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Author Topic:   A question for believers - why the Bible?
Morte
Member (Idle past 6103 days)
Posts: 140
From: Texas
Joined: 05-03-2004


Message 1 of 79 (170238)
12-20-2004 6:04 PM


Recently, I had a discussion which got me to thinking about why the Bible itself is accepted as one of the forms through which God spoke to humanity... So I have a relatively simple question for all of the Christians on the site (whether or not you believe the Bible is inerrant/meant to be taken literally):
Why do you, personally, believe that the Bible is divinely inspired? (not necessarily as compared to any other religious text - even simply on its own, what makes you believe that the Bible was God's form of teaching us what we needed to know about Him?)

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AdminAsgara
Administrator (Idle past 2303 days)
Posts: 2073
From: The Universe
Joined: 10-11-2003


Message 2 of 79 (170359)
12-21-2004 9:24 AM


Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

  
Jimbo
Inactive Member


Message 3 of 79 (170942)
12-22-2004 6:40 PM


I saw a film called The Elegant Universe. If you have not seen it make sure you do. That film cemented my belief in God. Is the bible 100% accurate, I don't know and I don't care. All I know is I believe in God.

Replies to this message:
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jar
Member (Idle past 394 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 4 of 79 (170988)
12-22-2004 9:31 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Morte
12-20-2004 6:04 PM


I think a reasonable answer must include the genre.
The Bible was written, edited, compiled, revised and promoted as a religious text. It is, like the Koran, the Talmud, the Sayings of Confucious or those of the Buddha, designed to be a religious text.
It's not a Math Book, or a Chemistry Text. It's not a Romance Novel, Western or Spy Novel. It is of the Genre, Religious Texts.

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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Gilgamesh
Inactive Member


Message 5 of 79 (171033)
12-23-2004 12:00 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Morte
12-20-2004 6:04 PM


Somebody please rebut my post...
I'm gonna have some fun with this. I'm not a Christian, but I'd wager I can respond to this inquiry along with the best of them.
The Bible is God's word because:
- It is the oldest book known to man.
- It has statistically improbable numerical patterns throughout it that testify to it's divine origins (Bible Numerics/Bible Codes)
- It has scientific insights that could not have been known to man at the time (food hygiene, circulation of weather, the earth being a sphere, importance of blood to life, number of stars in the sky, etc.)
- It is full of fulfilled prophecy.
- It contains the best lessons and rules for living a complete moral life.
- The Son of God confirmed it's authority.
- Despite the fact that it is made up of many books written by many authors of hundreds of years, in is internally consistent and inerrant.
- It contains the only truly accurate account of creation of the universe and life.
How am I doing? That's eight straight lies in a row. That's is much as I can muster without feeling compelled to pluck out my own tongue.
This message has been edited by Gilgamesh, 12-23-2004 12:01 AM

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 477 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 6 of 79 (171057)
12-23-2004 2:11 AM
Reply to: Message 5 by Gilgamesh
12-23-2004 12:00 AM


Re: Somebody please rebut my post...
Gilgamesh writes:
- It is the oldest book known to man.
Not true. If you refer to the bible as 1 book, then it is not the oldest known book by a long shot. If you were talking about the oldest book in the bible, which is a collection of books, then noone can claim that it's the oldest book because noone knows how old it is.
- It has statistically improbable numerical patterns throughout it that testify to it's divine origins (Bible Numerics/Bible Codes)
Haha. Ya. Even most YEC's discourage their fellow creos from using this argument.
- It has scientific insights that could not have been known to man at the time (food hygiene, circulation of weather, the earth being a sphere, importance of blood to life, number of stars in the sky, etc.)
(Common sense, win generally go east and west not north and south, a circle is not a sphere, common sense, again common sense, etc.)
- It is full of fulfilled prophecy.
You forgot the words "vague and obscure". The sentence should have been "It is full of vague and obscure but fulfilled prophecies."
- It contains the best lessons and rules for living a complete moral life.
Yup, including a guidance to how to sale your daughters into slavery to pay off debts.
- The Son of God confirmed it's authority.
Ya, this is true. I mean, how can you argue with "the bible is true because god says so and we know that god exists because the bible says so"?
- Despite the fact that it is made up of many books written by many authors of hundreds of years, in is internally consistent and inerrant.
Haha. My computer programming prof once said, "if you input a several piles of garbage, the output will be a big pile of garbage."
- It contains the only truly accurate account of creation of the universe and life.
Yup, I believe there's no argument against this one. It's fool proof.

