Bible Discussion Thread

Apologies to any offended Christians. My intent is not to offend. I was raised in "The Church of Christ". I identify as EX Church of Christ. Proverbs was written by King Solomon with a few contributions from others. These Old Testament writings are Hebrew Scriptures. The best understanding their meaning 9coming from someone knowing, reading and/or etc the Jewish Scriptures. Or try a Jewish Bible.i.Christianity did not exist at the time of these writings The she is a Tree, which is essential for our environment where life grows. History has told stories of the beauty of Solomons Temples and Gardens in his Jerusalem and Palmyra. The Israelites knew trees made the apperance of the temples and the gardens beautiful. And more mportantlly they made the environment healthy. The Jewish Holidsy "Tu B'Shevat", The New Year of The Tree is celebrated each year. Remember English Translations of the Bible are just that "Translations". By the way, the King James Version, a Translation, written as a Literary Work of Art commissioned by King James of England And it seems different denominations including the Church of Christ interpret those translations anyway they want. King Solomon was very gifted in the wise department. He is not so hard to follow. Be open minded! Read for yourself and think about it. I hope this simplifies the understanding of this scripture. Peace be with you all.

Hello Kristina. No offence taken - at least nothing from me. Was just trying to figure out whether the focus of your comment was on a tree in the Song of Solomon, or some other aspects of the Bible. Churches will apply their own interpretation of the Scriptures, just as you probably look at Scriptures in a certain way. It would be good if we all read the Bible as it was meant to be understood, but that's not going to happen as Christianity is both large in numbers & spread over the globe and each Church Fellowship will hold to teachings as they have been given. Only the much smaller groups seem to have a common understanding of the Word, particularly if there is an overall leader that dictates how the Word should be studied.

Even in Islam & most religions, you won't find perfect agreement on everything written in their books. So, as Christians, we are cast upon the Lord & the Spirit He has given us to make His Word clear & precious to our hearts. Maybe if you specified a particular verse or passage, giving us your meaning of it, so that we can consider it & comment. Otherwise, it would be difficult for us to know exactly the purpose behind what you have presented, hence no one has been able to respond to you.

Chris,

Thank you most kindly for your message. I was commenting in response to the numerous comments made regarding the interpretation/understanding of Proverbs 3:18. Not any one in particular. I understand the interpretation is to the reader/church fellowship is to each's own. However, when the reader/church fellowship imposes his/her interpretation as the only way to be and that they are the only true Christians or Saved People there is a problem.

Going back to Proverbs 3:18. Good you mentioned Islam. The Tree of Life has a very Sacred meaning to people of the Middle East especially to the Jews and the Muslims .There is no misunderstanding of she, The Tree of Life and what she represents.

Also, There are few questions of who wrote the Hebrew Scriptures. However, The New Testaments of Matthew. Mark, Luke and John were not written by their name sakes. These books were told several times before being written by different people many years later. This has been verified by scholors and archeological groups. It is nonsense to use suc text from unknown authors to go back and redefine texts written by such a well known Author as King Solomon of Jerusalem and Palmyra.

PEACE BE UPON YOU CHRIS

FROM KRISTINA

Apologies Kristina, I didn't realize that your comments applied to another thread - so I don't need to intrude into that discussion. However, we can't say for certain about the authors of the Gospels (apart from John 21:20-24, which gives us a clear indication of the writer, John). There is ambiguity there, even though some interesting arguments have been presented, for & against.

Yet, I wonder how that would change our thinking & appreciation of the texts, if we did learn that Matthew, Mark & Luke weren't the actual authors. How ever the Gospels were compiled, whether by others, word-of-mouth, or from fragments of notes, the message remains consistent throughout, in spite of some differences, additions & omissions (which would be expected). Considering the passage of time since Jesus walked on Earth & submitted Himself to His Father in life & death, what we have in our hands now is quite remarkable, with their accounts bringing many to realization of their sinful condition & giving great joy & hope to those now In Christ. Every blessing.

Chris,

It appears we are sharing without even communicating by message. I was going to mention the same of the texts of Matthew. Mark. Luke and John. However. I didn't want to take you off the subject matter. Now that you did. The writings of the four books have been found by Archeological research to have been written by anonymous writers decades later after their name sakes deaths. I understand the translations may read otherwise. Yes, the writings have substance. Some stories are consistant. There are statements that have been disproven. IE: The birthplace of Jesus Christ. There are 3 contenders for the birthplace. Bethlehem 1, the Church of the Nativity, Now in the Palestinian controlled West Bank.

Bethlehem 2, on Galilee, near Nazareth.

The 3rd place is in Nazareth itself , an Archeologist with the Orthodox Church stating the story of traveling to Bethlehem was merely a story for the early church to fullfill a Jewish Prophecy and history to associate Jesus to the House of David since King David was from Bethlehem.

The thing that bothers me about taking Translations so literally. Many Christians are imposing their wills on people that don't realize they are being told we are choosing for you.

Much would be learned by studying other Scriptures that are not part of of the "Standard" Bible. The Gospels of Thomas, Judas, and Mary. More Hebrew Scriptures have been found as well.

As you stated earlier, not all look at the scriptures as giving joy and hope. When they are used by some for the wrong purposes. Sometimes I have found more comfort in the Quran. Many people that leave the church leave because of another Christian.

A Woman of Great Faith in God that i most admired and loved said to me " The COC has plenty of Preachers, what we need are good Ministers. We need to be Ministered to not preached at." When we are ministered to it gives to conversation about faith. And isn't that what God is all about. What you believe. Faith.

Hi Kristina. I took up the four Gospels here as I could relate to that rather than attempt to enter into the other comments on Proverbs 3:18.

You mentioned that you are bothered by people taking the Translations too literally & that by doing so, we're imposing our wills upon people. Actually, we do have to take the Bible literally (where the text demands a literal view), or else we can make it mean anything we want to. In regards to Bethlehem, in Matthew 2:1, "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea" & then confirmed in v5, "In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet..."

In these verses, it is confirmed that the Bethlehem spoken of is in Judea. Therefore, it couldn't be Nazareth or near it, which is in Galilee. Now if the problem is that an archaeologist has stated that this reference to Bethlehem is simply one of convenience so as to fulfil prophecy, then he has to come up with some very good evidence why his belief is correct. So if a preacher, even one from the C of C preaches about Bethlehem being in Judea, I have the Scriptures to verify that, unlike anyone else that wants to tell me otherwise, who gives no substantial proof. I don't see that the preacher is forcing anything upon anyone - we all have the Scriptures & we can search them to verify the message. A preacher will soon be found out if his messages are inconsistent with the Bible.

There is limited value in studying those apocryphal books you mentioned, even the Quran (which I've studied as part of ministry). Unless one has the fully trustworthy Scriptures to compare to, we might be inclined to believe anything we want, & we will never know how far we have detoured from the Truth. Some believe that all religions lead to God or if one has 'faith', then that is all that is required. Unfortunately, those roads lead to destruction of the soul, & have no part in God's Message of Love shown in the sacrifice of His Son. The road is narrow - much narrower than what we would like to believe.