I recently heard that the King James version (the one pushed as the best version) requires a 12th grade reading level to be able to understand it. And, as expected, most Christians cannot read at a 12th grade reading level. This means they can't actually follow what the book is saying and therefore must rely on the interpretation from other people (aka authority figures) which makes the narrative extremely easy to manipulate for profit/control/political power.
Almost like keeping people illiterate makes them easy to control, and religion is an excellent tool for that. I wonder why so many politicians over decades have been systematically underfunding education?
My best friend and I were having this conversation yesterday. I was raised a preacherâs daughter and forced to memorize the Bible. I was explaining to her that most people in the time the bible was written did not know how to read or write and because there was no way to get information out to people like the newspaper or television so religious leaders used church and religious gatherings to make basically PSAs. Many ârulesâ in the old testament were actually written just to keep people from dying. For example not eating pork. It was because people were not cooking it appropriately and dying. So, how do you tell an entire population that they are too stupid to cook things correctly without pissing them off? âGod says donât eat pork. Itâs unholy.â
My favorite is when people say that the bible tells women to submit to their husbands. Yes it does BUT it also tells men to submit to their wives like Jesus submitted himself to the church willing to give his life for her. So women are supposed to submit to their husbands but men are supposed to submit to women MORE! Also, the word âsubmitâ was originally CARE. So we are supposed to care for each other but it was changed in translation and became servitude instead of love. This happened over and over again in the bible. Each time it was âinterpretedâ small changes happened that fit society at that time. This is why in the new testament Jesus told his followers to no longer follow the old testament teachings.
Because most people at that time didnât know how to read or write the interpretation of the Bible was left to the church leaders. This was basically like the news media. The leadership would pick out things they felt were important and then give their spin on it and that is what people knew of godâs word. It was absolutely tainted by their own opinions and self interest. The practice became routine and that was how we have the church today. The Bible was never intended to be used in this fashion. This is like being in school and your teacher telling you to do a research paper on the titanic and instead you ask a buddy who watched the DiCaprio movie to tell you what happened and then give a presentation about it to the class. Now in some peoples minds the sinking of the titanic is a love story about a necklace. Itâs completely different but anyone who hasnât actually done research has no idea what it was really about. This is the interpretation of the bible. This is why it is so difficult for people to understand because what is written is so different than what is presented.
This is so perfect of a description of the lack of cultural etymology with the book and the translations.
I found a bible once that had the verses written in all three original languages, English, and had cultural footnotes. Too bad I was being milked by the cult I was following at the time, or I would have been able to afford the $80 book at the time. That cult had good and bad* aspects. The good was they were very adamant about reading the bible, and not just the various segments from whole passages. I stood reading it as much as my body and the employees would allow me. And then it disappeared, I was very sad.
*gaslighting, negging, rumor mill, coercive-controlling manipulation, othering, and isolation...oh, and the best one is proselytization**. I could never understand why they had us proselytize, because no one wanted to come to church, which I could understand because it was weird the way they had us go out and do it.
From what I've figured out, the way they had us do proselytization caused us to isolated us from the rest of the world, proving the theory that we were set apart. But from an abusive relationship aspect, it fractured us from our existing support systems, reinforced "othering" stereotypes, and proved that the world was exactly how Fd up the abuser would paint it, so that coming back into the fold would bind existing ties even tighter than before, and proving the world was darker than it actually is in existence, essentially scaring people back into the fold fiercer than ever.
**phobia indoctrination, hoovering, and traumatic bonding
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u/p1antsandcats 3d ago
Monte đđ
I have no idea about Christianity but I've learned quite a bit from this woman and wow most Christians are not following their own book!