Okay obviously my first post this morning was tongue in cheek, but here is a video of a much more serious discussion of the relevancy of the Bible today, which includes host Nicky Campbell, Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester, Richard Dawkins, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, and Bible scholar Francesca Stavrakopoulou.
As you can see the debate gets quite lively and somewhat confrontational. Which in my opinion are ingredients for a fascinating debate.
(As you can imagine there is much more of this conversation online, which you can watch by clicking here, here, and here.)
Terribly relevant--although terribly misused (like anything powerful which Man gets hands upon)--for anyone who wishes to use English effectively, in fact, the KJV is crucial.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQVbBjgBS6A&feature=youtu.be
The Bible is still relevant to Sarah and Bristol Palin.
DeleteI'll say the Bible is relevant, look what it does for commerce. We are talking lot's of jobs. Like Nancy French is collecting a paycheck, what does she do?
Delete"When life is tough — or even when it’s not — I’ve found comfort in the Bible." aka Bristol Palin
There is a lot of money in belief in a relevant Bible
http://www.cafepress.com/+sarah-palin-christian+jewelry
Sporting ( old testament ) Jewish Jewelry
http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/136989/why-christian-women-are-sporting-jewish-jewelry/
Biblically inspired: "Bristol's 'Passion of the Christ'
http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2010/11/15/dwts-bristol-palin-passion-of-the-christ.html
The Bible gives us so many things, it must be relevant
American Flag and Cross Lapel Pin
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-39715698131541_2204_6317870
Is Sarah Palin helping to keep the Bible relevant? Or just pandering?
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/4694/
So what is Palin saying with her homage to Alaska? With terrifying literal-mindedness, these earrings express everything we need to know about her pride in her roots and her people. At least no one will be in any doubt about where she's from.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/25/women.fashion
http://www.thephora.net/forum/showthread.php?t=72989
This is so Sarah, she may think she has style and is different, but same vibe when you see her in her albatross jewels.
http://imgsrv.rock102.com/image/waqy/UserFiles/Image/Caption%20This/fat-guy-gold%20chain%20cross.jpg
The Gospel According to Hate
http://www.gospelaccordingtohate.com/2010/03/hypocrisy-poll-carrie-prejean-vs-lauren.html
Bristol Palin appropriately dressed for her publicity stunt with a talent agent. It got a little out of hand, but hey, she had an excuse to go back to Alaska also, too.
http://www.towleroad.com/2011/09/bristol.html
Very Clever!
DeleteThe bible is an interesting historical document(s).
ReplyDeleteReligion SHOULD have a civilizing effect of people.
Religion can offer a social life to folks who otherwise have none.
Personally, I get more joy messing with my plants than going to church.
The Bible is still relevant to me although I realize it is not to others. Jesus' Sermon On The Mount is a great guide for how to conduct myself. Unfortunately, it seems political figures are stuck in Deuteronomy and ignore Christ all together.
ReplyDeleteEvery time one of them mention God, I cringe. Seriously, for example, does anyone believe $arah prays before her appearances and God puts the vitriol she spews into her mouth? Her "anointing" was surely from Satan.
Happy Easter, everyone! He Is Risen!
No.
ReplyDeleteThe bible is a work of fiction.
Written thousands of years ago to influence the populace. Who were largely uneducated.
Why would it be relevant now?
Speaking of texts and relevance, how about I Ching, the Iliad and Odyssey, Plato's Republic, Upanishads, Confucius' Analects, Euclid (surely Euclid is relevant?), Hippocrates - I could go on, but you get the point, yes?
DeleteSurely you get that these works do not cause us to go to war because people don't believe in the same book we do?
DeleteNobody in the USA is trying to take away the basic human rights of half the population by quoting the Iliad.
DeleteI was talking only of texts, not of faith or ideology; and of relevance, in the sense of, is there something to add to our knowledge in this text? There is no reason to agree with a text in order to learn from it. By learning, I mean being provoked to think and have ideas one might not otherwise have had.
DeleteAs to wars and taking away human rights, if I believed the existence of books magically did that I might get rid of the writings of Marx, some of which I admire. I might blame him for Communism and decide his ideas have killed sixty million people (as cited in Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-first Century (1993) Zbigniew Brezezinski).
I think wars etc. are ultimately about power, whatever the excuses used to get people to fight, kill, suppress, enslave, hate etc. A look at some of the wars of the world. The list of wars by death toll is interesting.
I am very worried about what so-called Christians are doing to our country. I just doubt that claiming the Bible or any book is irrelevant will change anyone's behavior. By the same token, who knows what was destroyed in the fire of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. May be something that would have made the world a better place.
first off, what does anyone hope to achieve by using the bible?
ReplyDeleteyou think its the word of god?
do you just pick parts you like and overlook the rest?
why do you need a book to tell you anything about life?
do the billions of people who have lived without knowing anything about the bible live worse than anyone else?
why are bible believers the stupidest people in the world?, since science proves everything about its accuracy as being fake.
why does god always need money?
why does god always love war?
why are most whites who believe in the bible racists?
the point is its as useless to go on asking these questions as is the book itself.
It might still be if it hadn't been "revised" so many times by old men who had an agenda to put forth.
ReplyDeleteThe bible works well to wedge under your door to keep out the adventists and other missionaries disrupting your day. If only I could figure out a way to use it to block unwanted phone solicitors its relevance would be unquestioned
ReplyDeleteThe bible works well to wedge the door to keep out the adventists and other missionaries trying to disrupt your day. If only I could figure out a way to use it to block solicitors and other unwanted phone calls, its relevance would be unquestioned.
ReplyDeleteAll historical documents are "relevant."
ReplyDeleteObviously the Bible is still relevant as are the documents and beliefs of all faiths currently practiced around the world since they effect people's attitudes, decisions and actions.
Are uou trying to say the TeePeeer Bible trumpeters have not relevance today?
Really?
If our knowledge and technology are based on what others have learned, and taught, thought, and written in the past, then all religious, philosophical, and technical knowledge is relevant to where we are at this precise moment in time, and our history and thoughts and discovereries are relevant to the next moment and the next and the next.
To ignore our past is to have no idea of who we are our where we are going.
Put another way. Mankind's path forward is the extension of the path we have always been on the path that brought us to this moment.
We are the summation of our past, we can learn from it, use it, or ignore it but it is who we are.
Exactly.
DeleteBTW Gryph, Thank you so much for these links. I have very limited bandwidth out in the sticks, but I happily used a great deal of it to listen to this discussion.
The rabbi in this clip was especially interesting to me. I want to learn more about her and what she thinks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links, bbc did an excellent job. It's a shame we can't have shows that show civility like this regarding the bible, fiction, fact, religion etc. All hell would break loose.
ReplyDeleteRichard Dawkins, Franchesca and the lady rabbi were the most relevant to me, in that order.
Happy Easter to those who believe
Happy Spring to those who don't
Is it wrong for me, an atheist, to indulge in peeps, chocolate eggs, and jelly belly jelly beans?;o)