charles cure,
no, your premise remains false because first of all god would have had to have made itself known to and spoken through many different men (because we know that the bible started out as many different stories and then was assembled into one book), and so all of these men would have had gods word filtered through their imperfect understanding.
In what way does this make the premise false?
...that there is actually less than no proof that something like this ever happened to bring about the bible as it is known today.
If you're talking about modern-scientific proof, I agree, but I get the feeling if such proof were ever to surface, you would still deny it.
the earth being created pretty much as is in 6 days and being only 6,000 years old? yes it can.
Does it mention 6000 years in the bible?
6 days does not necessarily mean 6 twenty four hour days (we are discussing the bible not creationism).
its called "evidence", you know, that stuff that earth scientists and archaeologists and palentologists and anthropologists collect and analyze over and over again to prove or disprove a certain premise.
Yeah, I've heard of the stuff called evidence, but the evidence can be interpreted either way and as such, is not beyond any shadow of doubt.
theres an abundance of it out there running contradictory to the events described in genesis...
I'm sure the creation scientists would say the same, in favour of their presupposition.
its a problem because that is not the case in all situations.
So explain why the absolute truth would not be the same in all cases.
thats where youre wrong. the burden of proof rests on the person making the claim.
The only person making claims is you, I'm asking why you think the bible is flawed and not inspired by God.
for creationists, it is their responsibility to back up the claim that god created the earth and that the bible is an absolute truth.
They believe the earth to be a product of intelligence, and that the current scientific evidence backs that up, and as they are christians they believe the producer was God. The same way a naturalist believes the evidence supports his pressuposition that the earth is a product of natural forces. So they use the same evidence to support their belief.
people arent claiming the opposite, they are saying look, a lot of the observations we can make contradict these things,
These are interpretations, the same as creationists. But none can say for sure one way or the other, if they could we wouldn't be having this discussion.
so i choose to believe that they are not real.
And that's what it boils down to...belief.
people who think the bible isnt the word of god arent making a claim, they are denying one until proof is given to the contrary.
What kind of proof would they accept?
You see, if you want proof of something, you must know what to expect.
you judge by your own stadards of virtue and by the standards that are established by the society in which you choose to live.
I thought we were talking about the people in the bible.
the bible does not have a central theme, the new testament does. however, that is not the whole of the bible.
The central theme of the bible is God, period. To say otherwise is silly.
it may not be enough for you, but it is certainly enough for me. there has never even been so much as an inkling of evidence that human consciousness exists in any form whatsoever after the death of the body.
There is no evidence that it does not survive after the body, yet you believe that it doesn't.
we do know from studies of anatomy and biology and physiology however, that the mind and body are crucially linked and that a synthesis of sensory input and processing from these two parts forms consciousness. in such a case i would think that physical and "spiritual" torment must be linked if not be one in the same.
What is the synthesis of sensory input?
And what is consciousness, how is it sensed?
naturalist belief? i dont have any belief. i try to have knowledge. faith precludes knowledge and distorts it.
charles cure said:
so i choose to believe that they are not real.
Everyone tries to have knowledge, to deny this is plain silly. Everyone must have faith in order to understand fully, nobody can obtain knowledge directly.
i can give you nothing but a personal view of why the bible is flawed.
That's fair enough, but it is only your opinion, and a creationist has his opinion.
i dont speak for millions and i cant provide any evidence that you will accept because you deny reason and support extreme improbability based on nothing more than personal opinion.
Denial is your business not mine. I am happy to embrace knowledge like the next man.
...and direct opposition to your insane superstition, you nullify the argument. we are clearly on different terms here.
You cannot get your way so you begin the slippery slide into personal insults?
wrong. it was written by dead men who conveniently died without ever leaving anything behind to justify or corroborate a claim that they were somehow divinely inspired.
What? Leave a letter with their lawyer with strict instuction to be opened onlyafter their death?
Come on. That's silly.
Try and get real here.
how convenient that now the premise must just stand on its own without the possibility of ever being supported with fact.
That's about the size of it.
it is up to those who claim that the bible is divinely inspired to come up with some acceptable reason or proof that it was if they ever expect that people should abide by its message and standard.
What would you accept as reason or proof?
since none of those things have ever materialized, yet the claim continues to be made, it is easily brushed aside as nonsense.
So you ask for proof while simultaneosly brushing it aside as nonsense, because nothing has materialised which you accept. You sound all mixed up to me.
it follows that the bible is flawed if not all material that was divinely inspired has been included.
No. It just means that the material was not included.
nearly everyone who wrote a gospel or a piece of apocrypha claimed to be divinely inspired. so the exclusion of any of this material at all would flaw and alter the message of god.
At this point I can tell you have not fully understood the point of the bible, which is understandable as you don't think the bible has an essential point.
If God is truly, fully accepted, then one fully understands the message, if one accepts partially, then he understands partially. If one doesn't accept then he doesn't understand. Whatever you put in, you get out.
.... im sure now you will say "oh well thats ok because the people who put the bible together were divinely inspired too and you cant prove that they werent", because that is the nature of your argument. accept it, the bible is not the word of god or at best the imperfect and incomplete word of god.
I am basing my view on the what the bible is claimed to be, I am being objective.
well, when you make a claim it is incumbent upon you to demonstrate why that claim should have credibility, since you cant, it has lost all credibility except what will be given to it by people who desire to believe in fantasy and fairy tales as a part of living reality.
I haven't made a claim.
And like anybody else, you are entitled to your opinion, but don't band it around as fact unless you can back it up.
Jan.