I like this idea, but don't have much to contribute just now. My last sermon in my UU church, entitled "The Word of God", was a meditation on our six sources and how we UUs essentially each build our own scripture as we engage with each other, the sources, and the world. I don't necessarily see "writing your own Bible" as an exercise in and of itself so much as being a process that one goes through internally as you develop spiritually. Some of us may write it down, but for many of us it's written in our hearts and minds more so than on paper or bit and bytes.

Does my bible have to have mythology? I just want to write about what I think about things.

Actually, I was thinking about writing an anthological book about all of my philosophical positions that I would update every few years or so by adding a new chapter. That way when I'm old I can see how my beliefs have evolved since right now. I think that would be pretty cool.

Hey Mendalla, 

You could post that sermon as a blog here on wondercafe.  Just a thought ... P3

Hi Killer Rabbit, 

My bible would probably have stories that illustrated my philosophical positions over the years ... P3

You're assuming I actually write these things out . All I have from this one is a page and a half of point form notes to keep me on track and then I spun it as I went along. However, I do have a couple others that I did write out (and then proceeded to change on the fly, which is partially why I stopped bothering to do so) that I may post if I can find the electronic files.

Love it, Inanna Whimsey!

My bible would contain one commandment, actually only one line....

Thou shalt laugh

The revised version may contain ...

because the world will laugh at you anyway.

LB

We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.     Friedrich Nietzsche (in a light mood)

kr, and paradox, my philosophies change constantly. I wish I had started this when I was 18 - to see how far I have gone foreward or  backward. But lb , I will laugh through the reading.

Hi Inanna: I already have. You can read it at or download it from  http://www.hharlos.com

This is dangerous. There is an order. Don't you demand respect in your house. well this earth is god's house and he sent us his word.which are the rules of his house. why not just read it and find out what its really about. not be angry because it exist. you will be shocked at the amount of benefits that has been written for you in the bible. He loves us. Even when we have done most horrible things. we speak vile things out of our mouths, our selfishness, drunkedness,greed. and so much more. yet you are still here. The bible lets us know that the pride of mankind is the enemy of god. why do we dare try to align ourselves up with his greatness? we are fragile beings with a very disobedient nature. Why would we provoke god? except when the building is burning or the boat is going down. then we say oh god help me. what is so bad about commandments that tell us not to kill, lie,  steal, covet, etc. I know you have seen people fail at this teaching perverting it or misrepresenting it in some vile way. but if a man walks many miles in the hot sun, and comes to a tub of cool water and is refreshed by it. Then another man comes and drowns a baby in it. is it the waters fault. no. Its the use of the water. Study the word. Then choose. Don't take nobody's word for it. You study. Then you will know. this  will make you free from anger that just eats away at your blessings, at your soul, god loves you. be of good courage.

This is dangerous. There is an order. Don't you demand respect in your house. well this earth is god's house and he sent us his word.which are the rules of his house. why not just read it and find out what its really about. not be angry because it exist. you will be shocked at the amount of benefits that has been written for you in the bible. He loves us. Even when we have done most horrible things. we speak vile things out of our mouths, our selfishness, drunkedness,greed. and so much more. yet you are still here. The bible lets us know that the pride of mankind is the enemy of god. why do we dare try to align ourselves up with his greatness? we are fragile beings with a very disobedient nature. Why would we provoke god? except when the building is burning or the boat is going down. then we say oh god help me. what is so bad about commandments that tell us not to kill, lie,  steal, covet, etc. I know you have seen people fail at this teaching perverting it or misrepresenting it in some vile way. but if a man walks many miles in the hot sun, and comes to a tub of cool water and is refreshed by it. Then another man comes and drowns a baby in it. is it the waters fault. no. Its the use of the water. Study the word. Then choose. Don't take nobody's word for it. You study. Then you will know. this  will make you free from anger that just eats away at your blessings, at your soul, god loves you. be of good courage.

Nice underlining, tonton.  Good use of skill.  Underlining a whole passage, though, is generally considered an overuse, however.  I would say 4 for style, 3 for content.  Try again, please, this time at an adult level.

A few paragraph breaks wouldn't hurt either. I find your posts very difficult to read. The content is fine, it's just hard on the eyes.

I have read the Bible, thanx, but I have no reason to believe that it is God's word. If I want to know how God wants me to behave... I just ask Him. God and I have lots of interesting conversations.

Fascinating... I always wonder why it is that fundies need to equate disagreement with anger?

I highly doubt that anyone here is angry that the Bible exists. I frankly doubt anyone anywhere is angry that the Bible exists. One might as well be angry that a chair exists. The idea is ludicrous. Still the fundies hang on to it as if it is not only true, but meaningful in somee way. It beggars any common sense.

