How do you know the Bible isn't God's Word?

Started by bfiddy100, March 02, 2018, 11:08:13 PM

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fencerider

making an argument about whether or not god is good, is not the same argument as whether or not the Bible is god’s word. Which do you want to talk about?

The Bible is an anthology of religious writing put together by humans. As you would expect there are errors and contradictions in it. If I cut a book in pieces and gave each piece to different people and 50years later their grandchildren got together and put the pieces together, there wouldnt be any contradictions because they were all written by the same person. Maybe you won’t believe that errors exist unless you see them with your own eyes. There are several lists on the internet which show the actual verses that are in question... and they have been posted a few times already in this website.

Is the god of the Bible good? Aitm mentioned here and other posts what the god of Israel told them to do in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. forced marriage, making girls into sex slaves, etc., ..., killing 50 kids for making fun of a bald man. You cant say that was for the time of the old testament. Isaiah says “I am the Lord God and I change not”. That means all of the evil that god condoned or ordered to be done in Deuteronomy and Leviticus is still supported by god today.
"Do you believe in god?", is not a proper English sentence. Unless you believe that, "Do you believe in apple?", is a proper English sentence.

Mr.Obvious

Quote from: bfiddy100 on March 03, 2018, 11:21:58 AM
Thanks for the responses.


@Mr.Obvious - Would it be correct to assume that this is based on the suffering you see in the world?


Oh no. Not at all. That's a completely different reason to think he's not worthy of my time. It's also valid, yes. but not the reason for this
The bible being his word, as being written by one author, due to it's own inconsistencies and contradictions as well as it's tendency for cruelty, immorality and violence (and the condoning thereoff) makes me not want to spend one minute with the author, if I could avoid it.
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

Unbeliever

#17
Quote from: bfiddy100 on March 02, 2018, 11:08:13 PM
Hello. I assume that you would say that you know that the Bible isn't the Word of God, even if you might not say that you know there isn't a God. I'm hoping that you'll tell me why you are so confident that the Bible isn't what it claims to be (i.e., the Word of God). I'm also curious if you're open to the possibility that you may be wrong about your conclusion, especially considering that you've been wrong about things that you thought you were right about before (just like every other human). Thanks in advance for your response.
Can you show me where the Bible claims to be the word of God?
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Unbeliever

Quote from: bfiddy100 on March 03, 2018, 11:21:58 AM
However, the Bible makes very serious claims about your eternal destiny so I don't see how it's something that can be dismissed without confidence that it isn't what it claims to be.
Again, where in the Bible does it claim that the Bible is God's word?
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Unbeliever

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."
John 1:1

Is the Bible God? If not, then the Bible is not "the word" of God.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

fencerider

Quote from: bfiddy100 on March 03, 2018, 11:21:58 AM
how do you know that the Bible is just Hebrew and Near East folklore and mythology?

In the case of the Catholic Bible, it is. The religious writings of the middle east, the druids of western Europe, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt were gathered together by order of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He didnt have any interest in fact checking and he didnt do it because he was interested in religion. He cut the Catholic Bible out of whole cloth to serve his own interests
"Do you believe in god?", is not a proper English sentence. Unless you believe that, "Do you believe in apple?", is a proper English sentence.

Unbeliever

I read a book call 101 Myths of the Bible that tells me all I need to know to affirm the mythical nature of the Bible. At least the Old Testament, and the New Testament is no better.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Mike Cl

Quote from: bfiddy100 on March 03, 2018, 11:21:58 AM
Thanks for the responses.

@Mike Cl - Can you provide the reason(s) why you know that the Bible is fiction?  And yes, of course, I've considered that the Bible isn't the Word of God.  I didn't come to know that it is what it claims to be until my 30s.
Bfiddy, you came here with your claims.  I'll not do all the work for you--so, give me some reasons why you think there is a god and why the bible is not simply a work of man.

For me to think someone/thing is real I need to see some evidence of it.  I have not seen any evidence of god(s).  And that lack of evidence is evidence that there is no god(s).  Nature itself, is a proof of the non-existence of any god(s).  on this planet all life is dependent upon life to survive--in order for me to live I have to kill--or I die.  Even the most strict vegan still has to kill plants to live. A kinder and gentler god could have come up with a much better and fair system than this.  This is just a tiny portion of one idea--so, share with me some evidence of your god's existence.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Blackleaf

Quote from: Mike Cl on March 03, 2018, 02:10:26 PM
Bfiddy, you came here with your claims.  I'll not do all the work for you--so, give me some reasons why you think there is a god and why the bible is not simply a work of man.

