Is The Bible Subversive. ?

[modeller]

A friend of mine was telling me about his trip to Russia and that two fellow tourists had had their bibles impounded ( they got them back later ) , on the grounds they were subversive and inflammatory . There may be more to the story than that as they had other items removed as well and they were detained for several hours. However purely on the question of the bible could it be described as subversive and inflammatory ?

[VHG]

All religious documents are inflammatory.

After all, how many wars have we had over "my religion is better than your religion"

Considering the whole thing is "made up" by man, without a shred of evidence, then it is amazing how many killings there have been under the name of religion.

[mikey4444]

Well well...people getting their Bibles confiscated in Russia !

Whatever next !

[Octavius]

The Bible has been in the USSR for centuries. I presume they were JW's?

"Russian courts have determined the Watch Tower is an American Corporate Publishing Group which is a cult leader who prints subversive and inflammatory literature."

[VHG]

I was watching an old Time Team the other day about Syon House, where Syon Monestry had been many years ago.

It was founded by St Bridget who said she had seen jesus who told her she should start a monastery.

She came to England and convinced Henry V of her story and they built the monastery at Syon.

People were told if they went to Syon and made an offering they would get through purgatory quicker so soon the Monastery became one of the richest in the land.

Looking at the story today we can see how much of a con the whole thing must have been.

Bridget says she saw jesus but where is the proof, she may have been a big con artist.

The abbey told people they would get through purgatory by offering money, but that sounds like a big con as well if you ask me. No proof that purgatory exists, and no proof giving money to the abbey helps at all.

In fact the whole thing succeeded only because of people's gullible nature at the time, and the same applies to religion today.

Religious leaders can write and say what they like, and it all leads to different factions that "compete" with each other, leading to wars.

[jomifl]

It is subversive to rational thought, democracy, equality, freedom of expression etc. I can't see why that should be a problem in Russia.

[modeller]

mikey // Well well...people getting their Bibles confiscated in Russia //
That's not the question !

[Octavius]

So were these friends of a friend JWs with the Watchtower?

[modeller]

octavious As far as I know JWs were not involved. It never crossed my mind . My friend was just an ordinary tourist and their coach was delayed by these two being detained. In fact their coach finally left without them and they didn't meet up again until the next day.

[ichkeria]

The laws in Russia on what you can import into the country are deliberately designed to allow the authorities to confiscate just about anything they please on grounds of "national security".
The rule of the game is: you pay a sum of money to get it back :-)

[Octavius]

Ok, the background story was just an aside.

[ichkeria]

More interesting than the main question if you don't mind me saying so :-)

[modeller]

ickeria Feel free ! Reminds me of when I visited the USSR in the 80s when all our newspapers were banned except the Daily Worker.

[mibn2cweus]

If it was ever proven that God and the devil existed I suppose the next logical question would be, "Which one wrote the Bible?"

Between the two of them . . . I know which one I'd put my money on.

[atalanta]

There was a man caught smuggling bibles into the USSR in the 1960s - huge international incident. But these days the Russian government is quite sympathetic to the orthodox church. They have even permitted the rebuilding of some old churches destroyed or repurposed by the Communists.
Maybe it was the wrong sort of bible.

[naomi24]

//St Bridget who said she had seen jesus…//

I’d like to know how people who think they’ve seen Jesus know it really is Jesus ….. but I digress….

[beso]

The Old Testament upholds a brutal genocide conducted during an invasion as evidence of the glory of God. Any reasonable person would consider that to be extremely inflammatory.

But then the religious, by definition, are unreasonable people.

[bednobs]

i wonder why people would feel the need to take their bible on holiday with them? A little light holiday reading perhaps?