Bible: Word of God or Not

What amazes me most about the Gospels is their inconsistency. The disciples started their discipleship with incredible faith. A stranger walked up the them and said "follow me" and these men left all they had and followed him. Now that's simply great faith. However as the story progressed we saw an unprecedented reduction in their faith so that by the time of the resurrection they were ranking skeptics, complete unbelievers. But how could this be given what transpired during that period. The disciples experienced miracles we can only dream of.They saw the sick healed, the dead raised, the storm calmed, a disciple even walked on water. In addition they heard God's voice giving approval of His son, they were even introduced to Moses and Elijah. Yet when Jesus got arrested the disciples ran and hide like scared little chickens. But wait a minute, Jesus told them He will be killed and resurrected on the third day.So why were they not waiting for Him on Sunday given what transpired over those three days. On Friday Jesus was crucified (just as predicted), however this was no mere mortal crucifixion. There was a great earthquake followed by a 3 hour solar eclipse, In addition we have long dead saints rising from their long slumber and socializing with locals. These events did nothing for the faith of the disciples as they were still weeping their hearts out on Sunday morning. Why were they not waiting for Him?
What is most amazing about this story is even after Jesus post resurrection appearances the disciples went back to their nets, back to where Jesus first met them...... three wasted years. Fortunately Jesus had "Plan B" ... the Pentecost experience.It's easy to see that these stories were fabricated and not accurate History, however maybe they are still the words of God .... who knows?

But that message does not run through the entire Bible. The children of Israel certainly believed in "Do unto others before they do unto you".... or perhaps you believe that the Israelites wanted to be slaughtered by the Canaanites.

Am I? This was the message from the Great Message Giver. How much more "Idealic" can you get. The people were actually following His command. Obviously Hillel never read the Torah. Conversely, Jesus message was not only different from that of the Old Testament, it was revolutionary. A 180 degree turn ....eh love thy enemies.

Sheesh!!
What is so difficult to understand?
This is what you said. What "idealic" message? The Israelites received a command from God and they carried it out. They did not "behaved" contrary to the "message" they received from God. Either Hillel never read the Torah or he is a complete numskull. Do you think before you write? Does that statement make any sense to you? Nations are made up of individuals... sheesh! Do you think it makes a difference to me whether you or the United States slaughter my entire family? Simple.. The Torah says hate your enemies and Jesus says love them. The last time I checked hate and love were antonyms.

Mea culpa, it doesn't say so. I was just assuming that slaughter of the Canaanites was done out of hate. People do slaughter others for reasons other than hate. I kinda wonder if God was expecting the the Israelites to love those little Canaanites babies as they slashed them to death.

But "others" have change over time, so the message isn't timeless.

Point taken

I don't think that "Love your neighbor as yourself" is the overall message the Bible brings to the individual. The one message that is consistent and unambiguous throughout the Bible is that you obey God or suffer the consequences. In Message 166 I gave an example of why I think that parts of the Bible were fabricated or at least greatly exaggerated.

So what if Jesus thinks it is the overall message? Any five year old can see otherwise. The laws certainly didn't ask the men to treat the women as they treat themselves. Neither did the golden rule extend to the Canaanites babies, or slaves. What was Jesus smoking when when He studied the OT? The overall message in the Bible is to "treat others as God commands you to treat them". Now that's a timeless message.

You are clearly missing the point. Of course the OT mentioned the golden rule, but then God's commands consistently contravened it. Jesus' actions were more consistent with what He preached. Do you think that the Israelites had a choice in how their women were treated , or their neighbors(the Canaanites), or their slaves? They were just acceding to God's capricious desires. Hmm, and I thought it was out of jealousy.
It always amazes me how we cannot see that obedience to God is only consistent message in the Bible.

Don't be silly cowboy, I am not one suggesting that there is some consistency in the Bible. You analogy is like asking some one what is overall message of all the books in a library. Maybe you are suggesting that the Bible is like Lord of the Rings or Treasure Island, written by the a single author over a short period time. If that is case, yes I would expect a consistent message. However, the Bible is a collection of religious writings by different authors and written at different times. So while the gods and the teachings may change, religion is always enforced by threats of punishment from the invisible man/men in the sky. That's a consistent message not only in Judaism or Christianity but almost every religion the ever existed. This summary is pertinent to many religions, it's in the details that lie the devils.

So what is your conclusion when a book has different and conflicting morals. Let take the OT... you can certainly find verses where the Israelites were admonished to treat other as they wanted to be treated. However, there are many instances where they were commanded to do awful things to others. Do we write these off as exceptions to the rule or simply as conflicting morals? How do we determine what is the norm and what is the exception? One could easily posit from the OT a new moral "Treat everyone as lesser mortals except your male neighbors"Edited by honda33, : No reason given.

I agree, but you were comparing the Bible to Treasure Island so I took the liberty to stretch the analogy a bit. That's what I 've been saying all along. It's keeping the commandments that is important. The commandments can change like a chameleon, just keep them. Do you really believe that there was no emphasis on enforcement? The central theme of the Bible is not unique. It is used by virtually every other religion.
As I said before, many of the stories in the Bible appears to be greatly exaggerated. The gospels were the example I gave, see Message 166