Welcome Seekism to the Moderate Christian Blogroll

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1. Does the Old Testament accurately describe God ? I seriously doubt it. To be very frank (and in days of yore I would have been burnt at the stake for this ! ), it is my opinion that the Old Testament is a little bit of history embellished with considerable mythology — an incredible concoction prepared especially for the Jewish people. Even St. Augustine seriously doubted the veracity of the Book of Genesis. But he covered his tracks by saying that the Bible should be seen holistically, and not read in bits and pieces. If you MUST read the entire Old Testament as the Word of God which, naturally, must be the truth, then you must believe that there were many gods. For it says, in Genesis, that the “gods” (plural) came down and took unto themselves the daughters of men !

   Nope, I don’t believe that the Old Testament accurately described God. In fact, I don’t think the OT is accurate about a lot of things. Whenever possible, I tell my listeners that they can’t go wrong if they just confined themselves to the four gospels in the New Testament.

2. Carlton Figg’s statement is bold and extremely thought-provoking. And yes, in days of yore they would have gleefully burnt him at the stake ! I don’t quite get that part about the “Gods” coming down and taking the daughters of men to themselves. Maybe I missed it when I was going through the Bible. Carlton is here with me, and I hope he can throw some light on the subject when I get through with this. Nobody disagrees with the theory that the Old Testament is in fact a history of the Jewish people. Nor do I have any quarrel with the claim that a lot of it is mythology. But who knows — even mythology can bring us a message from God. Like he said, even saints have cast doubts on the veracity of the Book of Genesis. This argument, or discussion, can go on endlessly without getting us anywhere. The question I would like to ask Carlton is : Does he believe in Jesus, and that Jesus is the son of God ? If he believes then he is saved, and there is no real need to delve into the Old Testament. As he himself points out, we need but to confine ourselves to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Believe that He is your Lord and Saviour, and everything else will fall into place. It’s as simple as that.

3. When reading the Bible, one needs to keep in mind that it is a bits-and-pieces book. It was not written by a single author and, in fact, it comprises several books written separately and over the centuries. The most important fact to remember is that we are not reading the original writings. What we have with us today is a book that has been through at least two major translations. First, from Aramic to Greek. Then from Greek to ancient
   English. To be honest, the book of today is actually the third translation — from ancient English to modern English. And then, there were different people and/or organisations, each with his own, or its own agenda, that supervised the translations. It thus stands to reason that much has been lost or deliberately altered in the texts.

   As for the Old Testament’s description of God — no, I don’t believe there is any accuracy there. It does try to depict God — first as a loving father-figure in the Garden of Eden, and then as a raging tyrant who will not have any defiance from the human race. He drowned the world, remember ? Jesus Christ’s description of God as a “spirit” should tell you that nobody can describe God — for who can describe a “spirit ?

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