I want the atheist view as well as Christian view (any religion is welcome) on if as a society we followed the entire old and New Testament, what would society look like?
And remember this doesn't mean that people would be different, it means our government decided to make laws strictly based on the holy book.
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A.J. Jacobs wrote an amusing book called, “A Year of Living Biblically.” It demonstrates what following the bible to a t would look like...at least for an individual, not an entire society. It’s a fun read.
I will have to look into that book
Thank you
I think that a society based off the holy bible would be a scary place to live. If laws were based off the 613 commandments that god gave the hebrews, life would be tough. There would be no working on the sabbath, stone-able offense. Stoning was a common punishment for breaking gods commandments. Rich people could own slaves, and rapist get to marry their victim, or she dies for being raped.
If we followed god's law, we would be capable of killing children for no other reason than we were told to.
Could you imagine the courts? The ambiguity would be incredible. If you had a real grievance, you'd go to a Rabbi for justice? That is insane.
I read that book too, Cyber. Fun read, but it would be an absolute nightmare if everybody had to live that way. So many ridiculous rules and laws.
General question here: Am I the only one who gets annoyingly frustrated at the fact there are so many people in the world who refuse to think for themselves and see the facts and logic that is placed plainly before them? Almost makes me want to scream and pull my hair sometimes. (Oh, wait. I don't have enough hair to pull.)
I might also suggest a version of it in Mark Twain's Letter From The Earth. A totally and unabashedly irreverent describing of the human compulsion towards worshiping the god man made in it's own image, Twain's humorous deriding of it is unstoppable.
well I would live by some parts of the bible, Like Jesus teaching In Matthew chapter five the beatitudes, From the old testament I would choose Micah chapter 6 verse 8.According to the New American Standard bible know for its emphasis on the Greek language for the new testament Micah states this in the holy scriptures He has told you O Man what is good; and what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God. And then JESUS stating the summation on the whole law love God with your mind strength heart and love your neighbor as yourself .back to the beatitudes Blessed Are The pure of heart they will see God, Also blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy then blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God. I feel if you inject these qualities in your heart you would improve your way of looking at the world and getting along in it.
@ Devout
So you would cherry pick and ignore the rest of the bible. Hmm, sounds like you don't even the bible. I found that out YEARS ago!
D.C., with the exception of the whole "worshipping" stuff (Sorry, I've never been much of a worshipping type.), I totally agree that the world would be a better place if everybody followed the "peace" parts of the bible. I am all for treating others in the way I would want to be treated. UNnnnn-fortunately, that is not what the bible is all about, and picking and choosing the parts one likes best and disregarding the unpleasant items is in contradiction to the religion itself. If a person is going to do that, then why on Earth use a bible in the first place? Better yet, why not simply be good, honest, and decent simply for the sake of being good, honest, and decent? While I am certainly no angel and have done my share of wrong during my lifetime, I do my sincerest best to be a good guy. I do not require the promise of a heaven to make me do right, nor do I require the threat of a hell to keep me from doing wrong. One seems too much like bribery, and the other seems too much like extortion. I try to be a decent and honest guy simply because it is the right thing to do and the right way to treat others, and in doing so I seem to get along with the world fairly well. True, I don't always agree with many of the things in our world today, but you get the idea.
We already tried that. We called it the "Dark Ages." We killed people who did not agree with us. We invented great devices for torturing people. We destroyed the civilized world and thwarted any new scientific development. We set the progress of humanity back 500 years. Why would we do that again?
Amen, Cog! Preach it, brother!
well I take the whole bible and read it but I like a lot of bible readers do choose and pick what is of interest to them. I accept the whole biblical account. I am a Judean Christian I accept both testaments .but I don`t try to live by many of the practices that the jews lived by. Like dietary laws and the laws of the Sabbath. What I feel is missing in your life is a relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.I f you have some of the qualities that I mentioned then your already on your way .without the lord you will not reach heaven So take and accept his grace then and be one with him.
For one thing, we would be a society that murders children who disobey their parents.
We would also murder adulterers
Ditto gays
"And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world..." Louie Armstrong, ladies and gentlemen. Louie Armstrong... *clap-clap-clap-clap-clap*
The biggest bitch of the whole thing would be having to toss out all my clothes and buy a whole new wardrobe without any mixed-fiber materials. And don't even get me started on trying to find new shoes to match it all. *shudder*
We'd need more closets *zing*
To: Thomas
Bwaaaaah-haaaa-haaaa-haaaa...! Good one!