To us? Or to them?

[yomotalking]

Hi all.

I was thinking about things some days ago...and I suddenly realised that the Bible talks to the people of the times it was in.....not us.

It was a shock.

Some of you would say "That's silly,"

But......howm do we know that it was for US, not the people recieving the letters, commands, texts,and so on...then.......?

I'm not looking for a heated discussion, just answers.

For all of you who seem worried, I am still reading the Word of God.

I'm not dropping it......I'm simply asking about it.

Yomo

[nebula]

I agree!

(Of course, I get in trouble for pointing out this fact with regards to translatting Genesis 1 . . . but that's another topic! )

But we need to be sure we are reading the text in terms of what it meant to the people it was written to before we can accurately apply it to our lives.

Good job!

[NITE OWL]

If you don't believe the bible was meant for us, why do you read it?

[yomotalking]

If you don't believe the bible was meant for us, why do you read it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was actually hoping for a sarcasm -less Thread.

I'm a Christian.

Been one for 9 years.

I love the Bible.....and I suddenly thought it.

I'm just curious...that's all..... don't bite my head off.

[NITE OWL]

I don't bite people's heads off. And I wasn't being sarcastic. I was only responding to your comment.

So you settle down. A lot of the questions you're asking now are some the ones I asked when I first started down this road.

It's all good.

[Nanners]

That's great yomo that you are seeing this on your own. The holy Spirit must really be moving in you. Yes, the bible is God inspired writing to the people at that time and is like a journal. It gives great advise, teachings and we can see that their daily struggles are no different to us now. We use this to help us understand how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. When we are in a crisis or need help, it is the best place (besides prayer) to go to for insight .

We have an awesome God!

[nebula]

If you don't believe the bible was meant for us, why do you read it?

That's not what she meant.

Think of it this way . . . and there may be better examples, but this is the best I can think of off the top of my head:

In the books of the Law, there is instruction for how one is to relieve oneself - go outside of the camp, dig a hole, and bury the excrement. Now, if this passage were written for "us," it would instruct us to use the toilet! (Just for perspective, in Mexico and Central America, many people still eliminate waste "behind the bush" - and they have a huge parasitic problem because of it, for some parasitic worms can get in through the feet.)

Maybe a better example, I have a book that shows some of the things Jesus said were expressions and idioms of the day. We often mistranslate those teaching because we don't understand them.

For example: an "eye of a needle" referring to a very narrow passageway through a wall, so narrow that a camel had to be unloaded in order to get it through - which fits with what Jesus meant by "easier to get a camel through an eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God". Gives the passage a better understanding, doesn't it?

[NITE OWL]

If you don't believe the bible was meant for us, why do you read it?

That's not what she meant.

Think of it this way . . . and there may be better examples, but this is the best I can think of off the top of my head:

In the books of the Law, there is instruction for how one is to relieve oneself - go outside of the camp, dig a hole, and bury the excrement. Now, if this passage were written for "us," it would instruct us to use the toilet! (Just for perspective, in Mexico and Central America, many people still eliminate waste "behind the bush" - and they have a huge parasitic problem because of it, for some parasitic worms can get in through the feet.)

Maybe a better example, I have a book that shows some of the things Jesus said were expressions and idioms of the day. We often mistranslate those teaching because we don't understand them.

For example: an "eye of a needle" referring to a very narrow passageway through a wall, so narrow that a camel had to be unloaded in order to get it through - which fits with what Jesus meant by "easier to get a camel through an eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God". Gives the passage a better understanding, doesn't it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What's your point. I don't understand what your post has to do with the original comment.

I don't question the bible or it's contents. Yomo asked if the teachings in the bible were meant for us? Since she still reads the bible, I was just curious as to why she would question it.

I'm not attacking. I'm not being mean spirited. I responded to her post. Simple as that. Don't make it more than it actually is.

[nebula]

Somehow I think what I read Yomo's comment to mean and what you meant Yomo's comment to mean are not in synch.

[RGR]

Somehow I think what I read Yomo's comment to mean and what you meant Yomo's comment to mean are not in synch.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with Neb on this one here. I don't think Yomo has decided to give up the Bible wholesale, lol! The OT dietary restrictions, OT feasts, etc. were not written for us. In fact the NT was written for the people of that time-they had no way of knowing that some 2000 years later those words would have been translated into multitudes of languages, etc. I'm not saying that God didn't intend for us to read it-God forbid! The Holy Spirit moved upon the writers knowing that we would need this in our everyday lives 2000 years later but the writers probably had no idea that the world was going to stand this long, lol!