[Tiwaz]

I consider the Bible to be a guideline. It can be a guideline for non-Christians as well, some stories are really interesting. That's why I think everybody in the West should at least have some basic knowledge about the Bible, since Western culture is in large measure based upon it. Not all stories are true. Miracles of Jesus, well, some might have happened; if something happened in that time that people did not understand, it could easily be described as being a 'miracle'.

There are many useful messages in the Bible though. Like in many books. In this case, the Bible happens to be the book Christianity is based on. Many stories were written down many years after the event happened. Told from father to son. Later translated from Hebrew to other languages. Many 'facts' might have altered because of the oral tradition. Much like the game children play in kindergarten. I think the game is called Telephone?

Nice example of a mistranslation is this:

Catholics say the 'virgin Mary' gave birth to Jesus. But I believe (read it somewhere) the translation of the original text is 'the young woman Mary'. A young woman may be a virgin. But I know of many young women who, well, are not. So I guess some scepticism is in place when reading the Bible. Many Christians and Catholics will not agree with this, even though this particular example were to be true (I am not sure). This is only on example, there are many more (minor ones). Understandable, Hebrew is not the easiest language around...

And since we're starting about the Bible and scepticism and literal interpretation, we might as well broach a habit many people have: Drawing sentences or parts of stories out of its context. By doing this, the Bible has an answer to almost everything, anything, supplying bot arguments and counter-arhuments to support the very same opinion. Help!