It tells us about our Lord and he is holy.
How did the Bible become the "HOLY" bible?
by Terry 15 Replies latest watchtower bible
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OnTheWayOut
A wee bit of over-simplification here.
NOBODY thought they were writing a book under inspiration!
That may not be true. Those who gathered the stories to start the writings in the days of Josiah (long after King David) may very well have been provided what they were told was holy writings and thought that they were compiling the things under some kind of divine influence. I DON'T THINK SO, but to state it as a fact allows believers to totally dismiss your opinions stated as facts.
Paul may have thought his letters were divinely inspired. Others may also have felt that way. I imagine the true author of REVELATION probably thought he was being guided even if he was also influence by some chemicals. (My thought- not in fact)
There may have never been an ORIGINAL!
I wholeheartedly agree.
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moshe
-The Bible WAS a story in progress and then it stopped. Why?
http://www.amazon.com/Constantines-Bible-Politics-Making-Testament/dp/0800637909 Contantine ordered 50 copies of the Christian Bible. The act of making official copies essentially froze the Bible in time. Making it a "Holy book" added power to the political leaders and to the religious leaders.
Why did it just stop there (at the NT)? -
quietlyleaving
It enables peole to have an inner life and be self aware
(Christianity makes you aware you are worthless, a sinner, deserve death and are born with codemnation. It makes you a loser from birth.)
Terry
I agree but on the other hand the bible does enable an inner life at the same time
Byron would agree with me
To fly from, need not be to hate, mankind.
All are not fit with them to stir and toil,
Nor is it discontent to keep the mind
Deep in its fountain, lest it overboil
In the hot throng.
Childe Harold's pilgrimmage
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cyberjesus
bcuz some1 just decided to call it holy, who was i dont know. but it wasnt God thats 4sure :-)
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Terry
Language as a literary medium is unfixed in structure and vocabulary in its early instance of use in a particular society. Constant flux is due to the rapid absorption of words from other languages.
Why? Wars, exploration, diplomacy, colonization impact society by encounters with "other" speakers, thinkers, writers.
Think of the Jews in the age of Alexander the Great, for example. The Jews had, for all practical purposes, barely more than a stone-age technology. (Well, Bronze Age, at best.) Alexander's conquests forced upon them a new way of thinking, living, reasoning and speaking about the world.
Philosopohy, theology, physical science and vocabulary explodes after such dramatic encounters.
The old way of thinking and writing is no longer sufficient to the task.
In the instance of the Jews we see how rapidly the HEBREW language fell out of use---practically overnight by historical standards!
The religion could not be read in its native language any longer by the average person!! The existing written manuscripts and scrolls had to be transformed into GREEK. This is the origin of the SEPTUAGINT.
Naturally a myth is immediately attached to make the transition "okay". The legend is that 70 scholars worked alone and every damned one of them had exactly the identical translation when they had finished. Bullshit!
My point?
Just as language grows, morphs and changes due to societal interchange so does the reverse happen when a great work of literature comes along which EVERYBODY AGREES is magnificent and important enough to read, think about, talk about and adopt as their own.
THE KORAN did this for Arabic just as the SEPTUAGINT had for the Jews.
Shakespeare invented words, borrowed words, adopted words and phrases from many other languages in his popular plays to the extent
English speakers and writers encountered 30,000 new words between 1500 and 1659 alone!
The translation committee of King James adopted Shakespeare's approach at turning phrases and couching words in finely crafted settings.
THE KING JAMES BIBLE became the standard of speaking and writing thereafter for serious, pious, intelligent English speaking society.
The same has been true in every language. A great work of literature is adopted by a country and its influence "freezes" (not in an absolute way) common consciousness around it. Imitation, reference and quotation put the brakes to the written ethos of that language.
Look at the effect of Sigmund Freud's writing on Modern English language and its impact on drama, thinking, philosophy and society as a contemporary example.
Be all that as it may....
THE IMPACT of the CANONIZED BIBLE on Western Civilization under the auspices of the ROMAN EMPEROR blew everything else out of the water and society never fully recovered until THE ENLIGHTENMENT when superstition gave way to science, art and free thought.