'Da Vinci Code' Actor: Bible Should Have 'Fiction' Disclaimer

NewsBusters ^ | May 17, 2006 | Mark Finkelstein

[olezip]

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man.

However, IMO each biblical passage must be evaluated in its own terms in attempting to distinguish between factual historical data and the theological and historical interpretation provided by the original biblical writer.

As its diverse makeup implies, the Bible was not written at a single point in history. The events covered in the Old Testament span nearly two thousand years of history, from the time of Abraham and the patriarchs (around 1800 BC) to the period of the Maccabean wars (140 BC). If you include epic accounts of creation and Noah, then the Bible goes back to the beginning of time.

[DaveTesla]

"biblical scholars know what is absolute truth and what is "fiction" in the bible"

Here is a quote from another Biblical Scholar (not):

Matthew 4:6
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and
setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,And saith unto
him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down:
for it is written, He shall give his angels charge
concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee
up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone.Jesus said unto him, It is written again,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.


Here Satan was quoting Psalms or should we say telling a Half truth to Jesus.
Psalm 91:11
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep
thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone.

Of course Jesus knew better!

Satain do quoteth scripture.
In fact most of what Satan was quoted on in the bible was
lies about scripture.

[ElPatriota]

I have a suggestion for everyone... DON'T GO SEE IT. Now, that would really hurt Hollywood! I mignt be marginally interested in the commentaries we'll see all over the place - how can one avoid it! - but I will have the satisfaction of not giving them my money.

Remember..you VOTE WITH YOUR MONEY $$ EVERY DAY... :-)

[driftdiver]

"Also would he be willing to star in a movie depicting fictional theories about the Prophet Muhammed."

What kinda fictional theories? Say perhaps that he took a 6 yr old as a wife? That he consumated the marriage when she was 9? Oh wait, those are true. Sorry

[chae]

Over the Hedge cannot be worse than The Wild, it's just not physically possible.
I'm planning on seeing "See No Evil" on Friday. Looks like a pretty decent B horror movie.

[gaspar]

Have you ever heard of anyone graduating from Cambridge without honors?

[Quix]

Lord God,

these super fractional minorities wagging the dog are getting really nauseating.

Would you please remove them from the world's public stage as soon as possible. Send them back to the holes they crawled out of, please.

[olezip]

The Bible is one of humanity's greatest treasures. Its epic stories, its powerful language and images have left their imprint on human history, especially in cultures touched by Judaism and Christianity. It is difficult for me to try to simplify any dimension of this great work (the Bible is a collection of 73 different works by different authors, using very different styles and perspectives, composed over a span of several centuries, and in three different languages -- Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. I am a scholar of none of these original languages. I guess by "fiction" I meant to say that some of the literary work was based on the theological interpretation and not necessarily on historical facts as we know them. This does not in any way detract from the divine inspiration of our ancient scriptures.

[munchtipq]

I never saw The Wild. "See No Evil" isn't on my list, unfortunately (me and my girlfriend decided to take this summer movie preview article we saw and go to every single one of the 30 movies on it, no matter what, "see no evil" wasn't on there).

So far there's only been one from the list, Poseidon, which wasn't really all that bad, I guess helped along by low expectations a bit.

[plain talk]

Yep. She was 6. Can you imagine what muslims would do if they simply portrayed an accurate rendition? Then further imagine what if they made up stuff on top of the truth. Anyone associated with the movie would be dead. It's much easier to bash Christians.

[DaveTesla]

"based on the theological interpretation and not necessarily on historical facts as we know them"

Do you know who the authors of the New Testament were?

In case you are interested.

The Twelve Apostles;

***Writers of the New Testament

***(Simon (Peter) (as reordered by Mark)
Peter eventually went to Rome and while there, it is
believed that Mark (the writer of the Gospel of Mark)
served as his translator as he preached. It is, also,
believed that as Peter told and retold his experiences
with Jesus, Mark interpreted time and time again to
Christian groups and by so doing, gave Mark an almost
verbatim memory of Peter's recollections. After Peter's
death, Mark, realizing the value of Peter's first hand
account, recorded what he remembered so clearly in what we
know as the Gospel of Mark. In this manner, Peter became
the source of our earliest Gospel.

