For all religions to think about

[Topaz]

I wonder if anyone has an answer for this question..... everyone knows the story about how the Bible and its stories came to be. My question is why has anyone come forth with a Bible that is created by more statements in this life time?? Are we to believe that God doesn't talk to anyone anymore? I'm not saying I don't believe in God or a Higher spirit, I do, but, I just asking why a Bible of statements or stories are of ages ago and not in this time? Can anyone answer this???

[Figleaf]

I wonder if anyone has an answer for this question..... everyone knows the story about how the Bible and its stories came to be. My question is why has anyone come forth with a Bible that is created by more statements in this life time?? Are we to believe that God doesn't talk to anyone anymore? I'm not saying I don't believe in God or a Higher spirit, I do, but, I just asking why a Bible of statements or stories are of ages ago and not in this time? Can anyone answer this???

When most of the great holy books of our civilisations were written, the great masses of people were illiterate, ignorant, and credulous. It was simple to pile a book together, label it superior, and market it. Now, in our relatively more informed, arguably less credulous society it is more difficult to create a book of all truth that is convincing. The old ones survive because of inertia and the supposed authority of age and tradition, but new ones can't get a foothold.

[Posit]

The Bible is a compendium of many books. According to Christianity the Old Testament was essentially thrown out upon the arrival of Jesus and a litany of other texts arose.

There have been lots of other books written that provide the same insight over the ages but too few are open enough to branch away from impugnable religious doctrine to explore it. Certainly some are in the spiritual enlightenment exploration but there are much more caught up in sleep, conditioned to believe that challenging the status quo is a bad thing.

Religious freedom does not necessarily mean no religion and many people are entrenched in atheism, agnosticism, and even financial fascism with as much fervor as the most extreme ultra-religious groups. Money is the new God and there is no room for a single deity among modern society. Yet many attend churches - still - and profess commitment to ~some~ principles, more often than not they adhere to their own religious thought and when it differs from the Church they are quick to abandon it in favour of one that does. We still have a number of hypocrits walking the streets as well - those that attend Church or Synagogue for appearances and promptly begin screwing people first thing Monday morning. We also have those anti-religious that "swear to God" they do not believe but who are the first to invoke the vengeance of God upon their enemies.

So back to the question of whether or not there are other God-given texts available today:

Matthew 7:7-8

You have been given the answer already.

[geoffrey]

There are some relatively modern books. Look at the Book of Mormon, that's a recent document that tells of Jesus's journey to Utah... tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, follow that.

[ScottSA]

When most of the great holy books of our civilisations were written, the great masses of people were illiterate, ignorant, and credulous. It was simple to pile a book together, label it superior, and market it. Now, in our relatively more informed, arguably less credulous society it is more difficult to create a book of all truth that is convincing. The old ones survive because of inertia and the supposed authority of age and tradition, but new ones can't get a foothold.

Written by someone who is obviously ignorant of the biblical tradition, history and human nature, and imbued with the arrogance of youth. Kind of swealian, actually. Especially if one considers that the number of religious books coming out over the last century dwarfs by several orders of magnitude the number printed during the entire previous history of mankind.

[Figleaf]

When most of the great holy books of our civilisations were written, the great masses of people were illiterate, ignorant, and credulous. It was simple to pile a book together, label it superior, and market it. Now, in our relatively more informed, arguably less credulous society it is more difficult to create a book of all truth that is convincing. The old ones survive because of inertia and the supposed authority of age and tradition, but new ones can't get a foothold.

Written by someone who is obviously ignorant of the biblical tradition, history and human nature, and imbued with the arrogance of youth.

Such a waste of bandwidth.

You're just so blindingly wrong on each and every point there, you should bugger off before you embarrass yourself. (More than you already have.)

P.S. I can't help but notice your post contained absolutely no contribution to the discussion or the topic. You failed to specify any sensible complaint or challenge to the comment you so obviously detested, and you failed to add even your own perspective. In fact, it looks like your sole purpose for posting was to make a juvenile attack.

[marcinmoka]

I have too much respect for the idea of God to make it responsible for such an absurd world

- Georges Duhamel

[Parrot]

I wonder if anyone has an answer for this question..... everyone knows the story about how the Bible and its stories came to be. My question is why has anyone come forth with a Bible that is created by more statements in this life time?? Are we to believe that God doesn't talk to anyone anymore? I'm not saying I don't believe in God or a Higher spirit, I do, but, I just asking why a Bible of statements or stories are of ages ago and not in this time? Can anyone answer this???

Well, there have been some religious books considered to be holy written in more recent times. The Mormon's have the book of Mormon. The Babis have The Book of Certitude, The Hidden Words, and a few others. Scientologists have Dianetics and some other stuff written by Hubbard.

The thing is, even since before the Holy Bible was officially put together from the random selection of books that make up it's parts, people have emphasized the importance of age as being critical. Older, more ancient documents were considered to be naturally more reliable than more recently written work. A certain document called "Shepherd of Hermas" almost made it into the Bible, but was rejected in part because it didn't have the same authority of age as the rest of the books.

