Is the Bible the inspired word of God?

[chonce]

2 reccomended reading, for those seroiusly interested in the debate over an existence of God.

Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut - I suggested this earlier, but it bears repeating. Sublte humor in a fiction book, with some of the most biting commentary on the human condition you will ever read. Religion, technology, science, good and evil and government are all huge ttheses in this book.

God- the Evidence. THe name of the author escapes me here, but this is a harvard preffesor who was at one time a rigid athiest. He argues for the existence of a god, using science, as opposed to faith. I am an athiest, but this book, does tackle the issues that many theists refuse to discuss, or even enderstand.


Regardless of your beliefs, these are interesting books.

 

[JackDee]

yes i do, i believe in jesus christ, but the bible has a lot of levels.

 

[blueedwards]

i recommend "mere christianity" by c.s. lewis and "the case for Christ" by lee strobel.

 

[chonce]

hey blue,

Note that i reccomended books that offered dissenting opinions?


You cant refute critics unless you know why they are critical.

Read soemthing that will challenge your current way of (trained...and it is) thought.


I am not saying cats cradle will turn you away from christ, but you owe it to him, to stand up to its strongest critics, if you claim to adhere to him, on both a rational and spiritual level.


Otherwise, let the sheep be herded.

 

[radiofreecostarica]

very good point chonce.

Soren Kierkegaard would be proud.

 

[Jointpleasure]

I recommend picking up the a "Strongs Concordance."

It will make a big difference.

Example in Genesis Chapter 1

"the earth was formless and void."

"the earth became formless and void."

Knowing this difference is huge. It implies that there was a first and is now second earth age. There will be a third to come!

It turns the bible from a book that somewhat seems like a fairy tale to a book of non-fiction and easily understandable.

 

[grantt]

You bible nuts like to talk about fact. Mosses was over 800 years old, show me proof.
This is where they all clam up, end of discussion.

 

[Teddykgb]

grant i believe the bible says years when its meant as month's

 

[joeraner]

It's up to the individual to determine what the truth is - for them. Only you can make that call. Nobody can do it for you.

As Bill Maher often said on his T.V. show, Politically Incorrect: "Nobody has the right to claim that their belief system or their way of thinking is the ONLY way. People who consider those who don't view the world the way they do to be outcasts, or morally reprehensible are truly deranged. The self-righteous, and sanctimonious people are a bunch of fools."

Look no further than a**holes like William Bennett - the "Drug-Czar" who wrote the "Book of Virtues." That sanctimonious clown is a case in point. He puts on a big public persona touting ethics, virtue, and morality. Well, the media recently exposed him as a big phoney!! The guy has lost millions betting on high dollar slot machines in Atlantic City, and Las Vegas.

Who is he to go around telling people how they should be living - standing in judgment the way he does, with his "moral code." All the while he's been living the life of a degenerate gambler.

The Bible was the only book widely in print for centuries. It is an inspired work by many well-intentioned authors. Never-the-less the modern versions were translated by many fallible people. Take the King James version, for instance. Many of the translators who worked for King James were themselves degenerates. Check your history. The fact of the matter is, no human work is absolute. Human beings are fallible creatures. Sure, we are above the reptiles, and the cattle. We have the capacity to reason.

How could any reasonable person think that their way of looking at the world is "best" or the only right way. That's just silly.

 

[grantt]

If there was a God he would have Been black and born in Africa not this fabricated white shit rail totes.

 

[IntuitionBET]

My question for all you know-it-alls is:

Did Christ really rise again? (Easter)

Or did the Romans guarding the cave/rock get DRUNK and fall asleep and DID NOT see all the men with ropes and levers move the rock? And get him out of there?

---------------------------------

And Grantt WHY would he be from Africa???

When the majority of the world's population is Chinese/Asian?

I would think with your logic that he would be a Chinese/Asian...

 

[bolivar]

Grantt-You been beating those drums so long it's got your brain scrambled. Moses was 800 years old because the Bible says so. You either believe it or you dont. I could come up with lots of things you cant prove that are taken for granted.

 

[chonce]

"because the bible says so"

IF thats your reasoning for your beliefs, you are not only wasting your human ability for rational and independent thought, but you are also guily of "beating the same old drums."

 

[blueedwards]

joe raner, could not disagree more. there is no such thing as "truth for me". it is either truth or its not. we can all have our own theories, but we cannot all have our own truths.

truth is not invented, truth is discovered. issac newton did not invent gravity, he discovered it. if he did not discover it, it still would exist. you can "disbelieve" in gravity but, that would not make it any less true.

if the bible is the truth (as it claims to be), the rationale thing to do is to read it and find out what it says, then obey what it says. if the bible is full of lies, myths and legends...it is not worth the paper it is written on and should be given no more credence than a child's fairy tale.

 

[blueedwards]

chonce, i spent years believing the opposite view that i now hold. i don't need to read the critics points because i held them for most of my life. i'm not saying that they don't have good points and don't raise questions that are very tough to deal with...i am simply saying that i have examined both viewpoints and found enough evidence to believe the bible is true.

 

[corey]

I recommend common fu(king sense.

 

[blueedwards]

nanuk, so do i.

 

[grantt]

Yeah well I say he wasn't 800 years old. Now who are you going to believe? You go ahead and follow blindly like the rest of the religious twits. That's what I like about you guys your very simple, don't think for yourselves and 110% predictable.

 

[blueedwards]

grantt - the bible says moses was 120 years old when he died (deuteronomy 34:7).
who am i more likely to believe? well, i am more likely to believe a book which has been affirmed by archeology and history to be accurate. i am more likely to believe a book which has survived burnings, bannings and countless attempts to discredit it over many centuries. i am more likely to believe a 2,000-4,000 year old book which has been proven to have been accurately passed down from generation to generation.

yes, i am more likely to believe such a book than i am a guy who does not know when to use "your" and "you're" in a sentence.

 

[joeraner]

blue edwards wrote:

<<there is no such thing as "truth for me". it is either truth or its not. we can all have our own theories, but we cannot all have our own truths>>.

Rubbish. In my house, we can, and we do have our own religious truths. And in my church, we accept every individual's right to believe in truth as whatever theory they accept. Only YOU can decide what is "truth" worth believing - for you. The acceptance or rejection of Biblical writing as "truth" is not the same as the "consensus acceptance" of the principles in Newtonian physics as "truthful".

You can teach and preach anything you want. The point is: just because you (or anyone else for that matter) accept a religious belief system as "truth" - that does not give you the right to claim that those who don't accept it are wrong. It doesn't matter how well intentioned the biblical authors were, and current scholars are. You are free to accept the Bible as literal truth and free to dismiss it as nonsense - if you so choose.

In this country, you are free to hold whatever religious principles your little heart desires. But claiming your way must be accepted by everyone else is folly.