u/Nicole_0818

The show doesn’t really show much about their personal lives day to day that isn’t plot relevant.

I grew up hearing the phrase “all scripture is God-breathed” and was taught it means that the Bible is written by God through the authors, basically. The NRSVue says “inspired by God” instead.

What did the author of 2 Timothy mean? Apparently scholars say Paul likely did not write 1 or 2 Timothy and that it seems composed later due to things like church structure. Which I admit even I noticed as a kid and found weird cause I thought in the apostles day it was all house churches.

Anyways.

1. What does the author mean by scripture?

2. What did the author mean by “god breathed” or “inspired”?

3. How should I read this verse today?

I’m struggling with this in light of my years long, painful struggle with Leviticus 20:13. It felt like a gut punch reading that years ago and thinking God would want me dead. I never have had a good relationship with the Bible ever since.

This is me trying to restore that relarionship with God and read the Bible again, and despite my enormous interest in reading all sorts of things in it…I find myself back here, at a very basic question.

I’m also not sure what to do with the knowledge that traditional authors may not have written their Bible books after all, as well. I always got excited at the idea that this is an apostle Matthew’s own perspective or this is Peter’s own words.

I apologize for posting so much. I don’t mean to burden everyone. I just don’t have anyone irl I can go to about this who won’t just say yes the Bible is right and I am wrong.

Sorry, and thanks. Thanks for all your help last night. Sorry this is basically the same sort of post.

Either personally or you can link a reliable website or such, for example. I don't want to just use google and get the AI's idea of what each answer is.

I also have a question. Cause I have the New Oxford Annotated bible, and it puts significant doubt on whether Matthew wrote Matthew even though the early church attributed it to him. So I wonder...why would the early church have attributed books to authors who didn't write them when our scholars can make the reasonable guess that that's not true? They conceivably had elders who remembered the apostles or were taught by their disciples or whatnot cause not much time had passed. Was it an intentional deed or an accidental mistake, I guess is what I'm asking?

Sorry for all the questions! I just wanted the scholarly perspective, not church tradition.

Like we would never condone slavery nowadays but the Bible does. So I’m not sure whether to take verses that are against being LGBT or that are against women preaching or such as something that is God’s standard, and that’s how you love God by obeying him and his design, or if it’s a sign of the times it was written in and doesn’t apply to us.

I grew up Christian conservative evangelical maybe some fundamentalism in there too idk. I’m loving reading my Bible again but I just struggle with it.

Mom doesn’t even know I’m not straight. We’ve talked about it once or twice; about the Bible’s stance on homosexuality. She mentioned the verses in Leviticus and how we can’t just ignore what God says in the OT. She didn’t even quote the verses, I just looked them up on my own and was horrified. It really shook me up reading that the penalty in Lev. 20:13 is death. It made me feel like God wanted me dead for something I didn’t and wouldn’t have ever just chosen.

Looking back it’s probably a small miracle my relationship with God survived reading that verse.

Please don’t read that verse.

I don’t know what to think. Maybe this is why I fell out of reading my Bible. It brings up all the awful questions.

I want to do one but other than books of the bible ones idk what to get.

As scripture. As being of the divine in any way. As anything other than a mere letter of advice or book or such. I don’t read Greek or any other language or understand the history or the culture. This occurred to me yesterday and I’m very curious.

Do I believe God wanted the people to write things down? Yes of course I believe he gave the the idea and direction. But I stop short of believing he penned the whole thing. I can’t help but see it as a collection of works of people who wanted to know and understand and have a relationship with the one true God. An invaluable record and witness of all that the Lord has done.

But I can’t call it God’s perfect Word like I grew up being told it was. Is that wrong?

I know Jesus is the Word of God. So sometimes I think maybe people are holding the Bible up as a third member of the trinity and giving it the place that should be occupied by the Holy Spirit.

I grew up being told to rely on the guidance of the Bible and prayer and hardly ever got taught about the Holy Spirit. It’s like they saw God’s Holy Spirit as a mere stamp of authenticity or something. But the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in each and every one of us.

