Why should we believe school books any more than we do the Bible?

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   jstfishinmanposted 10 years ago

   Why should we believe school books any more than we do the Bible?
   
   People tend to take school books as fact, even though foreign and domestic leaders have always used education as indoctrination, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao are prime examples of this. The Bible is an historical work, unchanged for thousands of years, isn't that more reliable than our ever changing educational books?

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   sheilamyersposted 10 years ago

   This is a very interesting question and I'm sure I can take a very good guess at the types of answers you'll receive. I've asked people who either think the entire Bible is made up or think we can pick and choose what is true a similar question. I'm always amazed at the answers, even from people calling themselves Christians. As for me, I have a hard time believing some of the stuff I read in history and science books. You're so right to say the information can be changed and interpreted to fit the agenda of the ruling class. Unfortunately, there are people who do the same thing (misinterpret or reinterpret) to the Bible for the same reasons. Yet when it comes to actually changing the text, the Bible stands way above the rest in it's constantly being the same. Give me the Bible any day and I'll always believe in it's unchanging truths.

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   junksellerposted 10 years ago

   Which Bible exactly has remained unchanged for thousands of years and is actually used by people. Don't see many people walking around with the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. So how about the New International, or the Extra New Super Duper International? How many versions exactly are there of the Bible? Does anyone know? And even were we to agree that the content is relatively homogenous across all of these versions, how does it explain the enormous, and sometimes quite varied, interpretations of the same content that are represented by the gazillion denominations of Christianity (and Judaism). How do you explain how different groups include entirely different texts in their canon? If it really were infallible than there should be one book and one religion.
   
   I think the better question would be why we should believe our teachers. If a teacher puts a book in front of me and says it is the truth and I shouldn't question it, I am going to run far away from them and their book, whether it is a Bible or a book on science.
   
   So the answer is we shouldn't. We should disbelieve our school books as much as we disbelieve the Bible until we establish their veracity through our own exploration.

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      jstfishinmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      When it comes to the Bible and many other ancient texts, there are interpretations, such as New International, American Standard, King James... where the original language is interpreted. Then you have paraphrased, a re-writing from an interpretation

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      junksellerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      And do you consider interpretation's to be "unchanged"? I'm always surprised at how widely different interpretations can be from each other.

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      jstfishinmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Interpretation, would be different because of words variances, such as the word love in Greek has 4 different words for love, in English one word. Some words have no interpretation, and a close word is used.
      Text books are just re-written.

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   M. T. Dremerposted 10 years ago

   I'm inclined to agree with junkseller. I think humans are naturally skeptical of things, as we should be, because it helps us survive. No book, claiming to be the truth, should ever be believed on its own. Real truth can only be found from experience, research and analysis. This applies to every book read in school and it also applies to the bible. How many times a book is changed is irrelevant, even if you had the original bible direct from the source, it should still be questioned with the same level of scrutiny we have for everything else.

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      jstfishinmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Children tend to accept whatever they are taught as truth. That is why indoctrination works so well. Parents, on the other hand should question everything their children are taught, but most don't.

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      M. T. Dremerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Very true. It's easier to let the school or the church decide what your child is reading, rather than taking an active roll as a parent.

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