....it is only a book written merely for entertainments sake ....no more , no less

Nikjak:  .....the correct view is not that it

was written, because it wasn't written as a

whole, but was compiled by a special

interest group of religious leaders.  This

compilation was to further their control and

ability to keep the tills filled with offerings.

The unfortunate aspect is that they compiled

an extremely wanting tome.  By allowing the

OT in, they insured that the God presented

was the most sinister and generally obtuse

deity imaginable.  "Imaginable" is the

operative word.  The god portrayed in the

Bible is, like Thomas Paine described, more

like a devil than a god.

     Then, in the NT, the job of compilation

wasn't much better.  Note the four gospels

that can't agree on too much while trying to

tell the same stories.  Who can know the

reasons for placing these four contradictions

together to represent sameness, while only

going to make for confusion and doubts?

   Overall, the Bible is a mess.  That is, if

a reader is honest like a Twain, Jefferson,

Paine, Lincoln or any reader who can come

to it in a pristine manner.  Unfortunately,

very few people read the Bible, or if they do,

their minds are already sullied and saturated

with what they're supposed to glean.

    The Bible, if taken seriously, is quite a

horrible piece of work.  If not taken

seriously, then it's just another description

of a society's myths and tall stories--no

harm, no foul.  An honestly intelligent

mind does not take the Bible seriously.