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berberry
Inactive Member


Message 7 of 79 (171060)
12-23-2004 2:29 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by coffee_addict
12-23-2004 2:11 AM


Re: Somebody please rebut my post...
Lam writes:
quote:
My computer programming prof once said, "if you input a several piles of garbage, the output will be a big pile of garbage."
I used to write accounting software years ago and we had an acronym for it: GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out.

Keep America Safe AND Free!

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markcus
Inactive Member


Message 8 of 79 (171063)
12-23-2004 2:47 AM



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Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 3994 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 9 of 79 (171068)
12-23-2004 3:54 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by markcus
12-23-2004 2:47 AM


I did. What`s your point?

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Brian
Member (Idle past 4960 days)
Posts: 4659
From: Scotland
Joined: 10-22-2002


Message 10 of 79 (171071)
12-23-2004 4:35 AM
Reply to: Message 9 by Nighttrain
12-23-2004 3:54 AM


Hi,
Well he trots out the 'design argument', which isn't really an argument at all, irrefutable proof that there is a God.
Irrefutable if you are ten years old of course
Brian.

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Phat
Member
Posts: 18262
From: Denver,Colorado USA
Joined: 12-30-2003
Member Rating: 1.1


Message 11 of 79 (171081)
12-23-2004 5:16 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by markcus
12-23-2004 2:47 AM


Hi, Markcus. You have a link to Peter Kreeft! The man is no slouch and he presents some decent arguments! Norman Geisler is another good one to check out! Of course, if one is prone to believe in logic and dismis the validity of the Bible based on atheism.orgs list of reasons or some other such drivel, they will never read the links to begin with! By this I mean: Check out the credentials of the wisdom and the ones behind it. Who started the "list of theist stumpers" for example? What type of moral fiber and character is shown in the author? I am not suggesting that the supporters of the Bible are any better than others, but I DO respect good sermons and passionate speeches as much if not more than dry assertions and vindicative attempts at attacking a solid ancient book.
Merry Christmas,EvC!
This message has been edited by Phatboy, 12-23-2004 05:20 AM

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jar
Member (Idle past 394 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 12 of 79 (171100)
12-23-2004 9:44 AM
Reply to: Message 5 by Gilgamesh
12-23-2004 12:00 AM


Re: Somebody please rebut my post...
Too funny Gilgamesh. You got them down as well as the best Carney Barker. LOL

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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PurpleYouko
Member
Posts: 714
From: Columbia Missouri
Joined: 11-11-2004


Message 13 of 79 (171107)
12-23-2004 10:13 AM
Reply to: Message 10 by Brian
12-23-2004 4:35 AM


twisted logic?
Well he trots out the 'design argument', which isn't really an argument at all, irrefutable proof that there is a God.
His logic falls apart well before he gets to that point. He starts off by defining what it is to "know" then promptly forgets all that and claims to "know" that God exists.
This statement really says it all.
We can know some things without being able to lead others to that knowledge by reasons. Many Christians think God's existence is like that.
How's that for a contradiction in terms?
If you "know" something but have no concrete proof then you don't, in point of fact, "know" it at all. You "believe" it and that is a completely different thing.
PY

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Morte
Member (Idle past 6103 days)
Posts: 140
From: Texas
Joined: 05-03-2004


Message 14 of 79 (171131)
12-23-2004 12:45 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by markcus
12-23-2004 2:47 AM


quote:
check em out
I did - I read a couple of articles, but all of them seemed to have to do with the existence of God, not relating God to the Bible. Could you link to the specific articles that you feel are relevant?
(And on a side note, the Pascal's Wager link in the second one seems to entirely ignore the existence of other religions in its argument.)

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bob_gray
Member (Idle past 5014 days)
Posts: 243
From: Virginia
Joined: 05-03-2004


Message 15 of 79 (171132)
12-23-2004 12:55 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by markcus
12-23-2004 2:47 AM


check this out
http:///WebPages/ForumRules.html
You will notice that rule #5 requests that you don't use bare links. Could you summarize what is said at either of these sites?
Thanks

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