Do I believe God wanted the people to write things down? Yes of course I believe he gave the the idea and direction. But I stop short of believing he penned the whole thing.

I can’t help but see it as a collection of works of people who wanted to know and understand and have a relationship with the one true God. An invaluable record and witness of all that the Lord has done.

But I can’t call it God’s perfect Word like I grew up being told it was. Is that wrong?

I know Jesus is the Word of God. So sometimes I think maybe people are holding the Bible up as a third member of the trinity and giving it the place that should be occupied by the Holy Spirit.

I grew up being told to rely on the guidance of the Bible and prayer and hardly ever got taught about the Holy Spirit. It’s like they saw God’s Holy Spirit as a mere stamp of authenticity or something. But the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in each and every one of us.

I’m having some scary, possibly chronic or permanent medical issues.

I’m having some scary, possibly chronic or permanent medical issues.

I’m trying to get in the habit of reading my Bible everyday. Like, reading some for enjoyment as well as studying.

So far all I’ve got are the psalms cause I like reading them. Psalm 23, 91, and 139, although I’m sure I’ll find more. I also like the beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer.

I know they come in whole books but I also assume they come book by book as well. Idk what form or which authors to look for.

I just want to study the Bible on my own. Books are great but sometimes I just want to read and better understand the source, the Bible itself. I’m not sure if a Bible commentary or a study Bible are more what I’m looking for? I hesitate to rely on one person’s perspective, I’d like to have multiple. Respectable scholarly types preferably; I want someone who knows what they’re talking about cause I sure don’t.

I already own the new Oxford annotated Bible with apocryphal. I want something that’s approachable and affordable for the average Christian with no training or eduction in this sort of thing.

I know they come in whole books but I also assume they come book by book as well. Idk what form or which authors to look for.

I just want to study the Bible on my own. Books are great but sometimes I just want to read and better understand the source, the Bible itself. I’m not sure if a Bible commentary or a study Bible are more what I’m looking for? I hesitate to rely on one person’s perspective, I’d like to have multiple. Respectable scholarly types preferably; I want someone who knows what they’re talking about cause I sure don’t.

I already own the new Oxford annotated Bible with apocryphal. I want something that’s approachable and affordable for the average Christian with no training or eduction in this sort of thing.

My instinct is to kind of just panic and go "wait, do I not get to meet Jesus after I die and live forever with him and meet people/pets who've passed on as well when I die". And then I feel guilty and bad for feeling that immediate panic. Like being raised evangelical conservative Christian and then deconstructing to a point where I now see the bible as just a record - a very important, valuable, life-giving record - of people who want to know and understand God, and God revealing himself to us.

So. I always defined eternal life as "living forever after death with God". When I ask myself what is eternal life from an "am i right, have i misunderstood something so fundamental omg" perspective, I remember this verse first. John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." I use almost exclusively the NRSVue bible if I'm studying something or when I'm reading it on an app, but my daily bible is an NKJV.

But then in the bible Jesus says he will go and prepare a place for us, and return. So maybe eternal life means more than one thing? Maybe it's wrong to consider redefining my entire definition of eternal life based on a single verse from John? It's always bothered me that John is so different from the others. And written later, iirc. I always wonder if it's accurate. Like what are the chances he even said half of what he said in it.

Sorry this is all over the place. I'm back on my walk with God, and as usual it comes with a million and one questions. I don't have anyone to ask irl.

I don’t want to spoil anyone, it I really do feel like the flashbacks in the post series comics really don’t line up well with what the origins show established for his background.

Season one, he’s very much a teenager who’s been kicked out and just wants his dad to welcome him home again and for things to go back to how they used to be. Some of the adults around him can see his situation for what it really is, like Iroh and Zhao, but Zuko seems like he’s in denial most of the time about it.

Regardless of what his childhood was actually like, he said his family was once happy. But with how the comics filled in his past and addressed the absence of his mother from the main series…I just didn’t get that vibe.