Andrew
Andrew is the brother of the apostle Peter and his
parent's names were Joanna and Jona. Like their father,
Andrew and Peter were also fishermen on the Sea of
Galilee. In fact, the apostles Andrew, Peter, James and
John were all partners in a fishing business prior to
being called by Jesus to follow Him.
Andrew was the first of the Apostles to follow Jesus
(John 1:35-42) and just as John the Baptist introduced Jesus to
the nation of Israel, so Andrew is noted for having
introduced Jesus to individuals. The apostle Peter became
the fisher of men in masse where Andrew was a fisher for individuals.

James (son of Zebedee)
the apostle James was the eldest brother of the apostle
John and that their father's name was Zebedee (their mother's name
was Salome). James, his brother John, Peter and Andrew
were all partners in a fishing business prior to being
called by Christ to follow Him. Zebedee was also a partner
in the business. There is also some evidence that James
was the first cousin of Jesus the Messiah and had been
acquainted with Him from infancy. It is believed that his
mother Salome was the sister of Jesus' mother Mary.

****John
While in Ephesus, by order of the Roman emperor Domitian,
John was exiled to an island called Patmos. In what is
known as the cave of the Apocalypse (located on the
island Patmos), the sacred text of the book of Revelation was
given to the apostle John by Jesus (it is here that John
recorded what is written in the New Testament book of
Revelation.) Other New Testament books accredited to John
are the Gospel of John, along with 1st, 2nd and 3rd John.
All of the apostles met a violent death, however, John
died peacefully in Ephesus, at an advanced age, around the
year 100 AD.

Philip
It's possible that Philip was named in honor of Philip
the Tetrarch who had, some ten years before his birth,
done much to raise the status of the region of his birth.
Philip was born in Bethsaida in Galilee.
Most of his latter ministry took place in Galatia (in
Turkey) and it's believed that at the age of 87, he
suffered martyrdom in Hierapolis.

Bartholomew
The apostle Bartholomew was led to Christ in the region of
Galilee, possibly by the apostle Philip.the apostle Jude
Thaddaeus) was the first to evangelize their region
throughout the years of 43 to 66 AD and that the apostle
Bartholomew joined him in 60 AD (eight years before
Bartholomew was martyred).
It is said that Bartholomew carried with him a copy of the
apostle Matthew's Gospel. This copy was reported to be
found at a later time and a converted stoic philosopher by
the name of Pantaenus is said to have brought it to
Alexandria.The apostle Bartholomew is said to have been
martyred in the year 68 AD.

Thomas
After the resurrection of the Lord Christ Jesus, Thomas
went to Babylon. It is believed that he established the
first Christian church there. He is also known to have
gone to Persia and from there he went to India and
preached the Gospel making many converts. It is also
believed that the apostle Thomas evangelized as far as
China, and while in India, he suffered martyrdom; being
killed with a lance

***Matthew
The apostle Matthew, also called Levi, was the son of
Alphaeus and the brother of the apostle James the Less,
or, James, son of Alphaeus. By profession, Matthew was a
tax collector before being called by Jesus to follow Him.
Matthew was a gifted writer, an ardent disciple, and was
perhaps the best educated of any of the Twelve Apostles.
He was the writer of The Gospel of Matthew.

James (son of Alphaeus)
The apostle James ( the son of Alphaeus), who is also
called "Less" or "Younger," was a brother of the apostle
Matthew and the son of Mary. Which Mary is not altogether
certain though she seems to be the wife of one Cleopas.

Jude (Thaddaeus)
After the ascension of Jesus, Jude was one of the first
apostles to leave Jerusalem for a foreign country. In
fact, it is believed that Jude was one of the first
apostles to witness directly to a foreign king, a Gentile.
Jude is believed to have evangelized the area of Armenia
associated with the city of Edessa, in company
perhaps of the apostle Bartholomew, and for a brief time,
with the apostle Thomas.

Simon (the Zealot)
Simon ( the Zealot ) was believed to have preached the
Gospel throughout North Africa, from Egypt to Mauritania,
and even into Britain.
There is a church tradition which says that he was
crucified by the Romans in Caistor, Lincolnshire, Britain
and subsequently buried there on May 10, circa 61 A.D.
This cannot be confirmed, however, as there is also a
strong tradition which says, that having left Britain,
Simon, at some point , went to Persia and was martyred
there by being sawn into.

