You have to remember, there was no "press" 2,000 yrs ago. Writing history down as it happened was not what people did. The point is that the events were recorded in writing while several eye-witnesses were still alive. That is the key. This is not the case when talking about any other historical events from the ancient world. If you want to say that 20-30 years is too long for the events to be relayed accurately, that is certainly your perogative. However, if you do that, you have to throw out virtually all history that dates back more than a few hundred years.
Give me one contradiction.
The four gospels do not mirror each other because they are written by different people who witnessed the events or knew eye-witnesses. Each was written from a slightly different perspective and the writers were emphasizing different parts of the events. If each gospel were exactly the same, the reader would assume the writers were in collusion. If four people witness a car accident on a busy intersection, do you think each person would tell exactly the same story to the cop who interviewed them? They would all get the main parts right...number of cars involved, time of day, etc. But, depending on what they saw and when they saw it, their accounts would vary slightly on the details.
There are no contradictions in the gospel accounts. The variations between them are easily explained.
http://bible.org/seriespage/major-differences-between-john-and-synoptic-gospels
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In normal people language...
Supposedly our entire universe was confined in a very small dense ball that blew up " big bang" and expanded outward and is expanding out into infinity.
The interesting thing is that they now believe it didn't all expand outward at the same rate of speed... It accelerated faster at first, even faster than the speed of light. This is now a topic for further discovery.
The non religious people believe that particles from space came to earth ( possibly from an asteroid) and landed in our oceans and that is where life began.
You know they found a meteorite that had carbon and some other matter in it that is crucial for life to be formed? Maybe that is what happened long ago.
In normal people language...
Supposedly our entire universe was confined in a very small dense ball that blew up " big bang" and expanded outward and is expanding out into infinity.
The interesting thing is that they now believe it didn't all expand outward at the same rate of speed... It accelerated faster at first, even faster than the speed of light. This is now a topic for further discovery.
The non religious people believe that particles from space came to earth ( possibly from an asteroid) and landed in our oceans and that is where life began.
You know they found a meteorite that had carbon and some other matter in it that is crucial for life to be formed? Maybe that is what happened long ago.
Some christians say that there is a God because you can take all the pieces of a working watch and put them in a bowl and shake it for centuries and centuries and you will never have a working watch. You have to have somebody actually take the pieces in his hand and make the watch(God creating life on earth)
I'd say, the earth isn't a proper working watch. Humans are weak and eventually die. There's so many defects and diseases. The earth itself is so fragile. The pieces fit to form something, not necessarily a perfect watch but something.
I don't know how I feel about it. I mean sometimes I think things are way too perfect for it to be an ''accident'' like how if the sun was just a tiny bit further from the earth we'd freeze to death, or burn to death if it were even a tiny bit closer to us. So there must be a higher being that planned it all out somehow.
Then again I think that's precisely why we exist, because the sun just happened to be at the perfect distance from us. Is that such a miracle? There's so many planets and stars and everything where there is no life or even the possibilty of life. So we are just one of the few planets that have life because everything's just happened to work out so it's not really a miracle.
I don't know what to think so I just choose not to think about it and go about my daily business enjoying life, playing and watching sports, enjoiy Seinfeld and Simpsons, Family Guy reruns, eating good food, etc. What else can you do?
Some older guys I know that are married and have kids say they started believing in God when they saw their first kid being born. I found that interesting.
Anyways, blah blah blah...My 2 cents.
I'd say, the earth isn't a proper working watch. Humans are weak and eventually die. There's so many defects and diseases. The earth itself is so fragile. The pieces fit to form something, not necessarily a perfect watch but something.
I don't know how I feel about it. I mean sometimes I think things are way too perfect for it to be an ''accident'' like how if the sun was just a tiny bit further from the earth we'd freeze to death, or burn to death if it were even a tiny bit closer to us. So there must be a higher being that planned it all out somehow.
Then again I think that's precisely why we exist, because the sun just happened to be at the perfect distance from us. Is that such a miracle? There's so many planets and stars and everything where there is no life or even the possibilty of life. So we are just one of the few planets that have life because everything's just happened to work out so it's not really a miracle.
I don't know what to think so I just choose not to think about it and go about my daily business enjoying life, playing and watching sports, enjoiy Seinfeld and Simpsons, Family Guy reruns, eating good food, etc. What else can you do?
Some older guys I know that are married and have kids say they started believing in God when they saw their first kid being born. I found that interesting.
Anyways, blah blah blah...My 2 cents.
If you read through the book of Romans, Paul explains that these imperfections are the result of sin. My own personal view is that the world is becoming more and more imperfect due to the compounding effects of sin. I know a lot of people will sneer at this but, that is the biblical answer to the issue you raise.
This planet currently sits at greater peace than ever in the history of the world.
There are less wars than there have ever been.
The standard of living for the planet has risen to incredible levels.
More people are literate worldwide.
Not sure how you guys think the world is getting worse.
Turn of CNN and the 24 hour news cycle and remove yourself from the fear.
There are less wars than there have ever been.
The standard of living for the planet has risen to incredible levels.
More people are literate worldwide.
Not sure how you guys think the world is getting worse.
Turn of CNN and the 24 hour news cycle and remove yourself from the fear.
More people have been killed by wars and genocide in the last 100 years on this planet than in the previous 2,000. Go to Africa, Indonesia, India and parts of Central and South America and talk to me about high standards of living. People in this country live more for their own selfish desires now than every before. We have people addicted to all sorts of things - alcohol, drugs, porography, child pornography and so on. Our prisons are over-flowing with people and sex crimes against children are so common, they litter the news shows.
Not saying this stuff wasnt happening 50 or 100 years ago but it is increasing exponentially in my opinion.
Sure, some things are better now - healthcare is more advanced, modern inventions make life more comfortable. I was mostly referring to morality when I said more "imperfect".
Most all sociological statistics for the past 100 years would be "increased" in comparison to the previous centuries since the population of the world has doubled almost three times in the past century.
I for one view today's overall social morality as being at it's most advanced in the history of our planet.
It was barely 100 years ago that women in our own country were treated like those in the countries you mention.
It was less than a half century ago that blacks in the USA were treated in the degrading and subhuman manner that far too many people still face in some countries around the world.
With each passing day, the human race socially evolves for the better, in spite of the many who - at any given moment - may be perceived as not evolving whatsoever...heh
I for one view today's overall social morality as being at it's most advanced in the history of our planet.
It was barely 100 years ago that women in our own country were treated like those in the countries you mention.
It was less than a half century ago that blacks in the USA were treated in the degrading and subhuman manner that far too many people still face in some countries around the world.
With each passing day, the human race socially evolves for the better, in spite of the many who - at any given moment - may be perceived as not evolving whatsoever...heh
