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From: david@ssc-vax.UUCP (David Norris)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: The Bible
Message-ID: <685@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Dec-83 12:59:58 EST
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.685
Posted: Fri Dec 16 12:59:58 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Dec-83 06:01:23 EST
Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
Lines: 33


	Ignoring Larry West's sarcastic remarks...

> The Bible is, after all, at best a record of events, and a record which
> has suffered from heavy editing and errors in transcription, etc.   (Or
> do you feel that the mistakes and revisions were divinely inspired?)
> And I don't see why you consider it a complete definition.   It's more
> like a journal than anything.

	A careful study of archeological evidence would indicate the opposite;
the Dead Sea scrolls are of course the most popular example.  They contained
a complete copy of the book of Isaiah, with surprisingly few errors compared
to modern texts.
	As far as the New Testament is concerned, a large number of manuscripts
are available from the third and fourth centuries (enough to provide support
for the entire New Testament a number of times over).  Other sections of the
New Testament have been found starting in ~150 A.D.  Considering Jesus died
around 32 A.D., and much of the Gospel and Pauline epistles were not written
until some time later, we can reasonably assume that these manuscripts did
not change significantly since the original writing.

	I consider the Bible to be a complete definition of Christianity just
as I consider a language manual to be a complete definition of the language 
(irregardless of whether I happen to like the language or not); there are few
other sources of information.

	I think the Bible is more than a record of events; it contains love
songs, stories of kings and peasants, a system of moral values, predictions of
future events, etc.

	-- David Norris
	-- uw-beaver!ssc-vax!david