pbee writes:
The Scriptures are more than mere books as some would have you believe. It is the cornerstone of our civilization and highly unique.
These assertions are debatable at best.
First, the cornerstone of modern civilization is the rejection of fundamentalism, regardless of source. Just for one tiny example, people like Salk, Jenner, Pasteur, Fleming, Reed, etc. saved millions of lives, and most importantly Norman Borlaug saved billions. Do who do these people owe their existence, those who falsely presume to speak for God (in direct violation of the rules according to the Bible) or those who alleviate human suffering and death?
Second, any given religion, while somewhat unique in content, is not unique in history. Just within the Abrahamic tradition there are three religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which are intimately interconnected. These religions have little to do with Hinduism and it's later offshoot Buddhism, nor do they have anything to do with Taoism or the semi-religion Confucianism, all of which have hundreds of millions of adherents. Do you mean by 'our' civilization the exclusion of the majority of the population of Asia? I notice for a bunch of supposedly 'uncivilized' people, they sure are effective in influencing the world, now and in the past.
Though archaeology, astronomy, history, and other fields of knowledge support the Bible, it's divine qualities do not rest on such confirmation alone. Among the many proofs that the Bible is God’s inspired gift to man, no greater evidence can be presented than the fulfillment of its prophecies.
If one is speaking in terms of a literal, as opposed to metaphorical, interpretation of the Bible, there is little to no overall astronomical, chemical, physical, geological, linguistic, biological, medical, fortunetelling, or in many cases even historical or archaeological support for the Bible. In fact there are millions of data points representing hundreds of categories of evidence that such an interpretation is blatantly false. If one looks at the Bible as a metaphorical work, these massive problems disappear as it by definition makes no assertion of scientific fact but rather seeks to guide rather than statically engrave for all time. Therefore, it depends upon which Bible, and how this given Bible is interpreted, to determine to what extent it is either true or false, depending upon the position of one making any assertions of personal infallibility or its opposite, humility, before God.
This is but a few of hundreds of accounts that the scriptures provide us with to conclude the validity of its claims. The point of it being, it is anything but a simple compilation of books. The fact alone that it holds more records than any other literary works places it in a class of its own.
Bunk, the Rig Veda has more 'historical records' and the Principia predicted more cosmic behavior in one minute than the Bible has in all of history.
Perhaps you may want to consider worshiping God instead of worshiping a book, which in the end is, after all, a graven image.
Edited by anglagard, : Clarity again
Read not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, not to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider - Francis Bacon
The more we understand particular things, the more we understand God - Spinoza
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