non-sectarian Bible study?

[eek]

is such a thing -a website, blog or whatever - to be found?

I haven't reaally read the bible since I was a kid in a Lutheran grade school.
Now I'm curious to read , but with consideration of history, archaeology, etymology, literature and so on.

This morning after reading this post over in Greatest exerpt below- I looked up Rev 18. Basically, that chapter is about the fall of Babylon ( please forgive me -those of you that know this stuff or if I offend due to ignorance and oversimplification).

Editorial: We Dare Not Speak Its Name by Rev. Rich Lang
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x192389

But when does it get said? When do we clergy preach I Samuel 8, Isaiah 6, Jeremiah 8, Ezekiel 33, 1 John 2, Revelation 18? When do we prepare our people for the next act of terrorism and the next seizure of power? When do we clergy declare that allegiance to a military security state committed to permanent war is idolatry? When do we cease our support for the regime that sends troops out to oppress, dominate and die while it chants the empty slogan "support our troops"?

Off to etymonline.com which is one of my favourite jumping-off research sites wondering What's "Babylon"?

Babylon
1362, from Gk. version of Akkad. Bab-ilani "the gate of the gods," from bab "gate" + ilani, pl. of ilu "god" (cf. Babel). The O.Pers. form, Babiru-, shows characteristic transformation of -l- to -r- in words assimilated from Semitic.

And off to the autodidact races.

Taking into consideration that when Rev was written The World was much smaller, is Babylon essentially Iraq? Could the Bilblical fall of Babylon be what is going on in Mess-o-Potamia right now?
Just reading that Rev chapter quickly it seemed allegorical and poetical. Do people consider Rev to be literal even though it was something presumably yet to come?
We generally accept our own dreams as such, right? Do Bible literalists feel differently about their own dreams? Do they think they will literally be standing naked in front of the highschool assembly unable to remember their speech?

I'm not trying to bait anyone.
I just don't know this stuff but am interested yet don't knowwhere to look for credible, calm discussion. I don't discount religion OR otherwise.

Long-winded question. Sorry.
Thanks.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I'd like to get a Bible study started at some point when the Liberal

Christians site takes off. I have a blog where we could host it and put up questions like you are asking.

For myself there's an awful lot in the Bible I don't take literally and Revelations is one of them. However Dopminionists who do take it literally are crowing over the fulfillment of scripture as Iraq comes under our control (although at the moment it's just plain out of control). Dominionists also want to see the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem so that is one of the main reasons our country is so supportive of Israel. It's not that we cherish God's chosen people, just that dominionists want to get the end times prophecies fulfilled. :eyes:

[Warpy]

2. Pretending that can happen is total self delusion

There were massive riots in Philadelphia in 1844 and quite a number of people were killed. The reason: the town had decided to post the ten commandments in schools and in part the riots ensued over which ten commandments were to be posted. They developed into anti Catholic, anti Irish riots egged on by the Nativist Party (the core of which formed the GOP).

The only thing the various sects can ever agree on is the number ten. After that, they disagree on everything and each sect thinks it holds the absolute truth.

If you want to ensure religious warfare, even at the local gang level, start trying to teach this stuff outside the churches and in the purely public arena.

Religious teaching belongs in the church and in the home. Taking it outside those two arenas is asking for serious trouble.

[zeemike]

3. From my point of view

The biggest mistake made by those that seek to understand the bible is they do not read it to understand the STORY but to seek some mystical wisdom.
And it is not that there is no mystical wisdom in there but that you will miss it if you fail to understand the story.
The best way to start is to read only 5 books of the bible, over and over if necessary. Mathew Mark Luke, John, and Acts. This is the basis of Christianity and you must understand Jesus and what he taught to understand the wisdom of the old Testament and that of Revelations for sure.

As to the meaning of Babylon you will notice that he calls it Babylon, that great city. And keeping in mind he was seeing a future city that was great and understanding that the only thing he had in his experience was the city of Babylon. All that can be deduced from that is he saw in his vision a great city.

[zeemike]

4. Ooops the above was to you

[Coastie for Truth]

5. Try your local Unitarian Universalist Community

(as a Guest, not as an Enrolled Member) - and start with Rev. Forrest Church's commented, annotated "Thomas Jefferson's Bible".

[believerinchrist]

6. The Bible is literature .

As a high school English teacher, I frequently cover literary elements--the Bible is full of them. In Revelation, much of what is written is symbolic; the author of this work wrote it shortly (relatively speaking) after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no way in the world he could have begun to imagine what the world would look like in the 21st century (or later). Thus he had to express his knowledge in the context he knew. Babylon represents a worldly system that draws human beings away from the love and protection God has for them. This system operates in a number of different realms (seven heads and ten horns) and is full of abominations against the human race (and thus against God). I guess one way you could put it is that at the time the author was writing about, this Babylon becomes the full expression of evil and it falls in the face of the love of God (which is not religion-based!).