But, there are many things in the Bible, as noted above, that require interpretation if one is to come to a true sense of what is being spoken. And there are many many false interpretations masquerading as the gospel truth, being set forth as church doctrine, which are however, absolute falsehoods. Like the idea that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Son of God. Well, in regards to this, I must point out that we are all sons and daughters of God, relating to Jesus Christ in the same way an acorn relates to a full grown oak. God intends every acorn to grow into a full grown oak, and there are no exceptions to this rule.
It occurs to me, that if we understand exactly where this strange idea came from, that Jesus Christ is the ONLY son of God, it would be much easier to discard it for the falsehood that it is.
In the time of Jesus Christ, and the centuries that followed, the center of the political universe was Rome. Now, I believe that it is true that the Roman Emperors set themselves before the people as gods. And in as much as there could only be one Roman Emperor at a time, then it follows that there could only be one god at a time. And this idea permeated the minds of all peoples who lived under the boot of Rome, and her armies.
This basic idea was as common within the political and religious thinking of the people of that time, as was the idea that the sky was blue.
Of course theory can seldom work itself out in human affairs in a uniform manner. So, due to the various problems associated with political and military ambition of those who populated the upper crust of Roman society, i.e. the elites, there were times when the Roman Empire was split between eastern and a western halves, where one Emperor ruled one half, and another Emperor ruled the other half. But, each emperor no doubt maintained the idea, within his own mind, and the minds of those who were his supporters, that he was the only true god, that the other guy was a fraud, and needed to be destroyed, which eventually came to pass in most cases.
Now, Christianity, as a religion, really came into its own, when it was adopted as the official State religion of Rome, around 312 A.D. when the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, in as much as he believed that the "Christian God" gave him a victory in an important battle. Now, in as much as the Emperor was the State, his religion became the state religion.
At this juncture it is important to remember that age-old proverb, which holds that sausage may be a very delightful thing to eat, but you sure don't want to know anything about how it was made. If you did, you probably would never eat sausage again.
And so it goes with the development of Christian Doctrine under the guidance of Emperor Constantine. In as much as Constantine saw himself as the sole rightful emperor of the Roman Empire, and the only true representation of god to the people (well, with his conversion to Christianity, he had to give up this idea about being the sole representation of god to the people), nevertheless, in keeping with the way in which his mind worked, it is not surprising that he would see his new Christian God as the only true God, and his son Jesus Christ, as the only true son. He would admit of no challenges in this regard, and that doctrine, based on the ego-driven ambition of a Roman Emperor to be at the apex of everything in the entire world, whether it be social, political, military, or religious, has survived as church doctrine to this very day.
In other words, if he couldn't be god himself anymore, his own personal conception of God (who he did not know from Adam), would represent the apex of religious thought throughout the Empire. It was just about as ego inflating as the former situation. Instead of the people bowing down to him as their god, they would now bow down to his personal conception of God. He could live with that, as long as this "Christian God" was devoted to giving him military victories.
Now, in regards to the correlation between making sausage and Christian doctrine, it is clear, that those who believe that the content of the Bible is the purest rendition of God's Holy Word that has ever been released upon the planet, are also those that can be convinced that a hot-dog represents pure vegetarian fare. This is pure fantasy, based on a condition of enforced ignorance.
But the Internet will break those chains once and for all.
I challenge any person who thinks that the Bible represents the purest rendition of God's Holy Word that has ever been released to the people on this planet, to simply read early church history. Of course, prior to the "information age" this would require that a person get into his car, travel to a library, search for the right book, drive home, and then find time to read it. Significant barriers to enlightenment to be sure.
But that is not the case anymore. All of these barriers have collapsed, save the desire to remain in darkness. No amount of information can overcome that one.
Now, all I need to do is just give you a link, and that information will spill down your screen in front of your very eyes.
One example would be the Online Reference Book for Medievel Studies. Here, on this main index page you will find a link to Late Antiquity and the Early Church. Here you will find additional links to a summary of that history, and links to an exposition on each of the early church councils out of which the doctrine of the church emerged.
Now, I would not represent the works of these authors as final authorities on the subject. But, this is a good place to begin to get a general idea of how Church doctrine was crafted. And besides, there are links to additional information where you can go into the subject more deeply if you desire.
After the most cursory of examinations of this material, one can see how the adoption of this doctrine, or that doctrine, was not a matter of wisdom, but a matter of shear power. The people who had the most power, those are the ones who set the doctrine. That means, the people who were aligned with the power of the Roman Emperors, established the doctrine.
And we can go one layer deeper into this discussion here. Take for example the first policy setting council under the authority of Emperor Constantine in 325 AD. This is commonly referred to as the Council of Nicaea, and it appears that this is where Jesus was proclaimed "the" Son of God. This council was composed of a certain number of bishops summoned by the Emperor.
We need to ask, who were these bishops, and how were they chosen to be members of this council? You can be sure that only those bishops were chosen who had provided a clear track record of support for Constantine.
But the most important point about the membership of this council, has to do with the subject of fallen angels:
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12: 7-9)
Here we have the testimony of Jesus Christ, that rebel angels were thrown into the earth, and that they have been embodying among the Children of God since that day.
Given the manner in which fallen angels seek positions of power over the people, and given the fact that the position of Bishop, in those days, were positions of power, and not positions of religiosity, we can reasonably assume that the great majority of the individuals on that council were fallen angels, apple polishers all, unto the throne of power represented by the Emperor Constantine. These individuals knew nothing about God, other than in their souls, they hated his guts. To stand upon their proclamations, as to what constitutes truth, as if it were a rock, is simply foolish.
The children of God, in every generation, have more common sense in their little pinkies, than that entire council had in their entire heads.
The great challenge for our time, is for the Children of God to recognize that common sense, and throw off those false doctrines that are designed in no small part, to make the Children of God doubt the veracity of their own God-Given common sense.
Jesus Christ is not the ONLY son of God. God sent Jesus to show you and to show me, what we could become, what God expects us to become, if we would but enter into the process of change that Jesus described in his many sermons.