He does indeed. Which is why I love Good back.

I havn't done any horrible thaings. I cannot speak for you, however.

Yes that is certainly one of the claims the Bible makes. Whether God considers it so is another question.

I'm not particularly fragile, and I certaainly do not have a disobedient nature. Again, maybe you should just speak for yourself?

I don't provoke God. I love God, with all my being. God is quite happy with our relationship, as am I.

I study the word of God at the source... God. I don't need a 2000 year old book from someone elses culture to explain God to me.

But yet you want us to take your word for it. You want us to choose your particular interpretation of the Bible as being the correct one.  Furthermore you want us to take the word of the people who wrote the Bible. Or did you mean only take the word of people who happen to agree with TonTon?

There's that aanger fallacy again...

I know God loves me. Courage is not required.

Hi tonton:

Bolding a whole block of text is as much an overuse as underlining it. One usually bolds or underlines to highlight a particular word or passage.

And, as RevMatt said, paragraph breaks invite the reader to read. A big block of text without any paragraph breaks is a turnoff, unless it is done by accomplished writers.

Hello folks, just dropping by to see how things are going. Glad to be of some service.

Mendalla, glad to read you're still doing the Good Work, busy with your own private bible(s).

Killer_rabbit79, you've got a good idear with keeping track of how your philosophical positions change over time. That certainly is being mindful.

Paradox3, what kind of stories would they be?

Arm, and you have been good enough to share your bible with everyone else.

tonton, welcome to Paradise, m'dear :3

The last time I heard your nick, tonton, was when the MSVN was around in Haiti. Is that where you got the nick from?

Read this, m'dear:

"To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, or to act as if nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with one another, we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; _everything_ that happens is of consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for unlimited possibility."

--James Carse
 

You can do anything you want with your beliefs, m'dear. It is your free will, your life, your sacred duty. Consider it an invitation rather than a decree :3

Be at peace,
Inannawhimsey

It's awesome that you have open communication with God, many people can't say the same. But, the whole point of the bible is to direct you in your life. Why would you ask God when what he wants of us is already there, in written form? And, why don't you believe that the Bible is God's word? Maybe God didn't write it down himself, but I certainly believe it was all inspired by him.

Your response stems back to my response up above. If the bible was inspired by God through the minds of men, then one can assume that God dislikes the pride of men. The thing with pride is that it leads to other things and eventually to the "realization" that you don't need God, right? So, if you love God, as you have stated before, then  you can assume that the "pride of men is the enemy of God" since becoming prideful may lead you away from the one you love, and loves you.

I think the point tonton was trying to get across here was that human beings are fragile because we are merely human. I think he/she meant that the life of anything can disappear in a snap, therefore you are "fragile" (in the bigger picture). As for the disobedient nature part, well, everyone has a tendency to sin. It's just the way we are. You can certainly "train" yourself not to be oedient, but agin, I don't think this was the whole point of tonton's message.

Why not read the bible? It can only make your faith stronger, can it not?

Sorry for the repetition, but as far as I'm concerned, the bible was inspired by the big man. Therefore, you can assume the people who wrote the bible are right, right?

So, yeah. I know you posted your response quite a while ago, so you may have changed your views on stuff. I don't know. I just saw what you had to say and wanted to get involved in the convo.

PS: I'm not claiming to know everything there is to know about the bible, I just claim to be a long standing christian.

Witch, as much as I agree that t's underlined statement could provoke long counter statements, I think that this topic requires that statements should go un- commented, as it clearly states: write your own bible. So it's asking for your own ten commandments, creation story, parabel and so on.

(Inanna- how many centuries do we have to get this done? )This could be quiet a creative topic and should not end up being a fundi- discussion.

Ah yes...even the topic itself is just sooooo indicative of postmodernity. Write your own Bible; write your own history books; write your own science textbooks; write your own mathematical equations.

Not a judgment - just musing.

Why do you believe the Bible is God's word? How do you know this for sure?

But you are making the assumption that the bible was inspired by God. You're going to have to demonstrate this if you want to convince anyone that your point is right.

And just so you don't do this, you can't demonstrate that the Bible was inspired by God by quoting the Bible. If you say that, "the Bible is the word of God because it says that it is the word of God, and because it's the word of God, that must be a true statement" then you are using circular logic, which is a logical fallacy. That means that your argument is invalid. So try something else, if you can.

I do believe  the Bible was inspired ans so was the Qur'an and the writings of Charles Dickens.

Incidentaly the Qur'an also claims to be the word of God.

