THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BIBLE

The Bible consists of ancient writings, gathered, edited and selected by religious appointees from a range of other material,some lost to us. We like to think of Biblical books as original material, but this is seldom true. They have been sanitised; adapted to the current orthodoxy of the past, over centuries of copying and correction. The Bible has thus become a mix of political directives with ancient explanations for existence, using supernatural explanations to cover gaping gaps of ignorance. Later books told the legends of a warrior people convinced that their God was on their side. seeing defeat as a divine call for renewal and national repentance. Later still came the stories of wandering preachers in an age of social inequality, but peace. They told of God's purposes of love and justice which became a global movement amongst the impoverished poor. Some see the Bible as inerrant and God given, bravely, often agressively, struggling with, its inconsistencies and errors. Others see the Bible as an assembly of ancient tales framed from a specific tribal point of view and bearing little historical reality. Today we have the printed word, differing little between editions, assembled and authorised by the Christian leadership, valued, by some, as the very words of God taken as literally true in every word, despite its origins and contradictions. It is a truly amazing triumph of desire over reality.

The Bible is made of many components: Ancient Legends Ancient Legends We now know these as the Creation stories and those of the fathers of the Jewish people. The oldest material probably predates written script and is the transcribed stories told by ancient man, the legends told around prehistoric campfires or whispered in the shaman's cave. Here is a mix of ancient explanations for existence; how God made the world, with millenial timescales depicted as a single week of human time. How humanity emerged from brutality. Stories of the interaction of ancient tribes and the battles between hunters and farmers. The realisation of the concept of possessions and the struggle to protect what is mine. Such stories were gathered and written down so being preserved for all time, eternally later to be taken literally unfortunately. A Spiritualised History A Spiritualised History More recently there came the legends of a warrior people convinced that their God was on their side explaining or ignoring their reverses. This is history spiritualised by religious explanations. The land of Israel acts as a conduit between land masses and thus between the powerful empires on either side. It could act as an independent buffer state or its resouces might be plundered, sacked by the side which held the upper hand. Its existence depended on the whim of others which could easily be seen as Godly intervention. Reverses were explained as the result of sin. Success came from national repentance. This was a climate ripe for religion. The pattern was repeated again and again, even today, when Israel acts as a buffer between West and Eastern cultures. The Effect of Exile The Effect of Exile Defeat and enslavement in a foreign land was emphasised by those exiled as leaders. Whilst common folk worked on, humbly, unconcerned by the whims of nobility and the priesthood. Exile led to a times of introspection replacing times of liturgical temple ceremony times to rethink concepts of national identity, and the role of their supportive divinity; times maybe of repentance. Loss of the Temple focus for religion, led to new writings, new concepts, a new focus on the written word; the Law reconstituted. Prophetic Utterance Prophetic Utterance Once returned to a settled life, it seemed important to record prophetic utterance; the political statements of the priestly hegemony; the presumed message of divinity for that time. Why do we treat them as still relevant today, when more recent prophets are generally ignored? Christian Additions Christian Additions The Christians took the Old Testament, much as it stood and added new elements that told the tale of Jesus, through stories of his life and death and letters between Christians. They all bear the mark of a biassed agenda and subsequent editing to fit new theology. We have no certain pedigree for Christ, nor for the stories told about him.