I think that's just the way things go. As a society we respect religious books more if they were written a long time ago. But that doesn't mean that there aren't books any written today that won't become well respected religious literature in a couple hundred years.

[DarkAngel_]

adding to topic, i see that faith, loyalty, and new idea's are valued here, which is good, i kept telling myself that, as pegenism once turned to christianity, so must christianity turn, but to what?

i am not wrong in putting change above all else, but i try my best to look for books of faith, loyalty, and new idea's, but faith can be blind, loyalty can be tyrant, and new idea's can be catastrophic, so then i add: nothing has sent man and his destany a sign to be glanced by, and no event has been unexplained by man (outside movie thearters) that has given us plight and gold, we are too many and our gifts more common and man himself is confused.

which one of you are not confused? then you are set in your ways and stuborn, never to change!

do we really know whats beyond death? are you not a listener, or finder of truth? well... i count myself as one, look to science and understand its hardness, in the end it explains things we know, and are not just words.

i was morman... got tired of things i could not see, people not willing to listen, and preists preaching golden words.

am i set at atheism? no, i change every time i find something to investigate, and the old ways are the wrong ones in my eye's, not just out of opinion, i found parts of history seen in the bible unexplored or marked 'tabu' if seen into.

want an enlightening book? read the latest news at NASA, or go to wikipedia and look up quantum physics, the big band, blue/red shift and the string theory, read years of men testing their bounds instead of faith.

if not, then im not one to answer...

[Posit]

".....do we really know whats beyond death? " This is really is a limited and dogmatic statement. True spiritual thought questions death as an illusion / delusion and doesn't ponder what comes after "nothing"

[ScottSA]

".....do we really know whats beyond death? " This is really is a limited and dogmatic statement. True spiritual thought questions death as an illusion / delusion and doesn't ponder what comes after "nothing"

I rather like the conception that death is a transition from earthly hell, and that hell is a place to spiritually mature. I also like the idea of re-incarnation, although it tends to concede the temporal state as the object of 'reality' as opposed to the spiritual state. But aside from the concepts I find personally intriguing, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that existence doesn't end with death.

[M.Dancer]

n Heaven there is no beer

(No beer?!)

That's why we drink it here

And when we're all gone from here

Our friends will be drinking all the beer.

In Heaven there is no wine

(No wine?!)

So we drink till we feel fine

And when we leave this all behind

Our friends will be drinking all the wine.

In Heaven there is no fear

(No fear)

So we worry too much here

And we drink ourselves full of beer

To help us when we deal with the fear.

In Heaven there are no drugs

That's why we hang with thugs

And when the Lord pulls the plug

All the thugs will still be selling drugs, yeah.

Thugs and drugs

Beer...

In Heaven there is no sex

(Oh no!)

So let's do that next

And when our muscles no longer flex

Someone else will be having sex.

In Heaven there are no wars

Or cars, or movie stars

And when we no longer are

The world will probably still be having wars.

What the heck! Yeah!

Sex and war,

Bars and cars.

Drugs, thugs,

And delicious food

[newbie]

Jesus = God was created at the council of Nicea. Much of the remaining books of the bible were created under political pressure.

[M.Dancer]

Jesus = God was created at the council of Nicea. Much of the remaining books of the bible were created under political pressure.

That's a bit facile. More correctly but just as facile is that Jesus = God was ratified at Nicea.

The debate over the divinity of Christ centered around the two main groups, the othodox and the gnostics. The gnostics lost. But the belief of Christ Logos goes back to the 2nd century.

Aftwer that though, the denate becomes one concerned about the substance of Christ. And this debate continues today between the Eastern and Roman Churches.

[sharkman]

Jesus = God was created at the council of Nicea. Much of the remaining books of the bible were created under political pressure.

What about Jesus? He always claimed he was deity. His believers followed this from day one, whatever certain church denominations came to conclude about Him.

[M.Dancer]

Jesus = God was created at the council of Nicea. Much of the remaining books of the bible were created under political pressure.

What about Jesus? He always claimed he was deity. His believers followed this from day one, whatever certain church denominations came to conclude about Him.

Ummmm...yes and no. He never comes out and says straight, I am a God.....he says things that at a later date are taken to mean he was implying that he was the "only" begotten son of God.....

....It is doubtful that the early 1st century Christians, the Jewish Christians would have bought the Jesus is God doctrine.....but John of the Gospels, which is a later Gospel (late 1st centrury) certainly is pointing the doctrine in that direction. By the time the epistles of John (probably a different John) the doctrine has evolved further till you get to the Apocalypse of St John where Jesus is part of tye Godhead.......

Now as to the believers following him, that is irrelevant, leaders always have followers and I doubt even they would have been convinced in 34 AD that Jesus was God given that they ask Jesus who he was (and he doesn't tell them but one says he is the chosen, the Messiah (which in itself doesn't mean divinity.....)