For Christians the word of God rightly belongs to only One, the crucified One.  It does not belong to a book  but to "The word made flesh".  Notice I said for Christians.  For Muslims the Qur'an is the word of God ,  All of the great faiths have sacred scriptures.  Christianity does not exist in a vacuum.  There are others.

Shalom

Mate

I'm a Muslim, and I believe the Bible is inspired by the world of God.  Same as the Qur'an.  I do not think, however, that any book is the 100% word for word, writen by some divine hand in the sky, word of God.  Of course I do believe that the Qur'an is the least corrupted religious text out of all the abrahamic faiths.

As-Salaamu Alaikum

-Omni

Hi The_Omnissiah!

You wrote:

"Of course I do believe that the Qur'an is the least corrupted religious text out of all the abrahamic faiths."

But I thought the Dead Sea Scrolls sealed the deal that the Jewish Torah and Tanakh had remained constant and unchanged for 2,000 years?  Oh shoot, I think the book of Ester was missing.

Ahh, 23 replies! All Hail Eris!

mrs. anteater wrote "Inanna- how many centuries do we have to get this done? )"
 

It is your brain and your time, m'dear. Take as little or as much as you want or need.
 

Lovejoy wrote: "Write your own Bible; write your own history books; write your own science textbooks; write your own mathematical equations."

Yuppers, we're entering the age of postpostmodernim, where we aren't afraid of our own shadows anymore. Or maybe the reality that the Biblical writers intended for us all along...
 

The_Omnissiah, have you heard aboot the decipherings of the script in Alhambra? You might be innerested in it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/5119644/Secrets-o...

And Mate, what does your Judas look like?

The cover of my Bible would have something like this http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16937-iya-images/3 "The Cosmic Muffin Fingerpaints",

Inannawhimsey

Inna

My Judas has some horns, a pointy tale and caries a manure fork asround.  LOL

Shalom

Mate

My first gospel will be "The Gospel according to my Belly Button"; using what is foolish in the world to shame the so-called wise (mine is an in-sy, BTW).  "Revelation from the Bathtub" includes many inspiring moments that I've had washing my toes.  The ten commandments, in keeping with the downward spiral of society, will be the ten suggestions.  My prophets will include Ish Kabibil, Charlie Farquharson, Charlie Brown, Babir Saddiqui on Little Mosque, and, of course, our saviour, peace be on his name, Don Cherry (not the Don Cherry of history but the hockey commentator of faith).   Buy it at the church bookstore for $122.95 with all proceeds going to the mission called, "My Retirement Fund".   Every year, on April 30, the Stanley Cup flies through the air bringing hockey pucks and sticks to all good boys and girls.  In keeping with this new bible, of course, a new church evolves:  the First Church of Uninspired Drivel".  Only a $10,000 donation gets you in on the ground floor and guaranteed Stanley Cup playoff tickets.  Don't write, Mac, email and donate through paypal. 

Rough draft of my new bible:

In the beginning, there was hockey.  The ice was lousy and the pucks were garbage.

Then Don Cherry and Ron McLean said, "Let us make a hockey rink as places of worhip", and, lo, it was done.

I like it.  Does your god smite Sean Avery at some point?  I'd like that very much.

If you can get enough people to believe it, there is good money to be made by writing holy books and starting your own religion.  It's not easy, but if Joseph Smith and L. Ron can do it, it can't be too hard.  Making sense isn't even an option - the less coherent the better.

Seriously, it is insanely easy to improve upon something like the 10 commandments.  Take out even one of the jealous god bits and replace it with instructions not to abuse children, and the value of the list suddenly doubles.  There's some "divine" inspiration for you.

To put this into perspective you all have to realize that when Witch invokes the name "god", he is not talking about the "One Christian God".

This has been proven over and over again in other threads. He is talking to his own god and getting the answers he wants.

Be Blessed,

IB

Also Islam does not worship the "One Christian God" either. Their definition of god is a punishing god who lets you into heaven if your good works outweigh your bad.

How do you ever know that and how do you decide which are good or bad when someone else may have a whole different perspective on it?

They start their definition of their god from Abraham but that is about as far as it goes with any similarity.

Also it is a male dominated religion as the women cannot enter heaven without their husbands permission.(I wonder where this leaves the single women and widows?). The Morman religion is much like that too!

The Christian God says anyone (male or female) who wants can come and live with Him. You don't have to prove anything to Him. He says if you take on the likeness of Jesus you will be a loving child of His and will enter heaven in perfection.

Be Blessed,

IB

UPDATE:

genties & ladlemen,

ah, the internet.  So hooge and feisty, containing hidden treasures.

