I do not "KNOW" what "The Truth" of the beginning was/is.
I accepted Brother Jesus in the second grade. I've always been inquisitive enough that something that gets my attention gets researched. Thus I grew to know the Bible. "Divinely Inspired", "re/written by man"? <shrug> Totally irrelevant to me; the Penteteuch(sp?) always made sense and it always feels "good enough".
I once saw a reader-board that said "God + Me = A Majority", and coupling that with what I understood the Bible to be telling me in Genesis ("I give unto you all things"), there ain't a thing in this existence that bothers/worries me. "Satan"? One trick pony, that one. I've got free will; I can decide to do "evil" or "good". In fact, I can "stump the devil" by doing good for/to him/his when it crops up and shut it all straight down!
So, with that being said, I put forth the following personal "interpretation" on that WHOLE Bible thing. (Oh! That looks fun: "The Whole-y Bible"?)
While I will always give props to Brother Jesus for trying to get folks to pay attention to the Covenant that GOD gave us; Brother Jesus is, was, and always will be, a Man. Like all of us: a Child of God. And, as such, not "qualified" to rewrite the Covenant that GOD gave us. That's like rewriting your Dad's mortgage and expecting everybody to go along with the "New Mortgage", no?
Besides that, if Brother Jesus was all that; "y'all" couldn't have strung him up on that cross! Brother Jesus didn't "die for our sins"; he was KILLED! Where is the "Absolution of Sin" in committing the Sin of Murder?!
Even as the Old Testament follows a logical progression from "here is how it works", through "if you were paying attention it would be as good for you as it was for Ruth, Solomon and David, and since you are not, it's "hellfire and brimstone", baby!", right up to "I'm sending down a Messenger to point you in the Right Direction"; so too does the New Testament have a logical progression: The Messenger came, "you" killed him, deified him, elevated his "gallows" to an icon (violations of 1st, 2nd and 5th Commandments), and "you" are on a path that leads directly to God rescinding His Covenant. (The "Blood Covenant"?!! Ritual cannabalism? <shudder> I wouldn't have thought that there needed to be a specific "injunction" about the "flesh of man" where clean and unclean meats was concerned.)
As far as I am concerned, I was at the foot of the mountain waiting for Moses to come back down with "The Message". I wasn't participating in the reveling and carrying on of the "Golden Calf Crew". And still ain't. Don't. Won't.
I accepted Brother Jesus in the second grade. I've always been inquisitive enough that something that gets my attention gets researched. Thus I grew to know the Bible. "Divinely Inspired", "re/written by man"? <shrug> Totally irrelevant to me; the Penteteuch(sp?) always made sense and it always feels "good enough".
I once saw a reader-board that said "God + Me = A Majority", and coupling that with what I understood the Bible to be telling me in Genesis ("I give unto you all things"), there ain't a thing in this existence that bothers/worries me. "Satan"? One trick pony, that one. I've got free will; I can decide to do "evil" or "good". In fact, I can "stump the devil" by doing good for/to him/his when it crops up and shut it all straight down!
So, with that being said, I put forth the following personal "interpretation" on that WHOLE Bible thing. (Oh! That looks fun: "The Whole-y Bible"?)
While I will always give props to Brother Jesus for trying to get folks to pay attention to the Covenant that GOD gave us; Brother Jesus is, was, and always will be, a Man. Like all of us: a Child of God. And, as such, not "qualified" to rewrite the Covenant that GOD gave us. That's like rewriting your Dad's mortgage and expecting everybody to go along with the "New Mortgage", no?
Besides that, if Brother Jesus was all that; "y'all" couldn't have strung him up on that cross! Brother Jesus didn't "die for our sins"; he was KILLED! Where is the "Absolution of Sin" in committing the Sin of Murder?!
Even as the Old Testament follows a logical progression from "here is how it works", through "if you were paying attention it would be as good for you as it was for Ruth, Solomon and David, and since you are not, it's "hellfire and brimstone", baby!", right up to "I'm sending down a Messenger to point you in the Right Direction"; so too does the New Testament have a logical progression: The Messenger came, "you" killed him, deified him, elevated his "gallows" to an icon (violations of 1st, 2nd and 5th Commandments), and "you" are on a path that leads directly to God rescinding His Covenant. (The "Blood Covenant"?!! Ritual cannabalism? <shudder> I wouldn't have thought that there needed to be a specific "injunction" about the "flesh of man" where clean and unclean meats was concerned.)
As far as I am concerned, I was at the foot of the mountain waiting for Moses to come back down with "The Message". I wasn't participating in the reveling and carrying on of the "Golden Calf Crew". And still ain't. Don't. Won't.
