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Zero errors? So the Jews now rule the world under one religion, and they were never in Babylon?
Your cross references and 'prophecies' are because many of the later works are based on the earlier ones, so Jesus fulfilling OT 'prophecy' is evidence for a fictional character being invented out of the OT.
And Jesus wasn't even from the House of David. Mary was from the House of Levi.
Is the Bible (NT) nothing more than an ancient screenplay?
Pretty much.
My expectation is that as time goes on more and more young people will come to realize this. Christianity was a house of cards from the beginning with lots of talk of miracles and no evidence to back the myths and legends up. But it took 2000 years and the Internet to truly reveal the extent of the grift. The Internet made it possible for the first time to actually research the Bible's and Christianity's con job and now we see more and more young people learning of Christianity's nefarious past and just saying, "NO" to calls to join up, which is why Christianity's numbers will continue to plummet over the rest of the century until by 2100 Christianity will be just a footnote in historical texts.
There's will always be the odd youngster who will be suckered by Christianity's grift but as the present generation dies out and science/secular beliefs take a firmer hold it's inevitable that Christianity will pretty much die out by 2100 or so.
Is the Bible (NT) nothing more than an ancient screenplay?
Pretty much.
My expectation is that as time goes on more and more young people will come to realize this. Christianity was a house of cards from the beginning with lots of talk of miracles and no evidence to back the myths and legends up. But it took 2000 years and the Internet to truly reveal the extent of the grift. The Internet made it possible for the first time to actually research the Bible's and Christianity's con job and now we see more and more young people learning of Christianity's nefarious past and just saying, "NO" to calls to join up, which is why Christianity's numbers will continue to plummet over the rest of the century until by 2100 Christianity will be just a footnote in historical texts.
There's will always be the odd youngster who will be suckered by Christianity's grift but as the present generation dies out and science/secular beliefs take a firmer hold it's inevitable that Christianity will pretty much die out by 2100 or so.
I won't say "con job". But I would say it enabled people who wanted to find out the truth the ability to read documents (archeology findings and scholarly papers) that they would have never been able to even know about.
And I still believe the Bible is full of messages for people that have been passed down thru the ages...BUT I also think the messages are buried under the "words of man"
There's a reason why the Bible is still here today.
There's a reason why the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden.
There's a reason why they hid religious scrolls in Nag Hammadi.
There's a reason why a lot of things happened with the evolution of Christianity and they were not all "divine" or "God breathed" either but no one wants to talk about them or even research the topic.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind,â€
Albert Einstein
I won't say "con job". But I would say it enabled people who wanted to find out the truth the ability to read documents (archeology findings and scholarly papers) that they would have never been able to even know about.
And I still believe the Bible is full of messages for people that have been passed down thru the ages...BUT I also think the messages are buried under the "words of man"
There's a reason why the Bible is still here today.
There's a reason why the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden.
There's a reason why they hid religious scrolls in Nag Hammadi.
There's a reason why a lot of things happened with the evolution of Christianity and they were not all "divine" or "God breathed" either but no one wants to talk about them or even research the topic.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind,â€
Albert Einstein
Here's the definition for "con job":
con job in American English
noun informal 1. an act or instance of duping or swindling 2. an act or instance of lying or talking glibly to convince others or get one's way
Did the early church convince gullible person into believing Jesus had died and rose and ascended? Yes. Did they have any evidence for this? No. Intentional or not they duped people into believing something they didn't have evidence for. That's a con job. The term just sounds rather harsh, that's why people are offended.
I agree that research into the veracity of the Bible's claims would have been embarked on by scholars had raw accusations against the Bible's supernaturally fantabulous stories never existed. It was the Age of Reason that started Christianity's ultimate downfall though it took several hundred years for that ship to get to the Internet Age which is the tool that really put the last nail into Christianity's coffin with it's ability to scan all of the libraries of the world with the pressing of they key, "Enter".
And yes, the Bible is full of messages good and bad. That's fine as long as Christians get out of the habit of believing its supernatural events actually happened because they didn't according to science.
There's IS a reason why the Bible is still around today. It's the same reason as why the Veda and the Tipitaka and the Koran are still around today. People fall for the supernatural even though there's no evidence to support it.
As for the Dead Sea scrolls and the nag Hammadi documents the reason they're around is because they were hidden and unknown for 2000 years.
My personal opinion and one of the reasons I threw away my faith is because I believe that the "perfect" Word of God doesn't need to undergo evolution and change itself to adapt to modern times. This makes the Bible no more divine than medieval documents saying that the sun revolved around the earth.
There are a few good lessons to take away from the Bible but it can be argued that Bible was responsible for more deaths and genocides than any epidemic that ever occurred.
Lastly, I would say that Einstein got it wrong. "Science without religion is FREE".
Is the Bible (NT) nothing more than an ancient screenplay?
Pretty much.
My expectation is that as time goes on more and more young people will come to realize this. Christianity was a house of cards from the beginning with lots of talk of miracles and no evidence to back the myths and legends up. But it took 2000 years and the Internet to truly reveal the extent of the grift. The Internet made it possible for the first time to actually research the Bible's and Christianity's con job and now we see more and more young people learning of Christianity's nefarious past and just saying, "NO" to calls to join up, which is why Christianity's numbers will continue to plummet over the rest of the century until by 2100 Christianity will be just a footnote in historical texts.
There's will always be the odd youngster who will be suckered by Christianity's grift but as the present generation dies out and science/secular beliefs take a firmer hold it's inevitable that Christianity will pretty much die out by 2100 or so.
