I think it's so cool that people have such an intimate relationship with their religion/Jesus. I always thought it was a very formal thing but describing him as a friend is really interesting
For some reason that religion was never something that really worked for me and it's not something I believe.. but still, Jesus sounds like a pretty cool dude from your descriptions lol
Sorry for the thread-jack, I really have nothing to say about the bible. Don't know if it's edited or not or where it came from or what it's doing.. don't really care to be honest. Real or not real, people find inspiration from it. Good people see good in it and do good and bad people find bad and use it to hurt people.. it's a book. Edited or no, it creates change and causes people to act. It's what those actions are that matters to me. Not the book itself. Wether it's "real or not" doesn't matter, it's real in it's effects and the lives it has changed.
I am going to refrain from comparing it to Harry Potter but it's the best example of what I feel that I can think of lol The book may be fiction but it has affected my life in very real ways.. how I treat people, how I think, dream, love, lessons I've learned, things I can relate to, how I speak, how I see the world.. etc..
so doesn't that make it pretty real anyway?
Regardless of how much the bible has been edited or where it came from.. it's real in what it does to people and how they react to it. So yea, if it's real to someone and they feel it's real and true to it's words..then I respect that.