More About The Good Book
I have realised that my response to Anthropax's comment on my previous post ('The 100 Minute Bible') could pigeon-hole me as someone who blindly quotes Scripture every time I need to prove a point.
This would not be good, so I have decided to elaborate on my point, and on the Bible as a general topic. Hopefully this will pave the way for some educated debate and interesting comment.
Firstly, the Bible is not just about one thing and making any attempt to sum it up in a few sentences is bound to result in huge omissions and gross misunderstandings. For those of you who don't know, the Bible comprises 66 different books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New). The books range from allegory to history, from poetry and song to law and from eye-witness account to letter, and most of them were written by different people.
But that said, there are some common themes running throughout. It teaches us about God, and His character, His relationship with us and how He intends us to live.
Rabbi Hilell the Elder's attempt at summarising the Torah (the first 5 - I think - books) and the laws contained therein has much to commend it - the way we relate to others plays a crucial part in the various commandments. The biggest problem however is that it omits God completely. Many of the Old Testament commandments focus on the way we relate to God and I don't think that you can just cut that out.
Perhaps a better summary of the Law is the one Jesus gave when he was asked what he thought were the most important Commandments. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength" and secondly "You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself".
So why did I quote John 14 v 6 ("I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no-one comes to the Father except through me")?
Basically, assuming Jesus' words to be true, this verse has some serious implications. You can be as good to your neighbour as you like, but if you forget about God, if you don't accept Jesus then it won't get you anywhere.
Fortunately however, the converse also appears to be true. There are cases in the Bible which show that no matter how much we screw up, we can always come back to God. The guy crucified next to Jesus is one example here - he acknowledged Jesus who then promised that he'd be in Paradise.
Why not read some of the Bible for yourself (I'd recommend starting with one of the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and draw your own conclusions?
This would not be good, so I have decided to elaborate on my point, and on the Bible as a general topic. Hopefully this will pave the way for some educated debate and interesting comment.
Firstly, the Bible is not just about one thing and making any attempt to sum it up in a few sentences is bound to result in huge omissions and gross misunderstandings. For those of you who don't know, the Bible comprises 66 different books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New). The books range from allegory to history, from poetry and song to law and from eye-witness account to letter, and most of them were written by different people.
But that said, there are some common themes running throughout. It teaches us about God, and His character, His relationship with us and how He intends us to live.
Rabbi Hilell the Elder's attempt at summarising the Torah (the first 5 - I think - books) and the laws contained therein has much to commend it - the way we relate to others plays a crucial part in the various commandments. The biggest problem however is that it omits God completely. Many of the Old Testament commandments focus on the way we relate to God and I don't think that you can just cut that out.
Perhaps a better summary of the Law is the one Jesus gave when he was asked what he thought were the most important Commandments. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength" and secondly "You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself".
So why did I quote John 14 v 6 ("I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no-one comes to the Father except through me")?
Basically, assuming Jesus' words to be true, this verse has some serious implications. You can be as good to your neighbour as you like, but if you forget about God, if you don't accept Jesus then it won't get you anywhere.
Fortunately however, the converse also appears to be true. There are cases in the Bible which show that no matter how much we screw up, we can always come back to God. The guy crucified next to Jesus is one example here - he acknowledged Jesus who then promised that he'd be in Paradise.
Why not read some of the Bible for yourself (I'd recommend starting with one of the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and draw your own conclusions?
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