Tell the holy truth and nothing but the holy truth

[Impenitent]

the truth is some ends are better than others

but an end in a well may not end well

and not all ends are over, an over easy well is neither

-Imp

[Alexis Jacobi]

Should we scrap the Bible and start fresh? Or is the Bible salvageable?

The question is constructed unhelpfully. I think we are (I mean advanced theology and comparative metaphysics) well beyond the need to remain married to one, specific text. But “starting fresh” is not possible. I would suggest starting however! And the only way for someone outside of metaphysical commitment to begin is experientially. Intellectually, the roads are closed (otherwise the seeker would have accepted the ‘logic’ of theological argument.) The seeker has to risk gnosis (knowledge, not “Gnosis”) and the intellect has to be put temporarily aside.

In Vedanta they have a term: buddhi. It is a quality of the psyche. It is “above” intellect and similar in some respects to our word ‘intuition’. Buddhi can be cultivated however. It is a latent property of man.

[Gary Childress]

I think we are (I mean advanced theology and comparative metaphysics) well beyond the need to remain married to one, specific text. But “starting fresh” is not possible.

It's possible that the Bible will eventually go the way of earlier religious texts from the Middle East and just fade into the background. There may still be a few who adhere strictly to those earlier texts but the vast majority have moved on from those earlier texts as the majority of humans have done in the past. The same can happen to the Bible. There's some degree of revivalism going on now, but it remains to be seen if it will last and be any more successful than the Medieval Church was.

[Alexis Jacobi]

It's possible that the Bible will eventually go the way of earlier religious texts from the Middle East and just fade into the background. There may still be a few who adhere strictly to those earlier texts but the vast majority have moved on from those earlier texts as the majority of humans have done in the past. The same can happen to the Bible. There's some degree of revivalism going on now, but it remains to be seen if it will last and be any more successful than the Medieval Church was.

Based on the current and continuing success and spread of Christian belief, your prediction is less likely than it is probable. My own view is that the Biblical stories offer a vista into specific metaphysical facts which should not be done away with. They should be expanded. But I agree that once one has understood these that the container of those “stories” becomes less relevant. Still, a mature attitude would be not to junk the container, but to see it in a wider context.

You have (I have gathered) an unnatural fixation on the Bible and Christianity. In any case it is not very productive and seems to run in circles. Have you concluded why this is? And have you defined what, exactly, you are attempting?