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Author Topic:   Your favourite Bible absurdity
PaulK
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Posts: 17822
Joined: 01-10-2003
Member Rating: 2.2


Message 61 of 159 (42022)
06-03-2003 5:33 PM
Reply to: Message 60 by Conspirator
06-03-2003 4:44 PM


I find it interesting that the people who promote the Bible as the Word of God are so unfamiliar with it.
Did you even know that the reference is to a parable ? And that it does not refer to a miracle at all ? Did you even try to find out ?
Matthew 13:32

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PaulK
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Posts: 17822
Joined: 01-10-2003
Member Rating: 2.2


Message 87 of 159 (43781)
06-23-2003 3:09 PM
Reply to: Message 84 by Itachi Uchiha
06-23-2003 2:43 PM


What I think is that the whole thing is based on highly questionable in interpretations of the Bible. And it looks very much as if the argument is heavily based on assuming that the Bible must agree with their beliefs.
For instance they argue that because Jesus cited parts of Genesis that Jesus must have believed the whole thing literally. By that thinking it is "defying Jesus" to take the parables as fictions intended to convey a teaching !
And although they assert that many "liberals" attribute a belief in Biblical inerrancy to Jesus they never show any direct support for this claim - or more importantly any serious evidence that Jesus did.
I also note that they reject any and all scholarship that contradicts their views. They are happy to insist on historical errors in Apocryphal books - but do not mention those in Daniel.
In the end this comes down to a belief that Christians should not study and try to understand the Bible - they should believe Jonathan Sarfatti instead.

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PaulK
Member
Posts: 17822
Joined: 01-10-2003
Member Rating: 2.2


Message 94 of 159 (43945)
06-24-2003 1:27 PM
Reply to: Message 93 by Itachi Uchiha
06-24-2003 1:13 PM


I gave examples of why I found it to be questionable.
And can you explain why you don't accept that it is possible to use strained or even false interpretatiosn of the Bible to back up preconceived beliefs ? I see Biblical inerrantists and creationists do both. It's not impossible - it doesn't even seem to be difficult.
Even the idea that the Bible itself is the "Word of God" is founded on questionable interpretations.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 93 by Itachi Uchiha, posted 06-24-2003 1:13 PM Itachi Uchiha has replied

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PaulK
Member
Posts: 17822
Joined: 01-10-2003
Member Rating: 2.2


Message 103 of 159 (43972)
06-24-2003 5:01 PM
Reply to: Message 95 by Itachi Uchiha
06-24-2003 1:30 PM


If oyu agree that Jesus can use stories ofr teaching purposes whether or not they happen to be literally true then surely that also applies to Genesis, as well as the Parables. How then can you claim that Jesus would have to be a fraud for citing Genesis to teach, if it were not literally true ?
There are plenty of Christians who will assert that God created via evolution and neither of the passages Jesus is cited as reporting even deals with that - nor with the age of the Earth. So how can you tell from that that Jesus beleived that all of Genesis was literally true ?
Next to the question of whether Jesus believed that the bible was inerrant - you cite no evidence for that or even the assertion that some noted liberal theorlogians beleive that. Instead you cite exaggerated claims of the evidnece for the existence of Jesus (which is in fact poor with only two sources of even minor value outside of the Bible) andof the absence of evidence for "monkey men" or "missing links". The real fact there is that more and more fossils are being discovered, and the evidence for human evolution is very strong.
Historical errors in Daniel ? Well perhaps we had better split off that if you want to go into details, but we cans tart with the fact that history records that the Persions took control of the Medean Empire before conquering Babylon while Daniel puts events the other way around.
And I've saved the best for last. You have copied an essay attacking the conclusions of mainstream Bible scholars - the result of deep study of the Bible. Yet you say that Christians studying the Bible must come to the same conclusions ! Well which is it ? Are the scholars right and Sarfati's essay an attack on Christianity ? Or are you wrong to say that Christians cannot disagree ?

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