Van Robison on "Is the Bible a Ball and Chain?"

Is the Bible a Ball and Chain?

Millions have been in bondage to INK on PAPER, called "the Bible" for a very long time. Is the Bible a ball and chain upon the lives of those who think God sent it from heaven to mankind?   Those who stand in pulpits will obviously answer no, because it is their excuse to dominate and control their personal followers.   No one could say that the Bible has no value at all, or at least if they do they overlook the fact that there are some good points found in this collection of writings compiled into one volume.   Certainly it is not bad to believe that loving your neighbor is a good thing, or that being meek is a bad thing, or that being a

peacemaker has no merit.   We even read to "prove all things", which is sage advice.

On the other hand there is a great deal about the Bible that is a ball and chain upon the lives of an innumerable multitude of human beings, including those associated with the Worldwide Church of God and its many clones.   Having read the Bible a great deal in years past, I conclude that it is not necessary to read the Bible everyday or have Bible studies endlessly for life.  Far more important is simply to live, love, be kind, do good things and enjoy your life while you have it and teach your children to THINK and never stop asking questions.   When you listen to PIED PIPERS IN THE PULPITS, the bottom line is that they think they have a right to do your thinking for you and a free pass to your bank account (at least 10% of it and exceptions for more).

The Bible is a great excuse for abuse of multitudes of human beings, who have been hoodwinked into thinking that religious leaders understand something about God, that common people have no access to.   I get sick and tired of seeing preachers on television standing with the Bible in their hands, quoting verses and treating people as if they are so brainless that they must be bottle fed their daily dose of preachers

sermons.   If people had any sense they would all run for the exit doors and never again financially support these self-appointed gods and mind-control preachers.  After all how many times does a human being need to be told something they have heard 10,000 times before?

Lets face it, every "pastor" preaches that which is right in his own thinking.  Never mind that God gave all human beings a brain and that for those who still believe in God, no "pastor" on earth is the funnel through which others must travel to have a relationship with their Creator.   Pastors and churches all take captives and their "authority" for doing so is the ball and chain called "the Bible."  Of course that Bible is interpreted in so many different ways that it is comical to an outside observer.   I once sent an email to a "Christian" organization stating that much of the Bible portrays God in the most barbaric manner and attributes to Him, horrors, atrocities and genocide that no thinking human being, would ever believe defines the true character or nature of God.  His reply was that he was shocked and was going to right this minute pray for me.   Many Bible readers never entertain, that maybe, just maybe, some of this stuff is myth, fiction, legend and penned by LYING SCRIBES and control freaks.   Apparently Jesus Himself thought so, because He denounced their man-made religion in His famous speech at Matthew 23, which someone seems to have remembered and penned years later.

As the years pass, there are so many voices that are ripping the Bible to shreds that I doubt that it will be the "infallible and inerrant" word of God for another two-thousand years.   Does it have any value at all?  In my thinking yes it does, but like a newspaper one reads, who would believe that everything in it is the unvarnished truth?  Like "news" on television, only the gullible and naive would believe that the news media is a source that is founded upon nothing but truth.  In fact television, movies, newspapers, magazines, books and even the Internet are all sources of major and massive propaganda.   Just because something is said to be ancient (scrolls for example), does not make them infallible and inerrant truth.

Humans have always been liars with ulterior motives.  To accept without question the Bible as total truth is simply childish.  I seriously doubt that God reads the Bible everyday or sits in a pew listening to preachers.  When Jesus went into the synagogues, it was not to learn truth, but to enlighten those who lived in darkness.

Van Robison