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I think there is a lot of academic knowledge of the Bible. I think the skepticism has kept people from having an open mind and looking at all the facts.
I don't disagree with your first sentence. The big question is..... do you know how to tell what is real and what is a story that is simply designed to convey a message?
I consider skepticism of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING as the beginning of wisdom.
And I'll leave with this. You're the last person that should talk about having an open mind and looking at all the facts.
Don't you see silly...... It goes both ways.
You consider yourself to have an open mind, but you are so blinded by your faith that that can never be possible.
I don't disagree with your first sentence. The big question is..... do you know how to tell what is real and what is a story that is simply designed to convey a message?
I consider skepticism of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING as the beginning of wisdom.
And I'll leave with this. You're the last person that should talk about having an open mind and looking at all the facts.
Don't you see silly...... It goes both ways.
You consider yourself to have an open mind, but you are so blinded by your faith that that can never be possible.
I'm not sure what you think I am....but I'm not one of these guys that prayed to receive Jesus when I was 3 and then was raised in the church until I went off to Bible school at age 18. I didn't meet Christ until I was 20 years old....after quite a bit of skepticism and worldly living. I've studied apologetics for 20 years and have thought all this stuff through. I'd be inclined to believe I've thought a lot more about this stuff than you have.
I'm not sure what you think I am....but I'm not one of these guys that prayed to receive Jesus when I was 3 and then was raised in the church until I went off to Bible school at age 18. I didn't meet Christ until I was 20 years old....after quite a bit of skepticism and worldly living. I've studied apologetics for 20 years and have thought all this stuff through. I'd be inclined to believe I've thought a lot more about this stuff than you have.
Well I was one of those people who received Christ when I was very young and attended church throughout my teens. Then, thankfully, I had an awakening that was fueled by common sense, logic, and reason, and for the last 20 years, the messages in the Bible have become more and more foreign to me. The more I study the Bible, the more out of touch with reality it seems to become.
Exactly what stuff have you thought about? Enlighten us, please.
Well I was one of those people who received Christ when I was very young and attended church throughout my teens. Then, thankfully, I had an awakening that was fueled by common sense, logic, and reason, and for the last 20 years, the messages in the Bible have become more and more foreign to me. The more I study the Bible, the more out of touch with reality it seems to become.
Exactly what stuff have you thought about? Enlighten us, please.
I told you my background like that for the reason that I think a lot of kids are raised in the church and learn their parents' faith...but they just don't believe it. That's ok--you ultimately didn't believe and you left. I won't demonize you and say you are a horrible person.
Having said that, I grew up catholic. I started to doubt the faith in my teens...and did some studying. I looked hard at catholicism...read the Book of Mormon and checked it out....studied Jehovah's Witnesses, and a lot of world religions. I've had that crisis of faith where I wondered if it was all real. Ultimately I became a Christian when I was 20 years old. I've been a student of logical and philosophical thought for the past 20 years.
I told you my background like that for the reason that I think a lot of kids are raised in the church and learn their parents' faith...but they just don't believe it. That's ok--you ultimately didn't believe and you left. I won't demonize you and say you are a horrible person.
Having said that, I grew up catholic. I started to doubt the faith in my teens...and did some studying. I looked hard at catholicism...read the Book of Mormon and checked it out....studied Jehovah's Witnesses, and a lot of world religions. I've had that crisis of faith where I wondered if it was all real. Ultimately I became a Christian when I was 20 years old. I've been a student of logical and philosophical thought for the past 20 years.
I am thoroughly convinced that it is absolutely impossible for anyone who is grounded in the discipline of logical and critical thought to take the Bible as 100% literal in its entirety. It sounds like what you did was simply switched from one flavor of Kool-Aid to another.
How can you study a bunch of world religions, and then conclude that Christianity is the right one and dismiss all others? Then on top of it, believe that everyone else is going to hell? It just doesn't make sense to me, but I'm glad it seems to work for you. Have a good night. I gotta get up early tomorrow so I'm gonna retire.
apples and oranges. Completely different thing. Those epic poems are written as literature...the Bible presents itself as history. Again...if we hadn't actually verified so many of the Biblical places as fact....you might have a point. There's just so much reason to believe that it is factual.
