Why would God write a book of lies and why would you worship such a being?

George says that Jim is an expert juggler. Why do I have to believe George before I can trust Jim?

So, did Job trust God because of the Bible?

The nation of Israel has no legitimacy. The only justification for its existence is its existence. Like an "illegitimate" child, it doesn't matter how it got here but the fact that it is here gives it the right to be here. It's thoroughly improper to use the Exodus story to justify the actions of Zionists and the modern Israeli government.The question is, "Why would God write a fictional story about an exodus?" The answer is to advertise His ability to keep covenants, knock over walls, etc. Projecting the story onto future events is just a wrong interpretation.

Treasure Island was written by Jim Hawkins with a chapter or two added by Dr. Livesey. How would you authenticate them as witnesses?Edited by ringo, : Spellng.

I think you missed my point. I asked, "How would you authenticate them as witnesses?"Jim Hawkins and Dr. Livesey both claimed to be eyewitnesses of the events in Treasure Island - but both of them were fictional characters created by Robert Louis Stevenson. How do you know that the "eyewitnesses" to the Bible events really existed? But how do you know that the book and the martyrdom aren't fiction? I'm not saying that history is like Treasure Island - history can be authenticated. I'm saying that the Bible is like Treasure Island - neither is history because neither can be authenticated. Both claim to be written by eyewitnesses but those claims can't be authenticated. Why do only a minority of people believe the Bible?

As opposed to what? Something that isn't authenticated? Yes, authenticated by humans is better than not authenticated at all.Edited by ringo, : Speling.

God has not been authenticated.

No, it is not a statement of faith. I don't have faith that God doesn't exist. I don't have faith that there is no evidence for the existence of God. I just don't have any evidence for the existence of God. It's a statement of evidence.By analogy, I don't have any milk in my fridge. It isn't that I don't believe in milk. I just don't have any. It isn't faith that convinces me that I don't have any. Anybody who looks in my fridge can see that I don't have any.

But there is no assumption that God doesn't exist - and there's no assumption that milk doesn't exist. I see no milk. Anybody else who opens the fridge sees no milk. They don't make any assumptions about milk. They just don't see any.

We're going at the topic backwards here. The premise is that the Bible doesn't have to be "authentic" to have value, that God might use fiction to make a point. If we want to talk about whether the Bible is authentic, this isn't the right place.