Biblical misconceptions

[GoodQueenAlysanne]

Not a Bible or religion bashing thread!

I saw a post on fb about someone who'd actually read their bible, and realised there were more than x2 of some animals loaded onto the ark, and their mind being blown by that.

I've been googling and there seem to be loads, it makes me want to actually whip out a Bible and start reading it properly.

Some of the top of my head, I already knew about are

Hell.

The true nature of angels, and what they really look like.

Who wrote the Torah, the Gospels and various other books.

That the Lords prayer was supposed to be copied, and not just read as an example.

Mary Magdalene being a prostitute.

How Esther became a Queen.

David and Jonathan being "friends"

There are bound to be tons more.

@Whenwillow

Have been trying to read the whole Bible but it often doesn't make sense to me.

Don’t think if it as a book... it’s more like a library, it’s a collection of books...

That can help.

I’ve never read the bible. But am fascinated by storytelling and culture and how this develops over time.

I might start reading it though.

The immaculate conception was Mary, not Jesus

@Maireas

There were 613 commandments not 10.

hmm, not quite.

There are clearly 10 commandments written on stones, given to Moses.

Then there is the whole of the books of Leviticus etc which are lists and lists of instructions

The immaculate conception refers to the conception of Mary not Jesus. To be mother of Christ she had to be free of original sin.

I love the story of Noahs Ark.
Who took the tapeworms?
Were polar bears stuck in with the penguins?
Did Noah's sons have to take the pubic lice?

Luckily I found some answers here:

@steppemum
Hmmm - I didn't say the ones brought down the mountain.

@Whenwillow

Have been trying to read the whole Bible but it often doesn't make sense to me.

Well it won't. It's out of chronological order.

It's boring in some places, and very contradictory,and some stories are clearly embellished/wrong. For example the one where the Jews walk through the desert...the geography is just wrong!

The story of there being 2 eves. First God creates mankind in own imagine. Male and female created he then. Genesis 1:26. Later man is alone and god ours Adam to sleep to take a rib and make eve.
Stories and legend outside Bible that she wanted to be on top in sex and Adam wanted that place so she left the garden and ended up going hell. She’s called Liliath

I had read the bible few times and always thought odd that we started with man and women then later where’s the woman gone??

From the snippets I just read online, moses was told to go get Aaron, then suddenly "the lord said" and the 10 commandments are listed, then "the lord said" again, and there are more "laws"? listed. He broke those tablets at some point, and made new tablets, but these seem to have had more than 10 commandments? It would take me to read Exodus 15 onwards, to get the full gist.

Sodom and Gomorrah has nothing to do with Sodomy.

It’s very worrying that given the inconsistencies and misunderstandings so many people still talk this collection of stories so seriously.

How is Esther becoming Queen confusing? Or misunderstood?

Take not talk

Yes, @GoodQueenAlysanne - after this, I'm going to read it again! For most of my life I thought there were only ten.

@TheRuleofStix

It’s very worrying that given the inconsistencies and misunderstandings so many people still talk this collection of stories so seriously.

It’s a lighthearted interesting thread for like-minded people, take your bible bashing elsewhere

Interesting about the Magi! I never thought they might be women!

It’s a lighthearted interesting thread for like-minded people, take your bible bashing elsewhere hmm

Not sure how TheRuleofStix was bible bashing merely pointing out that most of the Bible shouldn’t be taken literally

Not sure how TheRuleofStix was bible bashing merely pointing out that most of the Bible shouldn’t be taken literally

Surely the point of this thread is that actually what most people 'know' or 'remember' about the Bible isn't actually in it in the first place and has been fabricated by other people.

The bible by karen Armstrong is a good book explaining the history of the bible, how those particular books became viewed as biblical and alot about how storytelling over history has taken place. And also how much translation affects meaning.

Absolutely @RunningFromInsanity we must actually question it should we?

It wasn’t “bible bashing” it was a valid point. There are lots of people who take it very seriously and I think the idea of studying it and analysing it is important. Very defensive to call it bible bashing when it’s actually critical thinking.

Mustn’t

"How is Esther becoming Queen confusing? Or misunderstood?"

I think it's glossed over as "she married the king and...", when the story of how she was chosen to be Queen is actually quite raunchy. Like how you don't hear much mention about Lot's daughters getting him drunk, so they could have sex with him and get pregnant, and was it one of Solomons sons, that raped his sister?

Talking of misunderstandings, 'Bible bashing' means the opposite of what some of you seem to think it does: 'an enthusiastic or aggressive exponent of the Bible'. Contrary to what posters were saying, there DO seem to be quite a lot of them on this thread.

Esther was more of a sex slave than a sexy story! Orphaned taken captive and made to appear before the king who chose her for
One of wives. Who he could have sex with once and never call again