

You came to divert our attention to Adrian when questioning the historical existence of Christ. Is that a parallelism of sorts? Would that parallel further imply that OUR is a kind of new Bible?