Classical Music

Bible bungle

Of all the controversial subjects Toxicblogger has tackled, religion may be the most emotive. Although possibly not, as I contemplate the killing fields of sunny Azania. Anyway, this particular literary gem may indeed be my piece de resistance on religion, at least as far as the Bible is concerned.

And no doubt there will be those who consider me a daring blasphemer or an evil satanist after reading it. Well tough shit and boo-fucking-hoo to you! Feel free to jump on your ox wagons and piss off into the sunset at this point, making signs of the cross all the way. Narrow-minded morons are willingly accommodated in the central NG kerk in Ventersdorp.

But for those with inquiring minds and no irrational fears of jeopardising their mortal souls, indeed those erudite enough to separate their belief in the existence of God from that in a diabolically flawed and highly censored compendium of ancient texts, pray read on...

Much confusion and division reigned in the early centuries AD. In an effort to consolidate this dogmatic chaos and synthesize a single coherent doctrine, Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, convoked the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church in Nicaea in AD 325. Around 300 early bishops attended and hammered out a fairly uniform set of religious tenets known as the Nicene Creed. Principles were voted on, auspicious dates appointed on the religious calendar and the early Bible was compiled from those ancient texts whose contents were generally undisputed.

Of the many historical scrolls and texts available to the First Council of Nicaea, only those considered "canonical" were included. Many others were excluded, some because they were written "too late" and/or considered non-apostolic (the Letter of Clement I, the First Apology of Justin Martyr), or simply because they were "lost" at that time (the Didache, the Book of Jasher). Yet others were relatively unknown by some sects (Gospel of the Hebrews)...

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