I'm well aware that Jesus frequently quoted the scriptures. Naturally. He needed to speak to those people there in the language they best understood at the time, so he did. He also went well beyond those scriptures, in my opinion. He was breaking new ground.

I appreciate that some people wrote down what he said (or what they SAY he said...). It's a start. It ain't the whole ball of wax by any means. I think that among the apostles and Paul there were some varying agendas, and I think that the record may have been considerably muddied and altered along the way. It was further muddied and altered by councils of bishops in the church, when they decided what to keep, what to throw out, and what to change. But that's a long discussion...

I regard the New Testament as a flawed, damaged, and very partial account of Jesus' teachings. That's just my opinion. I've read books in regards to Jesus that impressed me a lot more than the Bible does. It shocks me that people can just take it all (the Bible) in one gulp as being "The Truth", but it's a tradition to do that, right? And a very powerful church has been telling people to do that (or pay the price!) for almost 2,000 years now, so no wonder they do. They'd be afraid not to. ;-)

I also read and re-read Lame Deer's book when I was in my 20s. It's great. Very entertaining and pretty illuminating. He, like most medicine people, was a real character. (grin) I wouldn't take it as gospel or anything, but it's a pretty cool book in a lot of ways.

The only thing I take as gospel is stuff I experience directly or know in my heart for some reason. Whatever the reason may be, there's no way of explaining or justifying it to another human being, that's for sure...and I always try to bear in mind that passage about not casting pearls before swine (for they will turn and rend you).

Darned good advice, that is.