[xivzgrev]

Here’s some to kickstart things. Genuinely curious

1) did you grow up in the church you currently belong to or did you join later? If the former, did you ever explore other ones? Why/why not?

2) there can be doubt about what the Bible literally says given the number of authors, editors, and time involved. For example, someone chose x word when translating to English, that also could have meant y. Or, x book was included and y book was not. What are your thoughts on this?

3) there are a lot of rules in the Bible, especially one like Letiviticus (sp?). As someone adhering to literalism, do you aspire to follow them all? If not, which ones do you? If so, how do you deal with (likely) not following them all?

4) how do you keep your faith nourished / going in today’s society, where membership in churches is declining and Internet denizens can have a lot of skepticism toward religion?

[luxuryballs]

The entire point of the law was to show that it couldn’t be followed, they nearly always failed miserably, even the most famous and well regarded people in the Old Testament that were spoken very highly of like Abraham and David had their fair share of major fuck ups. The point was to show that we couldn’t do it, we were fundamentally flawed and needed Christ to take the burden on our behalf, and needed to be wholly remade through death, “born again” literally as a new creation, into a new lineage, that of Christ, after dying to the lineage of Adam that we inherited from our parents. It was never about doing enough right to outpace the wrong, it was always lineage and inheritance that determined our fate.

This paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come at Pentecost and basically kick off the church which has been growing and spreading from there ever since, and the church has only ever grown, never has it lost numbers, because it’s not an institution of man measured by attendance, those who are born again and counted cannot become “un” born again.

It also says that the path to life is narrow and few find it, there was never a heavenly expectation that they would ever be in the majority, despite that there is also a desire for all to be saved.

The difference is the human view and the God view. We were instructed to have the human view and act accordingly, spread the gospel far and wide because we didn’t know where the seed would fall and take root even though God knows, he didn’t want us to be choosy, that is his domain. All part of this grand cosmic theater that is infinitely beyond my limited perspective.

[sumtechguy]

I can help here as I have a similar background.

1) yes I did. I did not join later. I have attended many other church's. Many are trying to put butts in seats and are focusing on which distortion peddle gets more people in than using the scriptures and lessons in those words to do it. If you read the gospels you will find them full of life lessons you can apply right now, today.

2) This is an issue. What is more of an issue is the way words can and do change meaning over the years. So you can have a translation from 100 years ago and it takes on a different meaning. All because the choice of words they used just happens to mean something similar now vs then. The cure is to read many translations. Also keep things in context. There are online resources which you can use if you are unclear on a particular meaning in that context and go back to the original texts. Context for many translations is also the context of the year it was translated. There are also some translations that leave things out, or change the meaning, because they decided for you what you should hear so you have to watch out for those.

3) Many of those rules are wiped clean at the end of the 4 gospels. As the price has been paid. But there is a simpler price to pay.

4) It is good to find a church in your area that sticks to the gospels. Does not try to be trendy and use worldly lessons replacing gospel. That does not mean they do not talk about world events, but that they do not take on fads. There is also a huge amount of youtube and individual pages you can go to. In many ways the internet has made it even easier to converge all of these resources. Remember many searching engines try to tailor your search to what you like. So you may not even be seeing them.

I would also add many times you find that if it is out of context it is someone trying to distort a meaning. The trick is do not feed the trolls and ignore them.

[throwaway0b1]

1. Grew up there.

2a. "Verbal inspiration" - while the words were written by people and they certainly did recount their experiences in their own styles (perhaps involving consulting others who had been there), but God (through the Holy Spirit) breathed into them the words they were to write (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16). Basically God's not going to be like "eh oh well whatever if the Bible just goes away."

2b. Translation is, inherently, inexact. This is why it's good for pastors to learn Greek and Hebrew; but there are two main points I'd like to make here. The first is that while not all of the meaning may be conveyed perfectly, there is a lot of effort that has been put into ensuring that the essence will remain there. The second is that, when the meaning may be initially unclear, let Scripture interpret Scripture.

2c. As for which books are included and which are not, I haven't researched this enough to give a thorough answer.

3. Laws are divided into three categories: civil, ceremonial, and moral. Civil is laws to govern the nation of Israel, which don't apply today. Ceremonial laws related to the worship life of Israel. Jesus is, in essence, the fulfillment of these laws (cf. Romans 10:4, Acts 15); as such, we are no longer required to follow them. This leaves the moral law, God's will for believers. Most of the 10 commandments fall into this category (as summarized further by Jesus saying "love God and love your neighbor"). Anyway (as pointed out below), Jesus kept the entire law because we, with our sinful nature, cannot.

4. I'm lucky enough to have a church that believes what I believe near me; regular bible studies and a few online devotions that I follow also help.

This was a but rushed to finish; sorry. Feel free to follow up.

[throwaway0b1]

Perhaps better support for 2a/b would be 1 Peter 1:25 and Mark 13:31.

[CivBase]

I'm not OP, but I felt compelled to offer my own response to this one. Hopefully some people find my perspective interesting.

1) I grew up in a different church - the Catholic church. It felt more like a social club than anything else so I grew up with barely any understanding of the religion to which I supposedly subscribed. I became somewhat jaded towards large, organized religious organizations and floated around a few smaller-scale churches as I tried to learn more about Christianity and, in particular, the Bible. I no longer attend a "church" but I regularly attend lecture-style bible studies put on by a local middle school teacher.

2) One of the things that appeals to me about the Bible study I attend is that it's very very slow compared to most churches. We often spend an hour doing nothing but covering as few as one or two verses. That time is spent analyzing the text by comparing translations, linking it to related verses, explaining the Hebrew/Greek words used in various manuscripts, filling in historical context with what we know from archeology and other ancient records, and comparing interpretations of various theologians and denominations. Often times the teacher will present his own interpretation, but invite us to be critical and point to other possible interpretations.

One thing I've discovered since leaving the Catholic church is that studying the Bible goes far beyond just listening to sermons and reading what ever hard copy happens to be most accessible to you at the time. It's hard work and I'm not surprised most people aren't interested. I doubt I'd get far if there weren't scholars and teachers compiling and presenting the information for my benefit.

3) This question inclines me to believe you don't understand a fundamental aspect of Christianity, which is that God's sun (Jesus) was made a sacrifice so that humans would no longer be bound by sin or the laws of Moses. Christianity teaches that people are saved by faith alone, not by adhering to laws or refraining from sin. Or course, part of that belief suggests a desire to recognize and refrain from sin. I do not use grace as an excuse to sin, but I recognize that I fail from time to time and so does everyone else. Also, while societies values sometimes align with those described in the Bible, I do not expect non-believers to adhere to Christian values nor do I have any desire to enshrine Christian values in secular law.

4) It's interesting how many people have strong opinions on Biblical Christianity without knowing hardly anything about it. I still consider myself a complete novice, but I know enough to recognize how shallow a lot of the criticism is. Of course, there is also plenty of intelligent criticism and I don't pretend to have all the answers nor can I promise that future me wont be persuaded to abandon his faith. But so far I simply haven't seen anything that compels me to believe the Bible is wrong.

Some people believe science and the Bible are at odds with one another, but I don't see how. I've had no trouble embracing both and I'm perfectly capable of differentiating between knowledge based on science and knowledge based on the Bible.