What do I think about the bible? It has been copied and recopied, by hand, repeatedly through out the centuries. Each time minor and/or major changes were made which gradually developed the present day product. The concepts of god and Jesus were carefully crafted to fit the prevailing orthodoxy. I am certain that no one knows what really happened in any instance. The Christian religion which has been developed over the centuries has very little factual basis. Chances are, almost every aspect is a lie.
People who say they “love” god are infatuated with a fantasy they themselves have imagined. The bible can support almost any kind of god fantasy: a loving, ever caring comforter, a vindictive judge who watches human beings and who will torture the “bad” ones (or even the ones who just don’t believe god/Jesus etc. exists) forever after they die, a mighty, all powerful protector, and to some a mixture of all of these concepts. These same visions can be found in other books which claim to be “god’s word”.
I think we forfeit our ability to actually discover the true nature of our existence by relying on books such as the Bible, the Qur'ān, and the Book of Mormon etc. We often persist in looking backward, as though the “truth” was known to the ancients, and fail to discover who we are and whether we share consciousness with anything outside ourselves.
The alchemists believed that elements could be changed from one to another and long sought to convert lead into gold. And truly such a conversion is possible but the reality of the transmutation is far more complex than the alchemists every dreamed of. If we had continued to pursue the transmutation in the same fashion that the alchemists did we would still be unenlightened. I believe that the ancients who sought god were indeed onto something. But when we continue to follow their recipes we miss the real possibility of discovery.
