What makes this Book so powerful?


It heals. It cures. It shows the way.

It has everything you need to succeed. If you read it, wisdom and knowledge will be your companion.

It is the answer to everything. Everything.

It sounds like one of those 'e dey cure cancer, low sperm count and fibroid' drugs usually peddled in bus parks.

The Bible claims to be God's Word. I doubt that, but that makes the Bible pissed. If you do not believe the Bible, the Bible doesn't like - you're going to hell, bitch...


So let's, for the sake of hell evasion, believe what the Bible says. That it's God's word, how he communicates with us, reveals himself to us...

Is the Bible powerful because we believe?
Is belief sufficient to verify truth?

HappyPagan:
What makes this Book so powerful?
Is the Bible powerful because we believe?
Is belief sufficient to verify truth?

You'd want to ask what power is, won't you. Some people, decided to write a popular book that can be read by the simplest of people once taught how to - a very powerful act in its day. Some people built buildings were they taught about the writings in this book, an act that imbued it with power. The bible was the great innovation that has brought billions away from the horrible existence they lived in to the slightly better one they live in now through teaching them to read.

Can it do the things you mentioned? Kinda sort of. If education had not been designed to teach the bible the schools might have been different and might not have allowed us to become doctors and so on who can. Yea, I know doctors predate the bible, but perhaps there wouldn't have been mass education. It's not as if the pre-bible dispensation cared about educating the masses. Without it, if it wasn't made to teach how to read, there'd be more poor in the world today.

budaatum:

You'd want to ask what power is, won't you.

Yeah.

budaatum:

Some people, decided to write a popular book that can be read by the simplest of people once taught how to - a very powerful act in its day. Some people built buildings were they taught about the writings in this book, an act that imbued it with power. The bible was the great innovation that has brought billions away from the horrible existence they lived in to the slightly better one they live in now through teaching them to read.

This is true. Would you agree that the Bible this created this world (world as in the ideas that we accept, practice and value as a society)

budaatum:

Can it do the things you mentioned? Kinda sort of. If education had not been designed to teach the bible the schools might have been different and might not have allowed us to become doctors and so on who can. Yea, I know doctors predate the bible, but perhaps there wouldn't have been mass education.

Education is quite powerful. Not as powerful as miseducation though. Letting go of false ideas is usually a more difficult task than learning new ones.

budaatum:

It's not as if the pre-bible dispensation cared about educating the masses. Without it, if it wasn't made to teach how to read, there'd be more poor in the world today.

Ah Buda. There are a lot of pooly educated people who are rich. And richly educated who are poor.

budaatum:

You'd want to ask what power is, won't you. Some people, decided to write a popular book that can be read by the simplest of people once taught how to - a very powerful act in its day. Some people built buildings were they taught about the writings in this book, an act that imbued it with power. The bible was the great innovation that has brought billions away from the horrible existence they lived in to the slightly better one they live in now through teaching them to read.

Can it do the things you mentioned? Kinda sort of. If education had not been designed to teach the bible the schools might have been different and might not have allowed us to become doctors and so on who can. Yea, I know doctors predate the bible, but perhaps there wouldn't have been mass education. It's not as if the pre-bible dispensation cared about educating the masses. Without it, if it wasn't made to teach how to read, there'd be more poor in the world today.

I disagree that education arose because they wanted to teach people the bible. Education has roots that predate the bible by centuries. Left to the church only few would read and understand the bible, if not for the advent of the printing press the bible would have remained a book reserved for trained few.

LordReed:


I disagree that education arose because they wanted to teach people the bible. Education has roots that predate the bible by centuries. Left to the church only few would read and understand the bible, if not for the advent of the printing press the bible would have remained a book reserved for trained few.

True, education predates the current bible. Homer was required reading in Athens. But the bible was much more widely circulated, giving the masses the opportunity to have a library of books to hand though that was not the churches intention as you rightly pointed out.

HappyPagan:

This is true. Would you agree that the Bible this created this world (world as in the ideas that we accept, practice and value as a society)

Biblical teaching has influenced how we reason. If we'd been trained on a different book we'd probably think different.

HappyPagan:
Ah Buda. There are a lot of pooly educated people who are rich. And richly educated who are poor.

Quite a lot indeed. They'd be intellectually poorer though, if they had not been taught to read.

budaatum:
True, education predates the current bible. Homer was required reading in Athens.
But the bible was much more widely circulated, giving the masses the opportunity to have a library of books to hand
though that was not the churches intention as you rightly pointed out.

The institutionalised church never had an intention for the laity to have direct access to the contents of the bible.
As a matter of fact, the laity was prohibited from owning or having a bible to read
Even translation of the bible, for a long period, initially was forbidden

MuttleyLaff:
The institutionalised church never had an intention for the laity to have direct access to the contents of the bible.
As a matter of fact, the laity was prohibited from owning or having a bible to read
Even translation of the bible, for a long period, initially was forbidden

To start with, it was in latin, and not like Awolowo gave them free education. Then paper was scarce and the bible, being a big book took, time to be copied so was expensive. You could understand how it could seem like they prohibited it considering the cost. Though with prohibition being one of the first 'thou shalt nots', I'm inclined to agree with you.

There were times when families had one bible and you dare not touch it without permission, then I bring mine out and they argue its not the same book as their dad's. Go further back, and a whole village might have just one. People don't know how good its gotten.