Quote:
Originally Posted by Kate West
I agree. we can't take what we read for granted. I was brought up in a christian home but always wondered why there were so many other religions if this was the only right one.
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The Bible was given to the world in the year 325 AD, under the rule of the Emperor Constantine (who was a pagan, I might add, until he was finally baptized on his deathbed by his own priests).
It was collated (put together) from hundreds of ancient documents, some allegedly written by prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit, and others of history, stories, metaphor, personal letters, and poetry (The Book of Revelation, for example, is a story written from a dream of St. John the Divine).
The Romans translated the original documents from the Hebraic and Greek languages to the Roman Latin. The Holy Roman Church declared Christianity the official religion of all the Roman empire.
Centuries later the Bible got into the hands of protestants and was translated into the various vernacular languages of Europe -- and finally translated to English. Since then, there have been yet even more versions of the Bible --- and none of them are the original.
The Roman (Latin Bible) was used only by the popes and cardinals and priests of the Catholic Church for centuries, and the common people were not allowed to read it. This was for purposes of power in the Roman Empire.
The Bible is really a collection of documents we know today as 'sacred story' and are meant to be taken as metaphor.
Peace