I can understand Zuko looking back on what could be an abusive and traumatic childhood and feeling like they were happy then or that there are plenty of happy memories even with the bad ones.

Granted, Ozai punished speaking out of turn by burning his son’s face and banishing him. Next time he saw him, he tried to shoot him with lightning right as the eclipse ended without knowing Zuko could redirect it. He tried to kill his son twice, basically…so maybe the comics have a valid interpretation of Ozai as a character and Zuko was basically delusional for a few years not realizing.

I don’t want to spoil anyone, it I really do feel like the flashbacks in the post series comics really don’t line up well with what the origins show established for his background.

Season one, he’s very much a teenager who’s been kicked out and just wants his dad to welcome him home again and for things to go back to how they used to be. Some of the adults around him can see his situation for what it really is, like Iroh and Zhao, but Zuko seems like he’s in denial most of the time about it.

Regardless of what his childhood was actually like, he said his family was once happy. But with how the comics filled in his past and addressed the absence of his mother from the main series…I just didn’t get that vibe.

I can understand Zuko looking back on what could be an abusive and traumatic childhood and feeling like they were happy then or that there are plenty of happy memories even with the bad ones.

Granted, Ozai punished speaking out of turn by burning his son’s face and banishing him. Next time he saw him, he tried to shoot him with lightning right as the eclipse ended without knowing Zuko could redirect it. He tried to kill his son twice, basically…so maybe the comics have a valid interpretation of Ozai as a character and Zuko was basically delusional for a few years not realizing.

He was banished and sent on a wild goose chase. Ozai never wanted him to come home. I was rewatching season 1 episode 13 the blue spirit and Zuko mentions Zhao’s resources like he as an admiral had more at his disposal.

Which got me thinking. Zuko is banished but surely the crew is not and at this point neither is Iroh. If Zuko is banished is he even allowed to use fire nation ports? Can he dock at fire nation instead of the colonies for ship repairs, supplies, or to rotate out the crew?

Granted I do admit that I like the Netflix adaptation’s idea that his crew is the battalion that he spoke up in defense of in the war room that was going to be killed. Idk how much thay would actually change things or if the would truly all just be grateful to him and loyal. By being sent to sea with him, they get to live but in that canon presumably would not expect to ever get to see their families again.

How is all of that being provided for?

Why does Zuko know how to break into a fortress and fight an army so well? Is it possible that he has been been doing that and stealing or something to fund their voyages or seek information about the avatar?

I understand a lot of this is probably all guesswork. I’ve been reading the War Games fanfic and rewatching avatar.

He was banished and sent on a wild goose chase. Ozai never wanted him to come home. I was rewatching season 1 episode 13 the blue spirit and Zuko mentions Zhao’s resources like he as an admiral had more at his disposal.

Which got me thinking. Zuko is banished but surely the crew is not and at this point neither is Iroh. If Zuko is banished is he even allowed to use fire nation ports? Can he dock at fire nation instead of the colonies for ship repairs, supplies, or to rotate out the crew?

Granted I do admit that I like the Netflix adaptation’s idea that his crew is the battalion that he spoke up in defense of in the war room that was going to be killed. Idk how much thay would actually change things or if the would truly all just be grateful to him and loyal. By being sent to sea with him, they get to live but in that canon presumably would not expect to ever get to see their families again.

How is all of that being provided for?

Why does Zuko know how to break into a fortress and fight an army so well? Is it possible that he has been been doing that and stealing or something to fund their voyages or seek information about the avatar?

I understand a lot of this is probably all guesswork. I’ve been reading the War Games fanfic and rewatching avatar.

Like, surely you don’t go from being a normal if not power hungry parent who expects too much from his kids one day to burning his son’s face the next.

Realistically, Zuko should be blind in that eye. Iirc the water tribe has the magical healing abilities and no other bending type does. So unless they just use potions and salves elsewhere that are equally magical, only plot armor explains his being able to see out of that eye.

Who do you think makes the most sense?

Also, if you chose Zuko, would you write Iroh at his side advising him? I noticed the comics don’t I just got the search and the promise. Just stated reading them.