The bible, in some form or another, dates back over two thousand years.
The existence of this book has had a profound effect on humanity and forms the basis of
Christianity as a religion – a religion shared by nearly one third of the planet.
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions – the channel that looks to answer
a plethora of questions…sometimes serious, sometimes not.
We don’t believe that curiosity killed the cat, we believe it made it wiser.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today we are asking What if the Bible never existed.
Okay, so this is a controversial one because people are usually a little emotional when
it comes to what they believe in.
In this video I am not discussing whether or not god is real – we have already made
a video like that on this channel which you should check out.
Can we have a positive comments section where you guys let me know if you are religious
and if so, what religion you support?
So, I don’t want to shock you, but THE BIBLE doesn’t exist.
When we talk about the bible, generally speaking we are talking about King James Edition from
1601, but even now there are 6,000 different books in print publication that claim to be
the bible.
Old testaments, new testaments, additional books for Catholics, varying translations.
The bible, as the collection of books have become known, is made up of scripture that
dates back to many different time periods.
The Old Testament is heavily based on the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written around
400 BCE.
A genuine concern regarding the bible is that there is no discussed singular author who
can be held accountable for the text, which means we can’t measure their credibility.
Religious texts are as confusing, if not more so, that government legislation – which
some critics may argue are purposefully confusing and inaccessible in order to discourage people
from delving too deeply.
I am just wondering – who here is religious and has independently read their own religious
book cover to cover?
Would organized religion be less of a hinderance for universal social progression if there
wasn’t a text people literally have taken as gospel?
Many bible critics say that the text is outdated and was written in a time that is too far
removed from our own.
The early parts of the bible was written at a time when there where just 170 million people
on earth – we are now honing in on 8 billion.
Not only were the originally words of the bible in a language nobody speaks and barely
understands, but things have really changed!
We no longer live basic existences.
The problem is with an old book is that it documents a window into a life we don’t
lead anymore.
Without the bible, perhaps social evolution would have been smoother and come a lot quicker.
Society is a culmination of millennia of working things out for ourselves, but the bible immortalizes
behaviour we have grown out of for good reason – for example, slavery.
Without the bible, perhaps people would stop finding excuses to behave in ways we no longer
deem acceptable.
Perhaps if there was no text dictating what is right and wrong – people would feel a
deeper connection to what god means to them and their connection to religion, rather than
being TOLD what god means and TOLD how to feel about certain issues.
In some ways, perhaps without a bible we would feel a deeper sense or responsibility for
the actions.
If you need a book to teach you what’s up….
Then something has gone wrong… right?
Perhaps if the bible hadn’t been written and our experience of god was purely faith
based, we wouldn’t have felt the need to fight so many ideological wars throughout
the course of history.
Most God based religions have very similar core values - if from the beginning we had
accepted that the way we practice those values was a little different from each other and
had no literary basis for comparison then perhaps we wouldn’t have been so adamant
that other people were right or wrong.
The European religion wars, for example, spanned the 16th and 17th centuries and killed 10
million people – a sizable chunk of the population.
Would these wars have taken place without the bible?
That is up for debate.
If there was no bible, would this mean that there is no Christianity?
I don’t think so.
The bible is important, but surely a book doesn’t matter as much as the faith itself?
Perhaps Christianity at its core would probably exist, it just might not have its offshoots
and labels.
If the bible didn’t exist, would churches?
If there were no Christian churches, the architecture of Europe and The Americas would be pretty
different.
Most early settlements were built around churches.
But…honestly, if the bible didn’t exist, I would say the church would still definitely
exist – people innately feel the need to have their beliefs discussed and validated
in groups and churches are as much a social phenomenon as they are a religious one.
If there was no bible then religion may be less structured but that doesn’t mean there
wouldn’t be people claiming to speak the word of god.
We may have less books in circulation but we may have more profits, which possibly would
open a whole can of worms when it comes to who or what is legitimate.
Would some so called profits try and convince people that their way of understanding religion
is the right way – and in which case, instead would we open ourselves up to a number of
different cults….
And if so….we’re back at the warring again!
Oof.
Would power and class structures have evolved differently without a religious text?
Up until the 20th century, swathes of people were illiterate so couldn’t even read the
bible that existed anyway, but that didn’t stop them believing in god – however it
did make them more vulnerable to control by those who did have the ability to read and
interpret.
To be honest, it is hard to fathom a world without a bible – as nice as it sounds that
we could all have a personal understanding and relationship with spirituality, humans
LOVE documentation.
From early cave man drawings and Egyptian hieroglyphics, it is clear that humans as
a species feel a strong connection with their beliefs and want to reflect that somehow.
Like I said, we also seek huge affirmation and validation when we can share the way we
believe with other humans…for individuals, we sure love conformity….we don’t like
feeling different.
If the bible hadn’t been written – how long would it have been until another text
was held as definitive.
Having something in common is important to people – the bible allowed for people from
different cultures and backgrounds to communicate, agree and therefore bond over something.
The teachings in the bible were hugely influential in the way in which European and American
societies developed.
A lot of laws and morals we know and abide by today can be traced back to the bible….
Or can they?
They must have already existed beyond the point in which they were written, if not they
wouldn’t have been written, right?
But I suppose the bible gave clout to them and made them enforceable.
To be honest, for better or for worse, the bible was written and is so deeply ingrained
in how Western society has developed and how our history has unfolded that is impossible
to answer this question in the space of five minutes… but it does spark some interesting
thoughts and points of discussion.
It also is important to take a few moments to apply critical thought to what see and
take for granted.
What do you think the world would be like if the bible was never written?
Let me know in the comments section down below.
Again – keep it open minded and keep it kind.
If you like these types of video – let us know