Dear Religious Humanist:
I just finished reading your webpage. It was incredibly interesting.
I have a few questions for you:
1. Have you read the entire Bible?
2. Are you a professional historian or interpreter?
3. Isn't it true that there are many other famous works (religious and
non-religious) that are hard to understand and that contradict themselves,
most of which require a schooled historian to understand?
4. How do you know that your interpretation of the Bible is correct?
5. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the Bible doesn't make sense to you
because no one has ever explained it to you? Or because you didn't read
the whole thing? Or because you weren't open-minded when you read it?
Or because maybe you're not smart enough to understand it?
I would greatly appreciate your response to these questions, seeing as you
seem to be so incredibly wise on the subject. Please e-mail me.
Sincerely, T
Good Morning T.,
>I just finished reading your webpage. It was incredibly interesting.
>I would greatly appreciate your response to these questions, seeing as you
>seem to be so incredibly wise on
>the subject.
I think you are 'buttering me up', but that's OK. Since you mention it,
I am no wiser on the subject than you probably are, but 'I do read it as I see it'.
At first I wasn't going to take the time to answer your questions, but they could
be fun to answer. To ask them you must have a good sense of humour!
As you can see I got somewhat carried away.
>I have a few questions for you:
>Please e-mail me.
I will try to comply (8 questions).
>1. Have you read the entire Bible?
Yes, a number of times. As a young Christian teenager I read a story version
of the Bible and was enthralled. Later, my wife and I read the King James version
and a more recent interpretation of the whole bible from Genesis to Revelations
in our nightly bible study -- this is where we began to realize that most Christians
do not read the whole bible or they would be totally shocked by what it portrays.
It is during this reading when doubts about my Christian beliefs began.
I would suggest that anyone that is happy as a conventional Christian and wants
to stay that way, not to read the whole bible as it is, but to only read the specific
passages suggested by their religious leaders and have them interpret it for them.
It was actually years later that I realized other people, that have studied the bible
thoroughly, had similar doubts.
I assume you have too.
>2. Are you a professional historian or interpreter?
To answer this question, do you mean a biblical interpreter and professional
biblical historian -- you are referring to the bible, right? Give me some examples
of people that would in your estimation be professional historians or interpreters.
To answer your questions. No, I have never produced another version of the bible.
No, I read history, but am not a University trained historian.
The way you are asking these questions I hope you don't think yourself a
'professional' biblical interpreter, because there is no such a thing as a
reliable
version of the 'original Bible' in existence to be interpreted by anyone, let
alone
a professional. It would also be fantastic if you produced yet another version to
add to the many versions of the Bible that exist already.
>3. Isn't it true that there are many other famous works (religious and
>non-religious) that are hard to understand
> and that contradict themselves, most of which require a schooled
>historian to understand?
True. However a "Holy" book that is considered to be a literal message from
an external God of the Universe to all people wouldn't be hard to understand, not contradict
itself, and would be straight forward enough for anyone to easily understand,
without having experts trying to explain it to them. If not, this God is a deceiver.
If the book is NOT "Holy", but famous, then difficulty of understanding it is
not
a problem. In this case expertise may be needed to understand it.
So, if you consider the bible a famous work like any other famous ancient book
then I can expect "experts" would be needed to clearly understand it.
>4. How do you know that your interpretation of the Bible is correct?
No one (including you and me) knows that any given interpretation of the bible is
correct -- none of the originals exist. Because there are so many versions and
interpretations of the bible shows that the bible is not a clear, straightforward
message to all mankind -- producing contention. This is a strong indication that
the bible is not a message from a God of the Universe to all people.
>5. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the Bible doesn't make sense to you
>because no one has ever
> explained it to you?
Tell me, sir, who would you recommend and why?
I am continually receiving e-mail explaining it to me -- they vary a lot.
Some of the ones that make sense I have incorporated as [e-mail responses]
to a number of my web pages. A ridiculous thought just occurred to me
-- I hope you haven't deceived yourself into believing YOU have some
special knowledge or special insights about the bible that most people
reading it do not have.
> Or because you didn't read the whole thing?
Answered already.
>Or because you weren't open-minded when you read it?
As my doubts of Christianity developed by reading the bible, I became
more and more open-minded to what the bible actually said. Before that
I was closed-minded and tried to explain away any difficulties in the bible.
>Or because maybe you're not smart enough to understand it?
The point about the bible being a message from a God of the Universe to all
people applies here. If it is such a message, you would think that a person
that can read, that has some reasoning ability, should easily be able to
understand this message. Again, a strong indication that the bible is not
a message from the God of the Universe. The God of the bible could
not be the supposed God of the Universe. I hope you are smart enough to understand it.
Be of Good Cheer,
Hello, Hooge! I thank you greatly for replying to my letter.
I understood and enjoyed your point of view and I acknowledged that you
made some very good points. I never realized most of those things before!
You seem to be very open-minded and it is wonderful that you have
thoroughly studied this topic before coming to a conclusion. It is interesting
to know that you were once a Christian. What you said is sad but true:
most Christians do not read the entire Bible. I have thoroughly enjoyed
this correspondence. I would love to hear from you again. Thanks.
God Bless, T