SUCH AS THIS.

We are all programmers/G_ds.  We'd better get used to it.

ps, DThere:  Step 3 is missing because Diety made a mistake and almost became, permanently, Nothing (which is hard to show, let me tell you, with words).  Have fun with your own Holy Book creation, m'dear!

Mine would contain one Commandment:

Yea, thou shalt give 50% of thy money and possessions to <retiredrev> (just put "Henry" on the cheque or Money Order) so he can retireth in style to Florida and jetteth every week to Montreal for Canadiens Games. Amen.

Sounds good, retiredrev.  Then you could write other ones, using your other Pseudonyms, and you could create your own SCHISMS :3

I'm thinking of the Toronto Bible vs. the Montreal Bible.

And if you make it available online, you could include one of those nifty lil 'Paypal' icons.

I had the schisms once.

Shot of penicillin cleared it right up,

What other pseudonyms? "I Am who I Am" - Exodus 3:14.  Can you name them so I condemn you to eternal outport Newfoundland exile, as the eternal mainlander, for blasphemy?  Just for that, in my 'bible', you will be the Great Satan and I will be the Great Grand Poobah.  You're probably an Oiler fan, anyway, or, perish the thought, a Canucks fan.  Where's that fiery pit?  If you're a Sens or Calgary fan, well, that's just plain cruelty.  And, if you cheer for a US based team, you're a heretic.

Now, let me check my ID (pulls out wallet and checks ID cards).  Now, I'm a Communist, a lesbian, Male Stripper's Union local 365 membership card, a New Democrat, a member of the library, Rolling Stones fan club, William Shatner for Governor General supporter, oh, five cents of Canadian Tire money, Toronto Maple Leafs Alumni, but, no, not one pseudonym.  All my cards say "Henry" and I can't remember my last name.  But, there are no pseudonym cards.  Oh, shoot, here's one.  I go by the name 'Zanzibar Buck Buck McFate'  Yeah, you were right, I do have a pseudonym.  That's when I worked under cover trying to inflitrate the Ku Klux Klan, or was it the United Church, I can never keep them straight.  Maybe Zanzibar could start posting on WC.  Oh, yes, and my 'Big Smart *ss Club" membership.  Let's not forget that one, eh?

Yes! I keep a journal, and every good book I have read has copious marginal notes carefully dated...going back over them and adding to the underlinings is amazing to me ("How could I have thought THAT?) Also there's pleasure in finding SOME consistency.

My notes go back to 1950...

Cheers!

Innana, I hadn't read this before, nor do I remember seeing this thread when it was new, but I got a nice chuckle out of your opening statement.

I have my "bible" I'm writting. It's made up of statements from people I admire, song lyrics, profound clips from documentaries, poems, all written by other people: Carl Sagan, Sam Harris, John Lennon, Dave Gilmour, Keats, Brendan Perry, Einstein, Shakespear, Arminius ; ), James Burke, Joseph Campbell, Robert Frost... For my own thoughts, I scrawl in a diary.

"We are starstuff, which has taken it's destiny into it's own hands. The loom of time and space, works the most astonishing transformations of matter. Our own planet is only a tiny part of the vast cosmic tapestry, a starry fabric of worlds yet untold."

~Carl Sagan

Hi Elanorgold:

It's a great honour to be mentioned in the same sentence as Shakespeare.

What a piece of work is man!

How noble in reason!

How infinite in faculties!

In form and moving, how express and admirable!

In action, how like an angel!

In apprehension, how like a god!

-Shakespeare

My favorite thing is when Picard recites that quote from memory to Q (omnipotent alien) on Star Trek and gets Q all mad!

Q- "You don't really see your species that way do you?"

Picard- "I see us one day becoming that. It's that that frightens you isn't it?"

Q slams Shakespere book closed and dissapears in a huff and his usual flash of light.

Great! Thanks for this, Elanorgold.

I was so pleased to find it!

Genties & ladlemen,

so, how goes the writing?  Have ye got past the begats yet? :3

"Huff" Elanorgold? I think rather frustration with the inferior species. In all the interactions between Picard and Q, was there ever a time in which Picard was right?

Rich blessings.

---

MC jae

Pi Card ...

Is that like an infinite card ... and Q is de Nous? Flat out you're trapped in the fall ...

I just noticed this thread and started glancing through it.  I spotted the name "Killer-Rabbit" and my heart skipped a beat.  Killer-Rabbit is back!   Grrrr-eat!   Good to see you Killer-Rabbit!  Welcome back!

Then I noticed its a thread called up from three years ago.  Disappointed.

He is missed :3