With the firm toehold the church has on society throughout a lot of western culture... I'm afraid it is going to be a couple more centuries before things really change.
First I don't think enough people are intellectually curious enough in any generation to move away from the status quo...
And secondly, we have seen Christians sites provide internet apologist content to counter information attempting to discredit Christianity.
Regardless of whether Christianity is trying to sell something which it is not, I think there is a lot of moral advice in the Bible which is would be good for people to read. If it was not 'marketed' as a religious text, I still think it would be worth reading or studying for the 'how-to-live-your-life' aspect of it all.
These days there are many people who could do with a manual on how to act towards others as it seems we have lost the community spirit by living in cities and in tower blocks. Too many people just keep to themselves and dont even know their neighbour when they live in urban environments. There will come a time when we need each other.
noun informal 1. an act or instance of duping or swindling 2. an act or instance of lying or talking glibly to convince others or get one's way
Did the early church convince gullible person into believing Jesus had died and rose and ascended? Yes. Did they have any evidence for this? No. Intentional or not they duped people into believing something they didn't have evidence for. That's a con job. The term just sounds rather harsh, that's why people are offended.
I agree that research into the veracity of the Bible's claims would have been embarked on by scholars had raw accusations against the Bible's supernaturally fantabulous stories never existed. It was the Age of Reason that started Christianity's ultimate downfall though it took several hundred years for that ship to get to the Internet Age which is the tool that really put the last nail into Christianity's coffin with it's ability to scan all of the libraries of the world with the pressing of they key, "Enter".
And yes, the Bible is full of messages good and bad. That's fine as long as Christians get out of the habit of believing its supernatural events actually happened because they didn't according to science.
There's IS a reason why the Bible is still around today. It's the same reason as why the Veda and the Tipitaka and the Koran are still around today. People fall for the supernatural even though there's no evidence to support it.
As for the Dead Sea scrolls and the nag Hammadi documents the reason they're around is because they were hidden and unknown for 2000 years.
My personal opinion and one of the reasons I threw away my faith is because I believe that the "perfect" Word of God doesn't need to undergo evolution and change itself to adapt to modern times. This makes the Bible no more divine than medieval documents saying that the sun revolved around the earth.
There are a few good lessons to take away from the Bible but it can be argued that Bible was responsible for more deaths and genocides than any epidemic that ever occurred.
Lastly, I would say that Einstein got it wrong. "Science without religion is FREE".
There is not enough artifacts found that can prove it.
The scholars are divided on these issues because..there's just not enough proof.
And I think that's how we should take it as well and then come to our own conclusions.
Of course, as more artifacts are found, more truth comes out.
Until Nag Hammadi scrolls were found the scholars could not verify what Irenaeus wrote in "Against Heresies" because no documents survived. Nag Hammadi scrolls proved his writing accurate.
True faith is a belief in something greater than us....not a Book written by men. Take the messages within the book for what they mean to you.
I tend to upset people because the Bible is just a book of stories with messages. To question the stories in the book has nothing to do with my faith in something greater. The story could change (and has for me due to researching on the internet) but that doesn't change my belief.
Even the older religions had simple messages..
my paraphrasing of what I've read:
The Zoroastrians....kind thoughts, kind words, kind deeds. (the 3 wise men that found Jesus on Christmas...one little mention..insignificant to most...but a breadcrumb to others)
From the Gospels (Matthew/Mark since they were the only 2 passed around by the early Christians before 100AD)
Jesus' sermon on the mount: Be nice, share, don't bend the knee
Regardless of whether Christianity is trying to sell something which it is not, I think there is a lot of moral advice in the Bible which is would be good for people to read. If it was not 'marketed' as a religious text, I still think it would be worth reading or studying for the 'how-to-live-your-life' aspect of it all.
These days there are many people who could do with a manual on how to act towards others as it seems we have lost the community spirit by living in cities and in tower blocks. Too many people just keep to themselves and dont even know their neighbour when they live in urban environments. There will come a time when we need each other.
1. Okay, but the way you worded your post it sounds as if there's also advice in th ebible which would not be good for people to read.
2. Most of the lessons I think you are probably talking about are taught in other religions or even non-religious settings.
There is not enough artifacts found that can prove it.
The scholars are divided on these issues because..there's just not enough proof.
And I think that's how we should take it as well and then come to our own conclusions.
Of course, as more artifacts are found, more truth comes out.
Until Nag Hammadi scrolls were found the scholars could not verify what Irenaeus wrote in "Against Heresies" because no documents survived. Nag Hammadi scrolls proved his writing accurate.
True faith is a belief in something greater than us....not a Book written by men. Take the messages within the book for what they mean to you.
I tend to upset people because the Bible is just a book of stories with messages. To question the stories in the book has nothing to do with my faith in something greater. The story could change (and has for me due to researching on the internet) but that doesn't change my belief.
Even the older religions had simple messages..
my paraphrasing of what I've read:
The Zoroastrians....kind thoughts, kind words, kind deeds. (the 3 wise men that found Jesus on Christmas...one little mention..insignificant to most...but a breadcrumb to others)
From the Gospels (Matthew/Mark since they were the only 2 passed around by the early Christians before 100AD)
Jesus' sermon on the mount: Be nice, share, don't bend the knee
The big issue here is whether belief in something supernatural which cannot be proved with any discernible evidence is wise, even healthy. I'll have more to say on your post tomorrow.
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