It's all comparing fruit. The epic poems were written as history... or more to the point, history was written as epic poem. Most of the rural(pagan) and even a lot of the urban people at the respective times believed in their stories as being representative of history whenever it suited their wishes to view it that way. This was also true with other civilizations as far as Japan, were even today writers are often seeking to include real places and reinterpretations of history, and they see this in their ancient texts as well. No one want's to know the cold hard truth because its so often hard to find and boring. If the people of Sodom had abandoned their women the king of Elam would have easily killed them off during their supposed "orgy".
It's all comparing fruit. The epic poems were written as history... or more to the point, history was written as epic poem. Most of the rural(pagan) and even a lot of the urban people at the respective times believed in their stories as being representative of history whenever it suited their wishes to view it that way. This was also true with other civilizations as far as Japan, were even today writers are often seeking to include real places and reinterpretations of history, and they see this in their ancient texts as well. No one want's to know the cold hard truth because its so often hard to find and boring. If the people of Sodom had abandoned their women the king of Elam would have easily killed them off during their supposed "orgy".
And they're fanciful tales set to poetry. Yay.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say about Sodom.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say about Sodom.
The Japanese ones aren't set to poetry. They are set to the common myths of the times. They are written in prose, much as Spider-man and Batman. Nonetheless, the Hellenistic Myths were only written in Poetry because they were so Inspired. From this faithful understanding, to make such True Histories more readable, the Olympians inquired the Muses to set them to poetry. And what I'm saying about Sodom is that having a mass "orgy" --where all the men of Sodom would be easily slaughtered by the King of Elam-- would be imbecilic. The point of the story is definitely about a scared populace trying to find out who the Strangers hiding out in the house of a Foreigner are, and whether or not they are spies for the King of Elam.
Cool mini-series, regardless of whether you believe or not. Check it out
A lot of "nitpicking" here about sundry stuff.
So!...lets get to some now PROVEN FACTS by GldnRule relative to the the broader subject of the OP...and what we might conclude from that.
Now that it is "said and done"....The Bible mini-series: #1 CABLE EVENT!!!!!!
OVER 14 MILLION for the premier episode...27 MILLION tuning in over the course of the series!
Most "telling"...very big "youth viewer" numbers!!
Exceeded ALL expectations and predictions.
A series about The Bible...on the HISTORY channel...soars above any expected heights. What's THAT tell ya?!!
Run a series of a critique of, say, Hawkings dissertations...see what kind of numbers THAT does! HaHaHa!
Those that get all out-of-sorts about Theism in general, specifically religion, and more specifically Christianity...have just had ANOTHER REALITY CHECK of how powerful and formidable what they are up against REALLY is.
From a "Arena of World Merit" standpoint...what that series represented is STILL the "Grand Champion" and probably will be for the foreseeable future. Their main "brand" is electing a new leader right now...and is "resetting" to build strength again.
Atheism is taking a heavy 1-2 shot to the jibs at the moment...something as weak and insignificant as it already is can ill afford. Not that it was ever going to be anything anyway...but the proponents have been crowing about how "dead" interest in religion is as of late, especially with young people.
They say people that follow religion are "deluded". The only "delusion" is their assumption that their "Concept of Nothing" (as respects the existence of God), is anything more than a "nothing concept" as far as its ability to muster any real power or influence.
Some FACTS OF REALITY to glean form this:
Theism---ALPHA CONCEPT!! #1 BABY!!
Religion---"Champion Team" in the League!!
Christianity---Most Valuable Player on that Team!
Atheism---If it was possible to become more "nothing" than the "nothing" it already was...that would describe it. So, make sure you get out and do something really significant...like protest a "Good News Club", or file a lawsuit against a Jesus picture in a small rural Ohio middle-school! That'll show 'em! HaHa!
corrupt and false. like the majority of humanity.
the dark ages will soon come again.
Last edited by LuminousTruth; 03-11-2013 at 03:18 AM..
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