Bible quotes

Hey all,

I don't want to bash Christianity or the bible, but there are times when Christians make it difficult. If people used the teachings of Christ as a guideline for the treatment of humanity, this world would be a pretty damn good place. However, people get bogged down in the perfection of the bible and the apparent conservatism of Jesus.

First off, the bible is not perfect. It was constructed in its current form at the Council of Nicea. The Da Vinci Code discusses this, but the meeting itself was more about the divinity of Jesus. It was decided that more God-like and less human. Other scripture was left out that did not match this standard, but few know anything about this meeting. This occurred around 400 A.D., but the bible has been translated many times, and the translations are probably not perfect ones. Finally, until the days of Guttenberg, the bible was copied by hand. This alone should be a clue that it could have been changed with relative ease. I know there are a lot of people who would disagree with me, but the teachings of Jesus can not be ignored.

Jesus was not a conservative. He never outright discussed homosexuality or abortion (although people have tried to say that he did). However, he did discuss wealth, taxes, and offenses (maybe war). Jesus told followers that it'd be easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven (Matthew 19:24). Jesus to give Caesar what is Caesar's, and to give God what is God's (Matthew 22:21) which I take, in one regard, as pay your taxes. When an evil one strikes you, turn and offer up the other cheek as well (Matthew 5:39). This seems like a clear statement of non-violence. There are many teachings like this, and I don't understand how people can construe them so differently.