in my church there are bibles where you sit.
this church is a judeo-christian church…
the prevalent belief is that this bible is the word of god…
where did that belief system take hold…
i see the church members picking and choosing
and interpreting in different ways…
what is happening out there in the big wide world??
i live in the country…in the woods…
Pure political maneuvering.
The “Word of God” more originally meant a particular word (a Hebrew spelling/“spell casting”- “YHWH”) that caused a deep unshakable belief. Later the “word of God” became “whatever the holy prophets say” or “whatever is in scriptures”. And finally in Christianity became “The Holy Bible”.
Also, one of the versions of “God” is a CIA type of entity consigned to be “God on Earth”. They use a code word as a “word of God” to identify from where instructions come.
JOHN 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
JOHN 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Isn’t that the genius of religious texts?-- They are open to countless interpretations, which means fantasy and fallacy alike can be easily explained away under a pretense of “misunderstanding”.
Most Christian denominations believe their interpretation the most accurate. All others are thought be inferior, in a sense, due to discrepancies in the details. One denomination contends that another interprets some aspect of the message incorrectly, or doesn’t observe rituals or traditions properly, for instance. That kind of behavior is rife here in the south, particularly among the Baptists [many don’t even consider Catholicism to be “Christianity”, in general terms].
Turtle I really like this post. Well done, and to the point, nicely composed
Some thoughts and words where it poked something in me …
You have a church? To quote “in my church.” Just joking. It’s a colloquialism.
That’s been gnawing at me for a long time. And you know what I’ve concluded? That … there is no answer of solid unambiguous certainty, that can be documented. At least I haven’t been able to find where the “word of God” notion began and came from. It just seems to have appeared out of thin air, at some unknown time, in the misty fog of past times long ago.
And it comes on some people like breathing … like, happening without effort. The word of God meme infects outside peripheral vision, and deeper than our rational minds can reach. The word of God notion is accepted unexamined … and is presumed right off the bat. It’s crazy really. And dangerous.
I grew up with the notion. It still haunts me brain patterns and head wires. I can fall back into it easily, at times. After all, it is nice to have a certain unquestionable authoritative foundation to smack people over the head with. And it’s nice as well to be able to quote just a verse of the word of God and claim it as “that’s the way it is;” with a warning to listen up ; cuz ya don’t ever want to get on God’s bad side. He will visit calamity upon your head, and maybe upon yer family too, or your tribe or nation, even. Gods’ shoe packs a wallop.
Hey, it’s a designer system. And no two designs are the same, really, within each church member ; even if outwardly – at your church perchance – it appears they’re all pretty much alike … and in agreement.
And some of it leaks out, sooner or later, and creates messy milieus and collisions of ideals – God’s ideals, by the way … which makes 'em too important to let go of – ya gotta stick up for God and stand your heavenly ground – “God says so.”
There’s no proof that the Bible is the word of God. In fact, upon examination the whole notion falls apart.
Me too. And alone. Burn wood for heat. I love it. I am indeed a voice out of the wilderness.