Sorry, I would rather latch onto a side-issue raised by your question. It's very common for arguments to break out about what's in the Bible -- whether it's true or not. While those are all valid things to argue about, to me what get most overlooked is what's *missing* from the Bible. Some pretty amazing stuff: 1- Where is the prohibition against slavery?? How could this get omitted in a book which is purporting to act as a moral guide for future generations. It's not like they hadn't heard of slavery, plenty of it existed. So how come God couldn't just have one of the prophets declare to the Israelites "sorry, no slaves. Slavery bad"?? 2- Unequivocal renunciation of evil stuff in the Old Testament. There's a lot of really bad things recommended by the OT -- things like killing gays, etc. Why didn't God just tell Jesus (sorry, not sure how the protocol goes) to come out and say flat-out, in unambiguous terms "Ok, the rules are changed. Do NOT kill gays anymore!" 3- Removal of ambiguities. The reason there are so many denominations is because they argue over details that are ambiguous or conflicting in interpretation. Listen, this stuff is not rocket science. If you have to get baptized to get to heaven, just come out and say that, and declare that all other interpretations are false. Have Jesus say it, so there's no question about who is in charge. Don't leave room for a bunch of different interpretations! I could go on, but you get the idea: what's MISSING is just as much an indictment of the book as what's present.

I dont believe that we are supposed to abide by ALL standards set back then. If we did, the whole world would be much more primitive. No cars, no electronics, and so on. I think that there are certain rules of life that should be abided by still today. For example The 10 Commandments.

I believe most people think of it as a rule book or a history book. I feel it is more of an helper guide. I feel the stories were inspired to be written that relate to our lives and that the out-come shows what happens when people choose a certain path. More symbolic then history. I believe many fall away from religion because of this misunderstanding but it is not so much the religion as the ones who are teaching a wrong message. Many have tried to look at this book as a mystery that is full of codes to be cracked and are over thinking the entire concept. Many who do not believe in God are living more to the plan then those who claim they know religion. We would not have free will if we are suppose to set it aside and become puppets on a string.

You are mistaken. Much of Daniel, Isaiah, many of the other prophets, and even parts of the Psalms have much to say about today and the future. We have not “outgrown God”. We have not changed that much. Human nature is human nature. There are no new emotions that have developed over time. So we have Ipods now and all kinds of cool gadgets – so what? We NEED God’s standards. We need to walk with the Christ. Here is a link to a nice article about Bible prophecy. http://www.watchtower.org/e/19990715/article_02.htm

Hello Keysha..Good day and good question. There is much more than just history..There is law, the first 5 books..which is the Jewish Torah. Then there is history. There is also poetry,Psalms Proverbs etc...There are books of prophecy. Then there is the new Testament which by some is considered to be a revision of the old.... I agree that there are guidelines that are timeless, but stoning people, c'mon...

The mistake came in accepting the Bible as the "Word of God." That is an abvious mistake because Christ himself used that term in the Parable of the Sower, and I can assure you that he was not "sowing" Bibles out to everyone. This will explain what that original Word of God was all about: http://gospelenigma.com It was not a book.

the bible is basic guidelines that are relevant to all generations. and if one follow those basic guidelines the will be prepared for the future. there is almost one story for every situation that we may ever come across and how to or how not to handle it.

If you haven't read Christopher Hitchen "god is not great", please do. It opened my eyes to a lot of things about religious texts.