When you apply simple psychology to the stories of the bible what is your end result?

Question

Not trying to mean here but it seems that many stories and lessons of the bible go completely against human nature and basic psychology.
I think thats why I have such a hard time believing it.
What are your thougths?

Answer 1

There are instructions god gave in the Bible that go against everything a sane person knows and believes is right.



Stoning women who've lost their virginity, for example.



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Deuteronomy 22



20 If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.



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Even if we frown on unmarried sex, killing women for this transgression would have the nasty side effect of causing our species to go extinct.

Answer 2

Simple psychology tells you that there is no way the stories in the bible could be true.

Answer 3

Not trying to mean either, but I completely agree! Many of the stories make for great reading and tickle the imagination; But as to truth in fact, I have trouble believing them?



The Talking Donkey



The Dead Man raised back to health



Walking on water



Feeding 5K with a loaf and a Fish



Are just a few that come to mind?

Answer 4

The bible is a fine example of some of the most unhealthy human dynamics one could want displayed for perusal.

Answer 5

i agree, it's a tool used to keep people in line...



perhaps for a noble effort, and perhaps for personal gain, i don't know the intentions of the authors...

Answer 6

I agree.

Why allow Satan in the Garden of Eden, unless you plan man's downfall?

Why persecute the generations after Eve and Adam? What kind of justice system is that?

I could go on, but I'll save some space.

Answer 7

As a psych major I can tell you that you get a freaking headache is what you get.

Answer 8

You are to both love and fear god.



This sets up a parent/child relationship with the believer. You cannot question or debate with your god because if he gets angry with you, there might be a "pillar of salt" or locusts or plagues or some other horror in your very near future. Not to mention the eternity of torture waiting for you in hell.



I think it's better to have an adult to adult relationship with Deity. More honest. More productive. And far healthier.

Answer 9

Some are good, and some are bad. It's a big anthology with many different authors of differing skill levels.



Some are obviously told just to make a point; others have genuine themes of love, friendship, and loyalty.

Answer 10

The Bible blames a curse as the reason why humans behave as we do. They didn't know anything about psychology back in the day.



Humans = God's perfection corrupted by God's curse that only man had the power to activate. Curse to be absolved by the blood of a Savior. That was easier to comprehend then :



Humans = highly evolved intelligent creatures with complex emotions and egos which make us creative and loving as well as destructive and self centered.



Human nature was and is troubling to many people instead of trying to understand it people relied on the superstition of the day, sadly in 2008 people are still choosing to believe that humans are a cursed creation of a loving God.

Answer 11

YOU are correct. There are lessons that are put forward

here. One must use common sense in determining the point

of these stories. How many people have changed the interpretation of the what the Bible is supposed to represent?



Many of the rulers of various times had changes made to this fantastic book of rules in order to "control his/her subjects." One must be mindful of this factor when reading whichever version of the Bible you get. It is a shame that the reigning leaders of different eras couldn't leave, the Bible alone, as God had dictated it to his prophets. Thus, God warned us in the end of the Bible about the consequences of doing so. It is all intense.



P E A C E!!!!

Answer 12

He had a direct relationship with God...he didn't get a feeling about God or sense that God existed...he spoke with God and knew he existed...and if God gave him that son (which was a miracle because he was 100 years old when his wife concieved ...and her in her 90's) then I guess he felt he had to obey this present God and do what he said.



I think your view of human nature is through rose colored glasses.



Tell me how a whole country decides that it's okay to round up, transport to camps, and then methodically excute in gas chambers, firing squards, ovens, and starvations 6 million jews, gypsies, and various other ethnic groups.



Tell me how generations of people including Africans have believed that it's okay to enslave fellow human beings and believe that they are inferior, subhuman, and worthless for anything outside of labor.



Tell me how parents like Shannon Smith and the like will drown their own children?



How does a man (happened twice here in Illinois in the past year) set his children on fire while alive and awake? I assure you God didn't tell them to do it.



I would rather believe that a father would willingly take the life of a beloved, gift from a God that he regularly had contact with than some father setting his children on fire because he wants to get back at his wife.



I could go on....maybe you need to study psychology a little bit more.



The Bible says the heart is a wicked thing...who can know it. Your view of human nature is unrealistic.

Answer 13

If you apply simple psychology, then you'll get some proof that psychological illnesses do happen even in those eras. Visual and aural hallucinations of supernatural incidents and beings were exhibited by many people they regard as prophets. The only difference from today is that these psychologically sick are treated with medicine unlike before that they were treated with reverence. How ironic.

Answer 14

How do you define "simple psychology" ?