Judas Iscariot
Perhaps the most significant thing that can be said of
Judas Iscariot, was, that, in feeling sorrow for his crime
of betrayal, he did not seek to atone for his sin to the
One (Jesus) whom he had wronged, but , rather, went to his
accomplices in crime (the priests) and there sought
to set himself aright. Because those whom he had served in
his selfishness failed him at the end (the priests), he
went out and hanged himself.

Not of the original twelve apostles:

Matthias
It is believed that Matthias evangelized in regions of
Armenia and great peril befell him in the cities of
Colchis, Sebastopol and elsewhere. It is also believed
that he at one time, was aided by the apostle Andrew.

****Saul (Paul)
The apostle Paul was at first a great enemy to the
Christian, being present at the stoning of Stephen, the
executioners laying their cloaks at his feet. But after
the death of Stephen, while Paul was on his way to
Damascus, the glory of the Lord shone suddenly upon
him, he was struck to the earth and was made blind for
three days. After his recovery (although there is some
evidence he never fully completely recovered his sight), he
was converted and became an apostle and, lastly,
suffered as a martyr for the religion which he had
formerly persecuted. Paul's great abilities and earnest
enthusiasm in spreading the gospel of Christ have made his
name revered wherever the Christian religion is known. It
is his writings, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
which make up much of the New Testament of the Bible.

[DaveTesla]

Oh, I forgot Luke!

Luke was an educated Greek, a doctor by profession. He
wrote Luke and Acts which together account for two-fifths
of the New Testament. He covers the period from the birth
of Christ into the first thirty years of the story of the
early church, a period of 60 years. His writing gives a
historical context for the rest of the New Testament.

Luke's record as a historian
Luke's ability as a historian has been amply documented.
There are numerous instances where he refers to rulers and
historical events in his two books. These can be tested
from other sources. It is interesting to note the number
of times in which Luke has been thought to have been wrong
in the particular titles he has given to rulers in certain
countries or cities, and which later archaeological and
other discoveries have proved to be right. Some examples
are: reference to Philippian rulers as praetors, his
choice of the word proconsul as the title for Gallio in
Corinth, his describing of Publius as "the leading man of
the island" in Malta, and his usage of politarchs to
denote the civil authorities of Thessalonica. (He gets no
less than fifteen Roman governor titles right.) Luke's
accurate employment of the various titles used in the
Roman Empire has been compared to the easy and confident
way in which an Oxford man in ordinary conversation will
refer to the Heads of Oxford colleges by their proper
titles - the Provost of Oriel, the Master of Balliol, the
Rector of Exeter, the President of Magdalen, and so on.

His accuracy in such details extends also to the more
general sphere of local colour and atmosphere in such
places as Jerusalem, Syrian Antioch, Philippi and Ephesus.
He gets the atmosphere right every time. It is worth
noting that the description of his sea voyage with Paul to
Rome, and their shipwreck on Malta, in Acts 27, has been
called "one of the most instructive documents for the
knowledge of ancient seamanship" that we possess. There
is, in fact, only one other document in existence that
gives similar detail as to what sailing was like in those

[Trot]

My guess, olezip, is that you're repeating something you heard from someone else. That' s my guess. In that spirit, I propose that if you will research whatever you think may be fictiional you will find it's not.

Over the centuries, many have suggested the Bible errs here or there, about science, or history, or geography, etc. But every critic and skeptic has been proven wrong, and no supposed errors have ever been found in those areas, or any others, even though elucidation may have been ages in coming.

As for eschatology, despite a great deal of simile, some of what is predicted will probably be understood only in light of its fulfilment in some cases, such as who is Babylon. But many prophecies are plain on their face, such as the prediction of an earthquake in the last days of such magnitude that it will cause islands to sink and great cities of the world to come crashing down. There is great symbolism in this fearsome prophecy, which I am certain will be fulfilled literally.

Check with the Bible Answer Man on radio, or ICR, and many more places for questions you think need explanation.

Happy hunting.

[dagoofyfoot]

Yeah. McKellen's getting a bit too long in the tooth to not not be making amends with the Almighty


As time goes by the heart grows harder...


Better pray for ol' Gandolf

[durasell]

Have you ever heard of anyone graduating from Cambridge without honors?



oh yeah