The Christians here in the Highline Times quoting and referencing the Bible are so amusing, because over 90 percent of these Bible-quoting Christians have no real clue of the true origins of what they cite.

Honest scholarship reveals that the Jewish Scriptures, called TaNaKh (what Christians mistakenly call the Old Testament), was redacted in waves, beginning in the 7th Century BC (with those pre-Exile writings totally void of any afterlife beliefs) through the final works in the 3rd Century BC (where the idea of a political savior and afterlife beliefs first appear), with a set canon in the early 2nd Century BC.

Here obedience to Yahweh, his law and Temple observance was central. Then in the 1st Century AD, Pauline-oriented writings were collected, which proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth was the universal savior (a non-Jewish belief that one man can redeem another) and that worship of Jesus was now central. During the next 100 years writings were added and others removed.

Then, after standing alone for more than 400 years, Christians forced their collective writings onto the TaNaKh and proclaimed them to be one-the Bible.

Regardless of what Christians claim or what they quote, these are two different compilations at their core, two different collections, the TaNaKh and the Christian Scriptures, with two different belief centers, and two different type of saviors.

It is about time that Christians recognized this and quote it a lot less to validate any of their religious view to others.

Timothy Brown

Burien