Quote:
Originally Posted by GA Russell
However, it is my view that anyone who lives in Western Civilization who has never read the New Testament cannot consider himself to be an educated man.
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Since the New Testament is exactly that -- New -- perhaps you meant the Old Testament. After all, how can one understand Christ's teachings if one doesn't understand the religious world of Christ, which was Judaism and what we call the Old Testament.
Sadly, if the standard were the New Testament, no one could truly ever be called educated based on your criterion because there are so many variations and interpretations of the New Testament, it is impossible to know which is truly the authentic word of God.
The New Testament is much like the child's game of telephone -- it depends who heard it, who wrote, and who interpreted it. Even the committee members who finally came to compromise on the King James version had to come to compromise. Seems to me that the word of God is not subject to compromise so that if interpretive compromises had to be made, they cannot be the word of God; they are the word of the interpreters.
Of course there is the belief, which has as much validity as any of those espoused by organized religion, that religion is simply the opiate of mankind.