What If the Bible Were an Instruction Book? Part 1

On night while sick in bed a thought occurred to me that was so extraordinary I had to write it down. What if the Bible was not intended to be the word of God but an instruction manual on how to become more god-like? At first the idea surprised even me, but then I thought about it. Yes, really thought about it. What do I know about religion? Do I only know about the contents of the Bible from what I learned in Church? What other facts have I learned that are related to religion?

My brain was positively teeming. This is what I came up with.

The Bible was written by several different disciples hundreds of years after the death of Jesus. Each book of the Bible was written by in a different location from texts that had been hand copied since the time of Jesus's death and resurrection. In today's world of computers with backspace, delete, and save options it may be hard to remember how difficult it was to hand copy something in the exact manner of the original. No spell check, or grammar corrections, no word count. Admittedly, the scribes or monks charged with these tasks usually were not under a time constraint but writing tools aren't what they used to be either. We no longer use pot of ink with nib (aka fountain) pens that have a tendency to drip or blot out entire words if pressed too hard. This was all long before Gutenberg and his infamous printing press. A book took years to write and were highly coveted. Suffice to say, there are probably some mistakes in the Bible. Humans are not perfect, that is why Jesus had to die for our sins.

Item number two. If the Bible was not a direct narrative of Jesus and his life, what other purpose could it serve? The Bible is, of course, supposed to serve as a record of Jesus, God, and the holy word but it wasn't written by Jesus. It was written about Jesus. Two very different things. Why write about Jesus? He isn't God? In fact, Jesus and God are so entangled we are often heard substituting or interchanging God and Jesus. Isn't that blasphemous? It is unintentional though. I am sure of that.

The facts known about the Bible and the Biblical era are diverse and controversial depending on who you ask and the answer you receive. Most people that are informed about Christianity have probably heard about Constantinople. That's a long name but an important one. Constantinople was a fascinating historical figure but he would have been long forgotten if not for one small meeting. A council meeting. We all have those now, no big deal, but Constantinople had a meeting historically named the Council of Nicea. The Council of Nicea was so important it could be said to have changed the world. It literally shaped the world as we know it because without the Council of Nicea, Christianity may not have become the world dominating religion it is today.