I've been reading an abridgement of the Bible called Testament, edited by Philip Law, which concentrates on the narrative and skips all the lists of begats and the detailed rules about whether it's OK to eat hedgehogs and such. I've just got as far as the story of Gideon. It's been much worse than I imagined, a continual glorification of slaughter. Just a few pages after Moses receives the commandment not to kill, his followers put 3,000 Israelites to the sword for worshipping Baal. The reason the Egyptians were afflicted with 7 plagues is that Yahweh deliberately made the Pharaoh obstinate, so that he kept breaking his promises to release the Israelites. So far it's hard to discern a moral message any more profound than the line from King Lear: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods: they kill us for their sport". (Just to add: I'm not a Dawkinsite, I'm not inherently hostile to organised religion, I'm just giving my impression of this particular sacred text.)
You do tend to get the feeling that Yahweh is completely insane, dont you ? And sad to say, he seems to set the tone for some of the policies of the Israeli state.
Perhaps the suggestion is that the Lord is a spirit that exists within humanity. I propose it's a matter of how the spirit effects one's circumstances.
Like, you're born into a certain situation, but you're filled with a pure spirit. What confuses me is how it ever would have gotten confused in the first place, if the spirit is so pure. So if you are a believer in the Bible, I suppose you might be reticent to accept this theory.
I like some of the phrases from the Bible, e.g. "Search and you will find, Knock and the door will be opened to you" "The first shall be last, And the last first" "Happy the peacemakers, They shall be called Sons of God" "If I have the gift of prophecy And can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, And if I have a faith that can move mountains, But have not love, I am nothing". I also like the parable of the Prodigal Son, which reminds me of how much of a waster I am compared to my brother hehe
Although, since the bible has been through numerous translations in many different languages - and presumably transmitted orally before anyone got around to writing it down - you do wonder how far from the original ideas and concepts it's drifted. And that's not even taking into account all those who changed bits on purpose, to justify whatever they're doing.