....on to of that, consider the reaction of the disciples and apostles on the resurrection of Christ, given that they had witnessed at least two resurrections previously......

......and all the above doesn't mean that Christ isn't Logos, 1st and last, etc etc....but that the doctrine evolved so that by the beginning of the 2nd century Christ was lord and eternal.

And as to the Gnostic's, their doctrine is even later than the orthodox, having absorbed a lot of non Jewish mysticism along the way....

Hope that helps, I am an agnostic amateur

[betsy]

I wonder if anyone has an answer for this question..... everyone knows the story about how the Bible and its stories came to be. My question is why has anyone come forth with a Bible that is created by more statements in this life time?? Are we to believe that God doesn't talk to anyone anymore? I'm not saying I don't believe in God or a Higher spirit, I do, but, I just asking why a Bible of statements or stories are of ages ago and not in this time? Can anyone answer this???

We've got what you call testimonies that are sometimes being shared in curches or meetings. Some testimonies are about personal experiences of God "talking" to the individual...or of divine interventions....or inspirations...little miracles, etc.,

[betsy]

".....do we really know whats beyond death? " This is really is a limited and dogmatic statement. True spiritual thought questions death as an illusion / delusion and doesn't ponder what comes after "nothing"

There are those who had after-death experiences (is that the right term?) My mom had it (being drawn to this very bright light) only to be resuscitated, and it spurred her fervor even more.

I had a talk with a woman over a pint who confided about an after-death experience as a child. It made her a true-believer.

I have to admit that I wondered if my mom was only hallucinating. But it's not what she said she saw that got to me. It was the way she became after that experience.

I've never seen her with such religious vigor and enthusiasm, that at her age (mid-eighties), she actively helped in the restoration of our church. She was so motivated. So "gung-ho."

Something in that after-death experience had only made her faith stronger.

******

Edited.

[margrace]

Try Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch. The Bible is a wonderful collection of myths gathered from older civilizations. It can contradict itself but it makes one think and is well worth reading. Does God exist? Yes in everyone of us and in the universe, God is us and it is the chair you are sitting on.

We control the world with our thoughts, ever hear the argument that I won't donate money to Africa for instance because it only goes to dictators. Well everytime you think that you create it and so you give the theory more power and the dictators win. Every negative thought creates and every positive thought creates.

The main one that controls too many is that there is a shortage of food in the world. There isn't, what can you grow in your backyard or in an allotment in your city. We can all eat including Africa if we all though it was so and worked at it. The problem I guess is we don't want to.

[White Doors]

you control the world with your thoughts?

How truly awesome is that??!!?!?!?!!?!

[Mad_Michael]

you control the world with your thoughts?

How truly awesome is that??!!?!?!?!!?!

Perception is reality. Subjective is the only thing you can be.

Nothing awesome about it. Rather mundane actually - tiresome and annoying as well.

[White Doors]

you control the world with your thoughts?

How truly awesome is that??!!?!?!?!!?!

Perception is reality. Subjective is the only thing you can be.

Nothing awesome about it. Rather mundane actually - tiresome and annoying as well.

I think it's awesome.

Margrace! A bane on Mad Michael's house!!

See?

That's awesome!

[Mad_Michael]

you control the world with your thoughts?

How truly awesome is that??!!?!?!?!!?!

Perception is reality. Subjective is the only thing you can be.

Nothing awesome about it. Rather mundane actually - tiresome and annoying as well.

I think it's awesome.

Margrace! A bane on Mad Michael's house!!

See?

That's awesome!

See? You pronounce a bane on Mad Michael's house. In your reality, there is a bane on Mad Michael's house. You have just created your own reality. Like I said, nothing awesome about it.

[newbie]

Jesus = God was created at the council of Nicea. Much of the remaining books of the bible were created under political pressure.

That's a bit facile. More correctly but just as facile is that Jesus = God was ratified at Nicea.

The debate over the divinity of Christ centered around the two main groups, the othodox and the gnostics. The gnostics lost. But the belief of Christ Logos goes back to the 2nd century.

Aftwer that though, the denate becomes one concerned about the substance of Christ. And this debate continues today between the Eastern and Roman Churches.

There is as much evidence for my claim as the one most people buy into. Look carefully into the council of Nicea. Wikipedia states: The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements in the Church of Alexandria over the nature of Jesus in relationship to the Father; in particular, whether Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father or merely of similar substance.

[margrace]

Constantine took over the council at Nicea, a very political move on his part. He directed everything that happened because he saw how powerful the Christian movement had become and he got behind it. However he did not become a Christian until probably near his death.

He set up the churches in the way he wanted and seized the power. He directed the selection of what books would be in the Bible and many of them were written hundreds of years after to so called birth of Jesus. It was then that the Gnostics were booted out and many of their writing destroyed.

It is from this that a lot of the discussion stems today of the Movie and book by Browne.