Your favourite Bible absurdity

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I believe scripture was divinely inspired, because it claims it was.

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I've seen it argued -- I believe by someone on this board -- that the Bible claims to be inspired only in a few spots. Wish I could remember how that went.

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This doesn't discredit the document as a whole.

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No, it doesn't. Translation errors are the least troublesome bits.

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Many of the historical texts we base history on have errors in them - but we don't discredit them.

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But we do cross reference them with other sources and try to verify the account or construct an accurate account. This type of analysis of the Bible, for most Christians, is sacrilegious. I think this is where the analogy with our treatment of other historical documents breaks down.

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Whenever we uncover a historical text, we assume it is truthful, and I treat the Bible in the same way.

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It would be more accurate to say that we assume the document reflects the author's, perhaps a culture's, convictions, beliefs, and possibly ulterior motives. If this is what you mean, then I treat the Bible that way as well.The real problem is in extrapolating from those things that can be verified-- and really, the Bible scores very low here-- to those things that can't, such as the various miracles, angels, God, and whatnot. Because these things cannot be verified, an argument is usually bootstrapped from the "fact" that the Bible is miraculously non-contradictory and from the "fact" that every attempt at verification has been successful. Basically, this argument depends upon the Bible containing no errors. A single error and the whole construct crashes down.A second problem is that none of the major events described have been verified-- the creation, the Flood, the exodus-- though all, in fact, should have left mountains of evidence. This isn't really a problem for a historical document. We realize that people included myth, legend, and such into their histories. This is a problem for a religion, though.Please note that I don't know what your take on any of this is-- you haven't been posting long enough here-- so I don't mean to imply that anything I've said reflects your personal beliefs.------------------
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Howdy,I read Brian's reply, and essentially, I agree. The way that Christians present Christianity, and the way they present themselves for that matter, is offensive to me as well. I won't apply this to all Christians, of course. I absolutely marvel at your lucidity, for example, but you are rare. I just wanted to let you know that Brian's point of view on this is shared by someone else.------------------
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1. i made myself a milk shake in five minutes
2. The milk shake made itself from millions of years of evolution.

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The analogy is flawed for the simple reason that milkshakes don't reproduce and pass along slightly modified genes each generation.------------------
No webpage found at provided URL: www.hells-handmaiden.com

Reproduction of genes is easy. You can watch it under the microscope every time a cell divides. A cell makes copies of its genetic material and divides. Each new cell has half of the doubled set of genes. The catch is that the copying process isn't 100% accurate. Errors occur. Occasionally those errors allow the cell to produce a protein that is useful, so it gains a bit of advantage and makes a few more babies. The next generation has a higher percentage of altered genes. This is evolution.------------------
No webpage found at provided URL: www.hells-handmaiden.com

Mr.P is right. The topic is drifting. We can continue in another thread. There are already some open on the subject, or start another one specific to this one issue.------------------
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PDF is the tool of Satan. Arrrggg....!!!------------------
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... Zeuss sitting up there with his ambrosia and coming down to impregnate good looking babes

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... ahem ... while disguised as a domestic animal.------------------
No webpage found at provided URL: www.hells-handmaiden.com[This message has been edited by John, 06-25-2003]

Wait... Isn't that 1+1+1=1?------------------
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