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
