Esoteric vs. Exoteric: What of the Ancient Mysteries in regard to Christianity?

[Nyx]

Yep, its people who make the world go round, the experiences and backgrounds to how each person comes to the ideas they do interests me too.

You know if you take the Bible literally then where would people be?
For instance

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched." (Mark 9:43)

Are you then going to self-mutilate if your eyes or hands sinned? Of course not, wouldn't that be better said as some parts literal while others figuratively speaking? The entire statement is a bit sus if you ask me.

I agree. That is a major flaw with many evangelical, and, obviously, fundamental churches. The Bible is not meant to be taken literally in all parts... but more important...is analyzing it philosophically, theologically, and historically to get the real meaning from it. Just reading the Bible without any other knowledge is not conducive to a solid, thorough understanding of it. But that is my opinion, and something I need to do to renew my faith.

Thankfully, there are people like NT Wright and his monumental 6 part series :Christian Origins and the Question of God. This would take a lifetime of constant study to get through, probably. He is one of the best theologians we have in our time and he provides a solid defense of Christianity as far as I can tell. I just obtained his books and I am committed to the massive task of reading them. They are very dense, but, nonetheless, the amount of information here is extremely exciting.

The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God)

 

[ayoitsStepho]

Yep, its people who make the world go round, the experiences and backgrounds to how each person comes to the ideas they do interests me too.

You know if you take the Bible literally then where would people be?
For instance

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched." (Mark 9:43)

Are you then going to self-mutilate if your eyes or hands sinned? Of course not, wouldn't that be better said as some parts literal while others figuratively speaking? The entire statement is a bit sus if you ask me.

I understand your asking of this. Sadly, I do not know if its suppost to be taken LITERAL or if somethings are just annalogies [sp?]. I know I've been taught that that verse isn't suppost to be taken literal...i think. Its possible that when they say literal, they just mean that everything in the bible should taken seriously? But I do not know. I'm sure someone has the answer for that, but I do not. Personally, I know that Jesus used alot of story telling to portray his point and such, so its possible that this verse is like that. But I'd be lying if I said I knew.

And actually, I'll take back my statement that the bible should be read litterally because I can see that it wouldn't be wise to take it literally. We're taught the meaning behind such versus and the interpretations. In those 'bible times' people knew what those things ment typically, but since we're a different era we don't use the same type of 'talk' to get our points across. So yes, I wouldnt take it literal. [I'm learning some of these myself as well. sorry ]

 

[Sniffles]

There are several important issues that need to be touched upon. Unfortunately at the present moment I'm limited in my abilities to address them on a significant level.

 

[Nyx]

I understand your asking of this. Sadly, I do not know if its suppost to be taken LITERAL or if somethings are just annalogies [sp?]. I know I've been taught that that verse isn't suppost to be taken literal...i think. Its possible that when they say literal, they just mean that everything in the bible should taken seriously? But I do not know. I'm sure someone has the answer for that, but I do not. Personally, I know that Jesus used alot of story telling to portray his point and such, so its possible that this verse is like that. But I'd be lying if I said I knew.

And actually, I'll take back my statement that the bible should be read litterally because I can see that it wouldn't be wise to take it literally. We're taught the meaning behind such versus and the interpretations. In those 'bible times' people knew what those things ment typically, but since we're a different era we don't use the same type of 'talk' to get our points across. So yes, I wouldnt take it literal. [I'm learning some of these myself as well. sorry ]

Don't feel bad about being confused. I am in the same boat. Most of us are, but it's part of the journey. I am always trying to figure out the best way to understand the Bible because like you said, we're living in a different time and a lot of things in the Bible only make sense the most sense from the perspective of those who wrote it. Remember the earliest translations we have are in Greek, too, not the original Hebrew. I have just started my studies and have not learned about this much yet.

Have you seen this? The oldest surviving Bible (1,600 yrs old) is available to skim online

Codex Sinaiticus - Home

I have no idea what it says because I don't know even a lick of Greek.

Still pretty cool though.

 

[ayoitsStepho]

Don't feel bad about being confused. I am in the same boat. Most of us are, but it's part of the journey. I am always trying to figure out the best way to understand the Bible because like you said, we're living in a different time and a lot of things in the Bible only make sense the most sense from the perspective of those who wrote it. Remember the earliest translations we have are in Greek, too, not the original Hebrew. I have just started my studies and have not learned about this much yet.

Have you seen this? The oldest surviving Bible (1,600 yrs old) is available to skim online

Codex Sinaiticus - Home

I have no idea what it says because I don't know even a lick of Greek.

Still pretty cool though.

Thank you for understanding. Its tough sometimes because I get shot down alot with my beliefs and if I dont know something. I dont like to be defensive about all of that ya know? I want to freely learn without being told that I'm so nieve or stupid for my beliefs. But I dont expect many to be kind. Honestly, this is a part of who I am and I'm not gonna just dump it because someone says its stupid.

Wow! That IS cool. It makes me wish I read Greek :/ So I suppose we're all on the same boat here

 

[Sniffles]

The New Testament was originally written in Greek.

 

[Sniffles]

BTW, another book which might interest you is Philip Jenkins' Hidden Gospels: How the search for Jesus lost its way. Here's Jenkins summarizing his main arguments:
How Gnostic Jesus Became the Christ of Scholars By Philip Jenkins--Gnostic gospels Pagels - Beliefnet.com

 

[Sniffles]

Here's one Christian blog that deals with issues related to Gnosticism and Esoteric teachings:
Glocal Christianity: Gnosticism
Glocal Christianity: Esoteric

Hopefully this can help clarify some issues involved with this topic.