Does anyone even listen to creationists these days?

[Gilrandir]

The old testament is not imperfect, it just contains some outdated rules of behavior that a christian would/should not follow anymore.

I would say that the new testament contains tenets that badly need updating now.

[Fragony]

I would say that the new testament contains tenets that badly need updating now.

I can think of a book that needs that a whole lot more

[Papewaio]

I can think of a book that needs that a whole lot more

George R. R. Martin will finish the book after the TV episodes are complete.


...what we are talking about popular works of fiction aren't we...

[Husar]

I would say that the new testament contains tenets that badly need updating now.

But wouldn't it be god's decision when to update his rules and when not? Certain rules seem to be unchangeable, such as certain sins which prevent you from going to heaven and so on. What has changed is mostly how you can reach forgiveness for your sins.

If there is a god who is all powerful (which is the whole point of christianity and judaism) then it would be useless for a human to demand change as the all-powerful god could just throw you into hell and there'd be nothing you very limited powerless human could do about it.
And that's why such demands are ultimately silly and useless. They only make sense from a perspective that the god doesn't exist anyway and the rules are therefore man-made. But why would a believer put any stock in the demands coming from such a perspective? Why listen to the demands of someone who is a sinner, corrupted by the devil and pretty much nothing compared to the all-powerful god who you serve and who will always have your best interests in mind?

The indirect atheist assumption that deep down all the believers are actually atheists and need to go with atheist social pressures somehow seems pretty naive to me. Quite a few christians believe that the atheists and others will want to persecute and kill them in the end times anyway and any signs of that just mean they are closer to meeting their lord, which is their ultimate goal.

I know, the catholic church is quite different, but where I come from, most of them are hardly considered true believers anyway.

[Gilrandir]

But wouldn't it be god's decision when to update his rules and when not?

If there is a god who is all powerful (which is the whole point of christianity and judaism) then it would be useless for a human to demand change as the all-powerful god could just throw you into hell and there'd be nothing you very limited powerless human could do about it.

There is not a line in the new testament written by God, Jesus Christ or even his family. I think you know (in case you don't you can dig deeper) that there had been around a dozen gospels (including Judas') before some hundred years after Christ's death 4 of them were chosen as the best ones (sincerely, I don't know the criteria appiled for the choice) to form the bulk and basis of the new testament. Evidently, this choice was made by humans. Consequently, if the book is in fact a collection of hearsay and was subject to human editing, why not edit it again (and say God ruled it through some revealtion or other)?

[Husar]

There is not a line in the new testament written by God, Jesus Christ or even his family. I think you know (in case you don't you can dig deeper) that there had been around a dozen gospels (including Judas') before some hundred years after Christ's death 4 of them were chosen as the best ones (sincerely, I don't know the criteria appiled for the choice) to form the bulk and basis of the new testament. Evidently, this choice was made by humans. Consequently, if the book is in fact a collection of hearsay and was subject to human editing, why not edit it again (and say God ruled it through some revealtion or other)?

Well, if you believe that the book is the literal truth and the word of God, then it was divinely inspired, both the writing and the selection of what to include in it, although I have never heard how modern christians exactly justify the selection.
Your last suggestion only works for Christians if someone actually did get a divine inspiration to do so because otherwise they would be a false prophet who is intentionally misleading people in service of the devil. Not exactly something you should suggest to a believer.
The bible also says that one should be wary of such false prophets and check the things people preach against the teachings of the bible, so getting such a change accepted in the more literal/fundamentalist christian circles would be quite hard.
To me it sounds like a pretty strange idea though and not like something an atheist could just do and get a lot of people to actually believe in it. Unless you want to dedicate your life to your new christianity and become its guru or something like that. But even then most would probably think you're a devil-worshipping sect of apostates or so. The modern world has already brought about all these kinds of "spirituality" where god becomes more abstract and where the judeo-christian ideas are mixed with east asian religious/philosophical ideas and so on but to fundamentalist believers that's just the so-called "new age" scheme the devil came up with to distract more people from the right path.

Overall it seems as though capitalism and consumerism or the false god mammon as the bible may call it are also really good at drawing people away from devoting their lives to serving god. Although with turbo-capitalism and the whole burnout thing, some people are apparently looking back to when things were more relaxed and life wasn't about being able to afford the next golden Apple calf Watch by next year.

[Gilrandir]

Well, if you believe that the book is the literal truth and the word of God, then it was divinely inspired, both the writing and the selection of what to include in it, although I have never heard how modern christians exactly justify the selection.

If they justify it somehow (which I don't know either), they could extend this justification to at least some modern attempts at updating. Unfortunatley (or fortunately, who knows), religions are all about tradition, keeping, preserving and not swerving from. Any attempts to do the opposite are considered heresy and treated correspondingly.

Your last suggestion only works for Christians if someone actually did get a divine inspiration to do so because otherwise they would be a false prophet who is intentionally misleading people in service of the devil. Not exactly something you should suggest to a believer.
The bible also says that one should be wary of such false prophets and check the things people preach against the teachings of the bible, so getting such a change accepted in the more literal/fundamentalist christian circles would be quite hard.

Like I said, copyright enforcement: listen only to me, and if you listen to others you are a recreant. But it has one more dimension to it: all prophets are extinct and anyone in the future who will pretend to be one is not. As if times around 0 AD abounded in prophets and they have become increasingly scarce since then and eventually modern era is barren and arid.

[Husar]

Like I said, copyright enforcement: listen only to me, and if you listen to others you are a recreant. But it has one more dimension to it: all prophets are extinct and anyone in the future who will pretend to be one is not. As if times around 0 AD abounded in prophets and they have become increasingly scarce since then and eventually modern era is barren and arid.

Depends on who or what you believe makes people speak in tongues and others translate it. I've also seen preachers who claimed to relay prophecies, all fraud you might say but not all christians believe that god has been quiet for 2000 years, quite the contrary. The whole personal relationship with Jesus thing of the modern apostolic churches/pentecostals or how they are called in English is about god being right there and you getting in touch with him and he will let you know what he wants from you. None of them have changed the bible however.