The people described in the Bible generally seem to reflect the people we see daily. Human nature is flawed. Otherwise we would not have had war almost continually throughout history. Humans do not learn lessons from their forefathers otherwise there would be no socialism / fascism / communism / war / etc.

The people described in the Bible are distrusting angry adulterers murderers complainers, lacking in faith, ranting etc. with a few shining stars in between.

The lessons are that good triumphs over evil in the end and just because a person has temporal power does not mean they are not subject to a Higher One. But no more of this until you flesh out your questions.





re Abraham - God promised Abraham that all the nations of the world would be blessed by his seed. Therefore Abraham trusted God that even were he to have to kill Isaac, he knew that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Your surprise is that anyone could have such faith.

Answer 15

The Old Testament is full of stories of people acting in ways contrary to the commandments. Yeah, a lot of dysfunction going on. And a lot of consequences given for their actions.



The idea is to learn from what they did and not repeat it.



The New Testament is the Savior showing and teaching a better way to live.



Interesting, when people tell Bible stories to "prove" the Bible wrong, they pick out the stories of people doing strange things and ignore the good stuff.

Answer 16

Unless you realize the importance of OT biblical "types" ... some 1000 of which describe and represent every characteristic of the promised Messiah, your "simple psychology" will be of little use.



The Jews have never figured it out, to this day.



By comparison, the NT is much more practical, and much more easily understood.



St. Augustine (4th century) converted to Christianity at an advanced age, once he was able to make that simple breakthrough.



Prior to that, Augustine couldn't see much of anything worth learning from scripture, and he had little use for the authentic Christian faith.



He subsequently went on to formulate a workable, if somewhat primitive system of Christian theology, which forms the basis for virtually all modern day theological work.



Check out all his stuff for free, here:



http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm



You should probably concentrate on this one, to start:



http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1101.htm

Answer 17

Can you give an example of one of these stories that you have a problem with?



That is a good example. As a parent myself I agree that it is nearly impossible for me to imagine sacrificing my son in the way that Abraham was instructed to do. The author of Hebrews in the New Testament has this to say about Abraham and Isaac:



By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. Hebrew 11:17-19 (NIV)



The idea being expressed here is that Abraham had such faith that he believed that God would fulfill his promise to him, even if God had to raise Isaac back from the dead to do it. In this case I think "faith" is better understood as being closer to "certainty" than what we mean by "faith" today. If you had the experiences with God that Abraham had by this time I would think you would be pretty certain that God could do what he promised.



I find it hard to imagine having the courage of Jesus in going forward knowing what awaited him at Gethsemane too.



But you are right. It is hard to imagine having the faith of Abraham, or Jesus such that one could do these things. But also again we run into the problem that "faith" to them is not what "faith" is to us. Both of them had overwhelming first hand evidence of the power of God.



I do agree with you that it is difficult to imagine doing either of these - nearly impossible for your average person. Whether it violates human psychology in all cases I don't know. I think it is pretty certain that almost all men and women could not have done what these men are supposed to have done. Abraham and Jesus were definitely exceptions to the rule.



http://lwk2431.wordpress.com



p.s. One other thought - if we really wanted to study the possible psychology here we would have to look at the psychology of a people at a stage of development similar to where Abraham was maybe 4,000 years ago. It was a very different psychology from how people in the first world think today.



For evidence consider this. In parts of the Muslim world which are pretty backward (which is most of it) it is still possible for a father to kill his daughter if she in some way embarasses the family (called "honor killings" or some such). Apparently this is not all that unusual.

Answer 18

The movie for nihilistic dirt bags. The bible creates movies like The Fight Club.

Answer 19

I believe that God repeated similar things In most books of the Bible. how do we learn,by practicing and going over and over what we are trying to learn and practice is what makes us perfect. God has spoken the instruction book to life into are hands. and by reading Gods Word and praying and applying what we learn into our lives accepting the Holy Spirit Guidance we can grow and be the person God needs us to be. I believe the over all message of Gods Word is simply this. we are born in sin we grow to a point in life were we realize this and we know we need to make some changes God leads us into the direction that the first step of change will take place,the first step is to believe in his Son Jesus and accept him as your personal savior,the second step God enters into you the Holy Spirit,and guides you through your life while praying to God and reading Gods Word the Holy Bible, he helps you grow in your personal relationship with God. and as you pray and read the Bible you apply what God is teaching you to your life,spreading the good news of Jesus and doing what God leads you to do for others. God made a way its perfect and simple it up to us to make the right choice. God loves and blesses you. Amen!

Answer 20

a god that impregnated his daughter so that their sons virgin blood could be used in a sacrifice to wash sins is nuts!

Answer 21

I agree with you. To have so much common sense can sometimes hinder your spiritual journey (if you want one).