Jon Meacham Quotes

The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven. The Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.

Many of us view the bible and other religious teachings as mythology.

The faith of the church must be tried by God's word, and not God's word by the church; neither yet my faith.

The Bible is such a gargantuan collection of conflicting values that anyone can prove anything from it.

I've read the Bible. I think the Bible's a great book, but it's a novel. It's beautifully written and la-di-da, but people really took it the wrong way.

There is no way that you can read the entire Bible seriously and take every word literally. Contradictions start in the first chapter of Genesis. There are two Creation stories, two stories of the making of Adam and Eve. And that is all right. The Bible is still true.

To ignore Scripture is to ignore Christ.

I studied scriptural interpretation, which is more about how people get meaning out of texts, looking at stuff in the Old Testament - Muslims, Christians, Jews, different interpretations of the same texts.

The importance of the Bible to a church is to keep the church on track. The role of the Constitution in government is to keep the government on track.

The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed.

...It would be more consistent that we call [the Bible] the work of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.

I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn't. It's a chocolate thing.

All bibles are man-made.

A literal interpretation of the Gita lands one in a sea of contradictions.

If you own just one Bible, you are abundantly blessed. 1/3rd of the world does not have access to even one.

The Bible has been a bestseller for centuries. Why should I let two thousand years of publicity go to waste?

...the Bible is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe or whether any.

Can any rational person believe that the Bible is anything but a human document?

I treasure the Bible. I live in it and work on it all the time. But it is not the word of God. It's the tribal story of a particular people, and the best thing about that story is that the story keeps growing and evolving.

And to read the Bible without horror, we must undo everything that is tender, sympathizing and benevolent in the heart of man.

The Bible is a collection of honorable, but primitive legends which are still nevertheless pretty childish.

You all know that certain things are necessary to make a religion. First of all, there is the book. The power of the book is simply marvellous! Whatever it be, the book is the centre round which human allegiance gathers. Not one religion is living today but has a book. With all its rationalism and tall talk, humanity still clings to the books. In your country every attempt to start a religion without a book has failed. In India sects rise with great success, but within a few years they die down, because there is no book behind them. So in every other country.

Let the Bible be the Bible. It's not about science. It's not accurate history. It is a grab bag of religious fantasies written by many authors. Some of its myths, like the Star of Bethlehem, are very beautiful. Others are dull and ugly. Some express lofty ideals, such as the parables of Jesus. Others are morally disgusting.

The Bible is to religion what the Iliad is to poetry

Orthodoxy, my Lord,: said Bishop Warburton, in a whisper, — orthodoxy is my doxy, — heterodoxy is another man's doxy.