Wow! I’m blown away by this. Excellent.
Walter.
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< 11 minutes well-spent. It’s near the outer limit on how long of a video I’ll watch as they tend to be low-density, information-wise, with lots of fluff, causing me to prefer a transcript or, better, a well-written essay. This is nice and succinct. Right to the point. And spot-on.
Of course, any fundamentalist’s head would explode. If the Bible doesn’t say anything or you have to have a lot of high-faluting knowledge of linguistic-historical context to understand the original author’s intent then what is the point? Blasphemy! It doesn’t provide certitude. It just raises more questions.
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Fyi mordant, most of Dan McClellan’s YouTube videos about the Bible are much shorter than the 11 minute mark.
Why not check them out?
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If this chat is still active, I’m asking various individuals who don’t believe in the bible. What are the drivers or experiences that one has had? This video raises some worthwhile points to consider. What are your thoughts about the Bible? What comes to mind?
Mostly fiction. 
Is it mostly because it lacks credible documentation, or do stories go beyond man’s documented abilities?
Of course I believe in the bible…there are several hundred thousand examples littered around my state. Several different versions, numerous different translations, some contain 88 texts, some contain 66, texts, some much less…
So please, exactly which collection of texts would you like me to consider when answering your question?
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As a Christian, I found that ordering my life according to the Bible was almost 180 degrees wrong most of the time. I can make much better sense of my lived experience and much better predictions of outcomes of various actions by just accepting life as it presents itself instead of trying to force-fit it to a Biblical ideal, thinking that life is personal or directed in some way, etc.
A simple / basic example: “God blesses the righteous and confounds the wicked”. And yet you can find plenty of counterexamples. Compare that to, “life is just stuff happening, some of which you are going to like, some of which you are not”. There are no surprises or disappointments with the latter approach. With the former, you spend all your time making excuses / explaining all the exceptions / wondering what you did wrong, etc.
Well, I’ll say let’s stay with the 66 books. Some believe it is the word of God and as you are point out there appear to many versions. Does the number count lower its value in believability?
The number of contradictory versions/translations and the political reasons for rejecting some texts, including some fraudulent texts certainly undermine the collection of texts you call “the bible” credibility.
What standard do you use to reject the other rejected texts?
Please also tighten your specification exactly which translation and version of the “bible” you want to discuss.
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I’ll go with King James Version for discussion purposes. Standard of rejection solid point. It would seem that if you have several copies that can be compared would be a better way to to cross reference and compare any work from the past. Then the next area to consider do the collection of texts truly change the meaning? In one of the chats, there is a video that presents the idea it is what we bring from life experiences to the text the influences the understanding. What’s your take?.
How ‘bout you? Do you believe that it is inerrant? Do you believe it is the word of your god? Do you accept it at face value or do you think it is up for interpretation?
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There are many different hermeneutics (interpretational systems) ranging from inerrantist / literalist to textual criticism, used by different branches of Christianity. While it’s true that one’s life experiences influence how people understand the Bible, it’s also true that they are typically born into a denomination or sect that sets the general parameters of understanding and limits how far you can diverge and still “belong”.
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I acknowledge and agree there are many different hermeneutics created to provide explanations. So am I understanding your view that because their are differences in approach that negates the subject to have truth or lack accurcy?
Really? A translation from non original texts, altered and skewed to suit the Royal patronage? You really want to choose that?
Fair enough.
Lets ignore the OT for now with its childish storytelling, cruelty and barbarism masked as worship…
Lets go the meat of the matter. How many texts in the NT are contemporary to the life of the gospel jesus? dating between 1 and 35 CE?
How many of the texts are dated to 3rd -6th century BCE and reflect the political judgements of the Church of Rome?
Once you have done that please talk to me about reliability…
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Yes, this is not to defend King James or promote him rather to ask what individuals think about what it is pointing to and if the implications hold relevance to our daily lives.
It is pointing to that:
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it is a most unreliable document, plagiarised and mistranslated.
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It contains sentiments from 17th Century royal sympathisers.
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It cannot be relied upon to convey important matters of truth.
Apologies, I miss this. I believe the Bible is God inspired work that has been used to abuse versus to help because of private interpretations through out the centuries. Like any text, one needs to study it so that he or she can properly present it. The question is what is your reason to dismiss it and I hope that is not because I believe it.
For discussion sake, if all those things were addressed, how would that change your perspective? I am interested your thoughts about number 3, tell me more about that.
I think you are focusing on the wrong thing. The first question ought to be about the existence of a supernatural being. The bible is only relevant if there is one.