If you don't believe it all, why believe any of it. Should we proof read it marking out things we don't like or agree with?

I'd like to believe that no one has tampered with it, but I can't be certain anymore. There are too many watered down versions now, with too many interpretations floating around. The Bible has it's place and some things are literal, others figuratively, and yet other laws etc. no longer apply (or so it seems). Understanding the Bible requires much more education than most individuals can offer. If it is cause to conflict - leave it. If it is useful for healing - read it. I believe God will give everyone what they need in their own time.

Yes, I do believe every last word in the Bible. For the most part, it depends on what passage you are talking about when you mean literal. For instance, when Jesus was giving the first communion with the disciples, he said "This is my blood that was shed for you" and "this is the body that was broken." Catholic people believe that the wine/grape juice and the bread is actually turning into Jesus' physical body parts when they partake of it. However, I believe that it is symbolically supposed to represent and to help us remember The Cross. Also, when trying to understand stories and meanings in the Bible, it is important to know the background of the story to see if it has any hidden implications that you may not know about. To learn more, I suggest taking a Hermaneutics class at a local Bible College and you could learn about many of these instances and find the experience quite rewarding.

yes..it's like CaptRon says, if you're not going to believe all of it..why believe any of it. I am not certain that I have interpreted some of it correctly, but I believe it. Some of it is, of course, in the form of parables which are used to teach life lessons.

The Bible to me is a guide book full of wisdom and advice, it also contains some simply stunning information. in one verse it mentions "the circle of the earth!" and that was written a few thousand years ago but it wasn't until the last century that we found out the earth was round, everyone thought it was flat! I am amazed at the sheer intelligence of Jesus! he had a wonderful gift of being able to find the right words at the right time. like "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" that's why everyone that day all dropped the rocks and wondered off seeking a less ambitious project. His ability to use parables to explain things to people was brilliant. i am at the moment writting a book that's called "Understanding and breaking the code of God!" which tries to show and explain how we can see the maker of the universes signature on almost everything, almost like an artist always signs his or her works. best wishes to you dave A NZ GUY.

Although I am, personally, am an atheist (and so unlikely to be listened to by many of those that belive in God), I have studied all of the main, and many of the minor, religions in the world, both around today, and from the past. I would never try to discourage anyone from their beliefs, because they are so important to the person that to do so would not only be redundant, but also dangerous to the pyshological health of that person. However, when it comes to believing the bible, word for word, I would encourage those that think you must do so to look at the other religions that were around at the time and previous to the writing of the bible. If you look at the myths of Ancient Greece, Babylonia, Assyria and Many others, including Buddhism and you see that many of the same stories are told as are told in the bible. Now many Christians recognise this, but point out that those other civilisations stole the stories from the bible. But when you look at the times that the stories first surface in each of these civilisations, one can clearly see that, in many cases, the stories appear in other places before they appear in Judao-Christian society. When one looks at the New Testament, and compare it with other religions, mythology and recorded history, one can see that many of the stories of Christ's teachings and actions can be found in other, previous sources, even in the Old Testament itself and retold as stories of Christ's actions (a great example of this is where Christ walks on water, which is a direct copy of a previous prophet's actions given in the old testament and was explained as being attributed to Christ to prove that he was decended from that same prophet). Many of the cermonies, days of celebration and even ways of worshipping Christ can also be seen to be taken from other sources (from the worship of Ra and Sekhmet and Isis from Egypt, heavily from Mithras from Rome and from many other sources). To give an example, Mithras was a Roman God fo the Sun, taken from Persian culture, who was born in a manger in a stable on December 25th to a virgin mother and his worshipers ate bread and drank wine as a sign of drinking his blood and eating of his body (extreme similarities there to Christian worship, yet Mithras worship was from 200 years before the birth of Christ). Even when one looks at the life and teachings of Christ, one can see that where, in the bible, he was known to have travelled from childhood until his early 30s, Historic evidence from India shows a "holy man", who has been absorbed into both Hindu and Buddhist teachings, came from around the area of the middle East and travelled around India for the years where he appears to be missing from the bible, learning about and teaching the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Upon his reappearance in the New Testament, Christ suddenly starts teaching an, until then, new form of Judaism, which (if one one looks carefully and compares Christian teachings with those of Hinduism and Buddhism) one easily recognises as a fusion of the three religions of Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism into this new form of teaching, called Christianity. Now by my saying and pointing out these things, it may look as if I am denegrating or trying to disprove Christianity and being Heretical. But I am truly not inending such, but just pointing out that most of the writings of the bible were done by people AFTER the event and who were heavily influenced by what they believed. If one looks at any newspaper or news report today, one can see that it is extremely rare that even eye witnesses report the same event in the same manner and will add to or leave out things that others report, so why shouldn;t the same be true of the New Testament? I am not saying that it is not true and that you shouldn't believe it, but just to look at it in the same way that you would any other news report (after all, that's what it is, a news report on the life, actions and teachings of Jesus Christ) and accept that, because it is written by men, that it may be slightly distorted in places in its descriptions, so should be treated just as one would treat any other news report today. Believe the overall message but expect there to be some, natural inaccruacies in the way that it is reported by the men that write it. The argument that it must be true because it is "inspired by God" may still hold true, but God didn't tell them what to write word for word (and even if he did, it has been translated and copied so many times that there are bound to be inaccuracies there too), but "inspired" it to be written by men, who may have got a few of the words mixed up in their excitement to write it all down.

I dont think it was written with the idea that everyone would believe it. i personally dont. I believe its more of a 'guide to life' every story has a meaning and if you take something away from that you will lead a good life. it doesnt matter if you believe it or not as long as you learn from its messages.. i personally believe that the reason for the bible, was that in times where countrys wernt policed, it was used as a way to make people obey a common set of principals! IE if you believe you're going to hell for doing something wrong - You wont do it!

Moral and values are part of human ways to be civilised. Why need laws if human can behave and be polite drivers, honest businessmen, non violent and gentle,patient and kind? Why need to have charity when people are automatically generous and trustworthy? Why need to punish a kid for lying when he/she is not doing anything harmful to themselves or others? Why need to have lawyers, judges and police officers? If humans are born good and perfect there would not have religion, philosophy or law. So religions are evidence to show us that we are suppose to be better people or what? The bible are records of evidence of men and women who discovered a way to show humans at that period of time struggle with what we call sorrow and suffering and a way to reach the better part of human soul.