The Bible

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cause it makes you flyyy

the oral tradition is important as it "color's" the story and gives you perspective. (there are musical notes on every word in the Torah because there is no punctuation between the words, so it is sung to clue you in on where to stop, when to pause, when to emphasize a word, or clue you in om the importance (or non-importance) of something).

I can provide an example if you'd like.

I think the Bible should be taught in school, as literature, and if people say it led to genocide, so did state sponsored atheism (Hitler Stalin Lenin Mao jong. Il

I think religious literature of any kind should be used solely for its historical and scientific content - which would render it all useless in very short order.

Power, love and kindness can all go together, and I have no problem seeing all of that in God ... and I have yet to ever see God either destroy or order the destruction of anyone exhibiting love and kindness.

Try Sodom. The men in Sodom loved each other's tooshies.

ruveyn

Much of what you've read is recorded as a history more than a "do this" lesson, and those were brutal times. To know where you are going you have to understand where you've been, as they say, and so history is an important part of the Bible. But it was oral history before it became written, and will have the alterations that follow from that.

Many of the Old Testament stories are about the little guy rising over the big guy because of the power and wisdom of God, and that message resonates with children. The stories do get reworded a bit for kids, though. Overall, it isn't that much different from the other material children read. Children read fantasy novels with war and violence, and study the holocaust in depth in middle school - along with Edgar Allen Poe. The world only really seems to want to shelter them from sex.

To me, the Bible is a combination of history and lesson, that was often written obscurely so that it could mean different things at different times, or to different people. I see it as a living book in that it seems to be able to adapt depending upon what a reader needs from it, and in that it seems to be able to find relevance in a world that has changed substantially since the time in which it was written.

I think trying to read it literally actually does a disservice to what God intended with it.

I think that many people incorrectly read it to justify things they want God to tell them, instead of what God is actually hoping to tell them. But knowing the difference, when you are being guided by your internal motivations instead of God's will ... that is tough, and so it is easy to use the book incorrectly. I think anyone using the Bible to justify a position or belief has to think long and hard about that possibility.

The description in the Bible doesn't limit the sins of those living in the city to one act. And, in the story, God would have saved the city if a single "just" person could have been found.

Well, we all know that the citizens of Sodom were punished for practicing Sodomy, but what were the citizens of Gommorah punished for?

Gomorrahery?

Those damned Gamorreans tempted God's wrath

[img][800:800]http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/6/64/Gamorrean-hd.jpg[/img]

Ten righteous men. All the Away Team could find was Lot and his immediate family.

ruveyn

And they turned out to be incestuous.

But how should atheists read the bible?

I think God DID momentarily spare the city. Perhaps Abraham was looking ahead to knowing Lot and his family were in or near Sodom and that was his primary concern. As long as Lot maintained his presence, God would have spared the city.

But Lot would not have been a righteous person had he disobeyed once he was told to leave. So he and his family leaves, leaving God no reason to continue to spare the city.

I've often wondered why it is this is an oft overlooked facet of the story when it is taught.

And they turned out to be incestuous.[/quote]

That was after the city was destroyed. Lot and his daughters holed up in Tzoar (Mrs. Lot had been solidified earlier). And the daughters, those lascivious vixens had to get the Old Man drunk first.

ruveyn

With adequate lighting, of course.