John,

>>Nahh.. Not upset if you disagree at all. You have every right to be wrong.
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>I'm not saying I disagree with your beliefs, please don't interpret it as that (if you are, hard to tell in written text), because I'm not even sure what my own beliefs are. I'm pretty sure that I won't trust everything the Bible says, though. Way to many inconsistencies. Plus the fact that most theologists always have to interpret it in a million different ways to make various scenarios fit.

Well, I forgot to put a '<g>' there so I may have seemd more 'cross' than I meant. I apologize for that if that's the way I came across. Personally, I would suggest that you never give up your desire to be skeptical, only I would suggest that you also, at the same time, not throw out reason with it. Don't know if that makes sense or not but this is one of those issues where you must make it your own. Skepticism is great as long as you keep an open mind as well.

Now, as far as trusting the contents of the Bible I can assure you that what you have in most cases (there are some groups that deliberately falsify content for their own purposes - another long involved issue <g>) that you are reading what the writers meant for you to read. Notwithstanding some of the difficulties translating one Greek word into multiple English words and correctly conveying the depth of the meaning the Greek.

Additionally, you've made a logical error of presuming that there are inconsistencies on one hand while admitting on the other that you really don't have enough personal knowledge do know that what you know is accurate. That doesn't make sense to me. <s>

Additionally, I would avoid the theologians. The word 'theology' is English for 'theo=god' & 'ology=know', or 'knowing god'. Well, for goodness sakes... You don't read books about your mom and dad you sit down and talk with them. Most theologians IMO are like a lot of trainers. They tell others how to do what they haven't or cannot do themselves. <g> I find the nit-picking of most theologians usually to be not much more than an attempt to show everyone else just how smart they are. Blehh... <g>

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>>I would recommend you go back and read those accounts again. You've sort of embelleshed them with what appears to be some personal animus. NBD.. Happens all the time when folks don't have all the facts.
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>As I said, I didn't have a Bible at the time. I think I got fairly close, or at least got the point across. (Personal animus is based on people trying to interpret the uninterpretable(?) and force that on me. This is not a shout at you, Doug, please don't take it like that. It is a shout at organized religion in general).

No, you really didn't get the point across that is in the Bible. You interpreted the Bible with your own ideas and called it 'official', which is the same thing as your gripe with the theologians, isn't it? <g>

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>>Most church-going folks hardly ever read the Bible, let alone those who are predisposed against it.
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>Which is one of the reasons I can't take very much organized religion. It seems to be about 85% fake.

*chuckle*

I think we would be in almost total agreement here. It's actually a very interesting point IMO. The nation of Israel, the High Priest, and the whole Chritian church is supposed to accurately reflect who God is and what His nature is to other nations and mankind in general. We/They have miserably failed in far too many instances.

I like the following notion: "Religion's goal is to make you better; Christianity's goal is to make you worse." Jesus said that only the sick go to doctors in one location and 'Blessed are the poor in spirit' in another and 'they who have been forgiven much love much' in yet another. By this he meant that until one sees their spiritual poverty they aren't ready for God's response. Religion only causes its practitioners to think that they've made themselves 'better' and who in the world would want to go to heaven and sit next to someone who would spend eternity telling you all the good things they did for God? < LOL! >

Poverty of spirit is very healthy IMO.


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>>If you have any questions though I'll be more than happy to help answer them.
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>I've got 2 close friends that are pastors, and another that has a degree (maybe a Ph.D.) in theology, and they don't have time to answer all of my questions! It makes no difference really, as the bulk of my questions aren't concerning the legitimacy or intent of God. They are mostly centered around man's interpretation (the Bible), which seems to be wholly (no pun intended) inconsistent!
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>jfh

Well, I'd suggest that you just ask God Himself. He knows the whole story you know. <g>

Apart from that I'd recommend a book to you that I've recommended to Mike, "New Evidence That Demands A Verdict". It's an update of two volumes of a real classic. It explains the facts about where the Bible came from, the various notions on who wrote what, when, etc and covers some very interesting issues (IMO at least <g>) on such issues as translating languages and accurately passing texts on from generation to generation. The Jews had some facinating methods for doing this! Also I'd recommend reading Halley's Bible Handbook. It's a good concise book that covers many cultural and historical issues that once one understands them make a lot of the texts make sense. We've lost our understanding of Jewish culture and those issues that would help understand things like the parables of Jesus. They make a lot of sense once you understand the context.

But please.. Remain skeptical!