Should Man Live According To The Bible?
There is a book called the Bible which we have all heard of as the one that is the word of God straight from him concerning all from the worlds creation to our own while not excluding how he believes we should behave toward not only him but each other. This book I speak of is of equal importance at least as far as the "Old Testament" is concerned to both the members of the Hebrew faith as it is to the members of the Judeo-Christian faith, the "New Testament" being the place where these two religions part company.
The bible is also many things to many individuals to the atheist it is a mere book of fiction no different then a book of Greek mythology were characters such Jesus "Christ" (Jesus being the Latin version of his Hebrew name while Christ not being his last name but a Greek word meaning messiah) are seen in the same light as Hercules. This of course only applies to those who raise doubt not that Jesus was the "messiah" but that he ever lived as to them he is in the same category of having been a figure of myth. I personally do not share this concept but I do at least understand what brought it on.
It being brought on by the fact that Jesus though well accounted for in the New Testament is not mentioned as having been born or even having been executed by crucifying in any Roman document of the time. Reasons to believe that perhaps Jesus never even walked among us go beyond this as there is no mention of him in any of the works of literature by any of the Hebrew authors of his time. This group who doubt that Jesus ever lived however has numbers that are small as most people believers and none have accepted that their was a man who once lived who bore the name of Jesus who was crucified under Rome during the reign of Tiberius Caesar (exact year unknown but calculated to have been perhaps two years after what is indicated in the Christian calendar).
To the true believer as there are many who claim it but to those who truly are, it is the book that will guide them and serve them as a source of inspiration seeing them through the hardships of this world to a better one. Naturally all those who wish to gain access in to Gods kingdom should know that the bible does not claim, contrary to popular misconception that one enters immediately after ones time on earth is done. What the bible actually claims is that one only gets the chance to enter heaven after one has spent what will probably be a great deal of time in a place called "purgatory". Purgatory being the place where all souls must reside in regardless of weather or not they have lived according to Gods design until "Judgment Day" (this day being after the world literally comes to an end, in an event known as Armageddon) when their fate will be determined by God himself.
There is only one bible like there is only one God but since the bible, "old testament" having been written originally in ancient Hebrew while the "New testament" in Greek (not Latin like many erroneously believe) this has lead to many translations and interpretations. These interpretations have lead to many a dispute and religion being formed all making the same claim that theirs is the true form of Christianity.
However my intension is not to concentrate on the many Christian denominations but to do so on the way same people claim to live their life according to the bible and if they really do as they may be doing so only in their minds. For example, there is a group of people who believe in taking revenge when they are wronged or support capital punishment so naturally they will quote the line in the Bible from the Old Testament "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life". They might be in the believe that the bible supports them in their ideology but it does not for in that part God also claims "Vengeance will be mine!" this meaning he is the one who will take an eye for an eye.
The argument however does not end there unfortunately as some will say that punishment is in reality coming from God and that they are merely serving as the tool which God is using to bring justice to the "unrighteous". This brings me to my point! It being that some of the people who maintain to live their life according to the bible only evoke the parts or sometimes fragments that justify their personal point of view, leaving out the rest out of ignorance or perhaps convenience. The reason I reveal these thoughts is because of those people who use the bible to justify their lust for retribution will ignore Jesus words "When someone smites you on the cheek offer the other cheek" or "love your enemy because if you only love those who love you where is the reward in that". Jesus took this idea further by adding "for even sinners love those who love them".
To a large extent it has been my experience in witnessing how a number of people feel the need for a safety net like the one that can be provided by the bible to give much deeper credence to their invented hypothesis or their personal feelings some of which are as far from the bible as to make hard to even draw the slightest parallel. Examples of this can be seen scattered through out history as on many occasions actions such as "The Inquisition" and "Divine Right to Rule" were claimed as Gods will but were they? I believe that if the bible is to be the determining factor weather this dealings were of Gods will then let us analyze it as such.
"The Inquisition" which those who were responsible had the effrontery to claim was Gods will was in fact a direct violation of "free will" which the bible states was given to all so they might choose for themselves if theirs shall be faith or not. The bibles statement that claims that all were given free will goes against the notion that all that happens is the will of God for by logic it can not be both or will and his or can it? The truth is from my readings of the bible I have gathered that Gods will refers not to the activities of man but those of nature; this given that it was he who created it. By nature what I believe the bible to mean is the world we know around us from the rain that falls from the sky and all that be not man made however it should not be understood that this means that it was the hand of God that makes it rain on any particular day but that he be making it possible for this process to take place is perhaps indirectly responsible for the fact that on a particular day it rained or failed to do so. This is with regards to the natural world however if it be the deeds of man this is not the "hand of God" for the actions of man or woman for that matter is the choice of only the individual in action making us draw the conclusion that on the lighter side of this argument that it might have been in fact the hand of Maradona and not Gods in that now famous goal.
"Divine Right to rule" was a practice of the "Middle Ages" which claimed that if a king or monarch ruled it was because it was Gods will that had given this power to do so however this idea contradicts what Jesus stated on many occasions through out his life time when asked to confront the secular leaders of his day which was "my kingdom is not of this earth". I am naturally aware that this statement can be interpreted many ways but if one gives thought to the matter is it not this the difference democracies hold as separating church from state which is what makes the basis of any free society where one has the right to choose. This distinction is even marked in the bible by Jesus word when he is asked weather Hebrews should pay taxes to Rome to which he replies that since Cesars face is on the coins they should give to the emperor what is his and give to God what is his.
I for my part do not claim to know what Gods will is or let alone that I live by it but what I do state is that what I am sure of which is I believe man should disregard any other will that be not his own and live not constantly in the attempt of interpreting Gods but living up to his own believes in what he or she perceives of as being in the best interest of himself and not as individuals but for what is his species and the world he lives in. As a final thought I would like to add in what be my true faith if no one elses that if humanity were to proceed along this path perhaps the result would be one of a world that be truly "humane".
