Summations Only

I know that you understand your faith as being faith in God but I don't see it that way. Your faith is in a book or more accurately a collection of books. Even more explicitly your faith is in a literal reading of that book.I agree that God is able to inform us through the use of that book, and that book chronicles the history of how God has over time revealed Himself to us. The narrative runs from a mythological understanding of creation which represents truth but not literal truth, then on through the story of Israel which reaches its fulfilment in Jesus. It advises us that there is a bigger picture than just what we observe and that at the end of time as we know it, all things in heaven and earth will be brought together in either the final act of creation or an act of recreation depending on how you want to look at it.The faith is called Christianity, but as I've said before your version of Christianity would be more accurately called Bibleianity. The Bible itself says that it is God as fully revealed in Jesus that we worship. God as revealed in Jesus is wonderfully recorded in the OT but at the same time if you take the OT literally you can turn a God that is totally unrecognisable when looking at Jesus.I suggest that Christianity is faith in God as revealed in Jesus and not faith in your specific understanding of the Bible. The two just are not compatible.

Absolutely we should question the gospels. Others have made the point very well that the Bible is written by a large group of authors over a long period of time.The funny thing about fundamentalism is that they emphasize salvation by grace based on their faith in a literal understanding of the Bible.Aside from the various contradictions both historically and concerning the nature of God there are two obvious problems with this.Firstly if getting right with God, (salvation), is about faith in the scriptures then faith is just another "work" and we are right back to salvation by works.Secondly this understanding once again puts the focus back on "me and my salvation" instead of on the Biblical message of sacrificial love. It becomes "me" focused instead of "God" focused.Fundamentalism as we understand reduces God to what has been written by people over the centuries. It makes God out to be loving and forgiving and at other times hateful and tyrannical. It makes no sense to understand the Bible or God in that way. Thankfully, God is a whole lot bigger than that.So yes, let’s question the Gospels and find out what they have to say. There have been Christian scholars over the years who have committed their lives to doing just that and we have centuries of scholarship built up over the years doing just that. I suggest reading N T Wright who is generally conceded to be the leading or at least one of the leading NT scholars today.Here is something he has written on the Gospels. Jesus’ Resurrection and Christian OriginsHere is a web site that contains much of what he has written and spoken about. N T Wright

I really appreciate the honesty of this statement and the courage it takes to put it that plainly.I share your Christianity but not your understanding of the Bible. Can I suggest that God gave us intelligence, wisdom and enquiring minds. It seems logical to me that if they are a gift from God that they are a gift we should use. I agree that we have the Bible for a reason. Yes, I believe that God speaks to us through it but in order for Him to do that it isn't necessary for Him to have to dictate it. Remember, it is Jesus we are to worship and not the Bible. The Bible itself says that Jesus is the Word of God.Also, it seems to me that out of the gifts of intelligence, wisdom and curiosity we have come up with what we call science. Here is a verse from Romans 1:

quote:

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19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

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IMHO science is simply a natural theology and as Christians we should be fascinated by what God has done and by what we have learned about what He has done through the scientific method.Cheers

May I humbly suggest that our suspended friend is a troll.

I still think he's a troll but if you're right I sincerely think he needs help.

I have known many fundamentalist Christians over the years and I have never run into anyone who can so disassociate Christ's message of love from his life and beliefs to anything approaching this degree. With all the disagreements there are with Buz, even at his highest level of frustration, (yes I'm sure he gets frustrated too ) he doesn't post like our young friend has.Most of the fundamentalists I know of are busy raising kids, supporting third world missions etc. I may strongly disagree with their beliefs and even think that on the political level globally their beliefs can be dangerous but I have never encountered anything like this.I still am inclined to think that he is a troll.