I daresay that this is indeed a somewhat controversial topic to blog on, but it (the concept behind this blog) seems to be generating more and more coverage than anything else of late in the news.
What topic is that? Religion, of course... I no longer consider myself religious, I'd say I'm way past the theist side of things, plodded over the agnostic fence-sitting position and am slowly approaching atheism.
But please bear in mind that this does not mean that because of my own choice of religion to not have a religion, that I think I don't respect other peoples' religions. Far from it, I'll respect these religions, whether you're a Buddhist or a Christian, Muslim, Jew; whether you drink peyote, worship Norse gods, or practice voodoo, or whatever; that's your decision, and I respect that...
The purpose of this blog is to inform and bring about observations and give food for thought to those who tend to take the Bible literally and believe it word for word...
I've started reading the Bible, cover to cover... and I must confess it's been a very educative read... Not only in opening my eyes about a "benevolent omnipotent being" which we refer to as "God" or in the sake of acronyms we could call "BOB" (which will stand for of course "benevolent omnipotent being"), or "GA" for "God Almighty", or even "OPB" for "omnipotent being"; but also about how many various other derivations of Christian dogma that have been borrowed from various other religions and beliefs...
All I ask is that you permit me to provide my observations for your perusal. I have no intention of attacking religions as wrong or incorrect... but I do want you to ask yourself how one's beliefs originate, and where they originated from.
The Bible contains 66 books by regular count, if we don't count the Apocryphal books that the Catholic Church recognizes... 39 in the Old Testament (OT), and 27 in the New Testament (NT). The Apocrypha pushes the OT value to about 46... perhaps 47 depending on the version provided. I've yet to personally get my hands on a copy of a Catholic Bible, but I'd love to see what's in it...
Anyhow, 66 books generally, written by several authors... in fact I'll let a website known as All About the Truth tell their derivation of the answer:
“Who wrote the Bible” is a question that is undoubtedly asked by many who are familiar with the impact this book has made on people around the world. The Bible gives guidance in our journey through life to eternity, as well as leads us to a relationship with the God of the universe. It is a historical book that is backed by archeology, and a prophetic book that has lived up to all of its claims thus far. In light of all these facts, asking, “who wrote the bible,” is a vital question that deserves serious investigation and a serious response. The Bible is God’s letter to humanity collected into 66 books written by 40 divinely inspired writers. These writers come from all walks of life (i.e., kings to fishermen) and spans over a period of 1,500 years or more. These claims may seem dramatic (or unrealistic to some), but a careful and honest study of the biblical scriptures will show them to be true.
As you can tell, they've decided to exclude the Apocrypha. The last three sentences, well, I can't really agree with completely... True, there were many writers involved, and I'm sure it took a long time to write, one and a half millenia, quite a while... but to take these words completely as "gospel" (pardon the pun)... well, I can't say I can accept it. I respect this answer from AAT, but I just don't necessarily agree with it.
What I'll be doing is going through various areas of the Bible and without taking it out of context like some others would show you my observations and thoughts on some of these various verses which have reputedly inspired a religion for many thousands of years. I'll be making note of various synchronicities with various other religions, myths and cultures, pointing out strange contradictions, as well as reveal to the layman reader some of the strange oddities and atrocities shown in the Bible that are not normally read generally in Bible study classes.
Once again, I stress that this is not an attack against religion, or against Christianity. The Bible has changed very little over the many years since Gutenberg started printing it out on his press. I just want people to have their eyes widened a little more as to the things I've read, which are in the Bible itself. I won't make any of this stuff up, because it will be in the Bible for you to see, and I'll even provide references where needed.
All I ask of you is an open mind, a willingness to read along, and respect for my opinions, even if you don't agree with them.