For me to think someone/thing is real I need to see some evidence of it.  I have not seen any evidence of god(s).  And that lack of evidence is evidence that there is no god(s).  Nature itself, is a proof of the non-existence of any god(s).  on this planet all life is dependent upon life to survive--in order for me to live I have to kill--or I die.  Even the most strict vegan still has to kill plants to live. A kinder and gentler god could have come up with a much better and fair system than this.  This is just a tiny portion of one idea--so, share with me some evidence of your god's existence.

Even for Christians who reject Young Earth Creationism, there's a problem with the belief that God directed evolution. If that were true, then God was not only incapable of or unwilling to create the final product from the start, but he decided to go the most despicable and roundabout way of getting to his end goal. Evolution is a system driven by death. Natural selection pressures life to evolve in response to a harsh environment that is constantly trying to kill it, and always eventually succeeds in doing so. What kind of a god would create such a system?
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on March 03, 2018, 01:28:26 PM
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."
John 1:1

Is the Bible God? If not, then the Bible is not "the word" of God.

Not "word" but "Word" ... and "Logos" in the original.  A technical gnostic term.  Johannine and Pauline theology is clearly, gnostic aka kabbalah.  To understand it, if one wants to take the time, requires study of gnosticism/kabbalah.  Of course for most people, in most circumstances, there is no reason for making the effort at understanding.  It that even an option for a nihilist?  An existential nihilist would say that meaning is not objective ... aka something that can be verified by a committee of experts (except Biblical exegetes do this all the time, more or less).  Scholarship however isn't a science, it is a humanity.  Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and the committee only agrees on that beauty ... if they are coming from a similar POV.

In Sunni Islam, the Quran fulfills the same purpose as Jesus in the Johannine theology, as the imams fulfill the roles of elders in that Messianic Jewish community.  In Sunni Islam the Quran is allowed to interpret itself.  In Shia Islam, the Quran doesn't interpret itself, but the ayatollahs are an inseparable part of the revelation ... exactly like in Orthodox/Catholic Christianity.  Low Church Protestanism might have not happened, without the example of the synagogue and the mosque (clergy lite).  There is a cultural continuity from the 1st thru 7th century CE.

Of course there is no particular reason for anyone to accept any of this theology.  It remains entirely speculative.  The Sefer Yetzirah is an early work of kabbalah, where the universe is constructed, metaphysically, out of the Hebrew language, one Hebrew letter at a time.  In that view, the whole Hebrew Bible is just one long word (early manuscripts had no punctuation).  If Jesus is the Word ... that Word ... then Jesus is a book, not a person at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_Yetzirah
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: Blackleaf on March 03, 2018, 02:34:29 PM
Even for Christians who reject Young Earth Creationism, there's a problem with the belief that God directed evolution. If that were true, then God was not only incapable of or unwilling to create the final product from the start, but he decided to go the most despicable and roundabout way of getting to his end goal. Evolution is a system driven by death. Natural selection pressures life to evolve in response to a harsh environment that is constantly trying to kill it, and always eventually succeeds in doing so. What kind of a god would create such a system?

The Mystery of the Cross ... is all about this ... that Life and Death are one and the same.  So the claim is, you can't have one without the other.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

If (a big IF) the Bible isn't chock full of Contradictions, then it is at least the most confusing thing ever written by man or God - whom the Bible (in 1 Corinthians 14:33) says is not the author of confusion. So if God isn't the author of confusion then he can't possibly be the author of the Bible.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on March 03, 2018, 03:09:44 PM
If (a big IF) the Bible isn't chock full of Contradictions, then it is at least the most confusing thing ever written by man or God - whom the Bible (in 1 Corinthians 14:33) says is not the author of confusion. So if God isn't the author of confusion then he can't possibly be the author of the Bible.

It is an anthology by many authors.  What a given author contributed was edited, perhaps more than once.  So you have to expect a mess.  Now Paul may have thought that he wasn't confused, but you will have to cross ;-) examine him on that when you get the chance.  His supposed letters were edited as well.

Reality isn't Vulcan ... ambiguity, delusion, confusion etc are all normal.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

Quote from: Baruch on March 03, 2018, 03:28:30 PM
It is an anthology by many authors.  What a given author contributed was edited, perhaps more than once.  So you have to expect a mess.  Now Paul may have thought that he wasn't confused, but you will have to cross ;-) examine him on that when you get the chance.  His supposed letters were edited as well.

Reality isn't Vulcan ... ambiguity, delusion, confusion etc are all normal.
Yes, I know that, and you know that, and others here know that - but bfiddy100 doesn't know that.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on March 03, 2018, 03:44:02 PM
Yes, I know that, and you know that, and others here know that - but bfiddy100 doesn't know that.

Which is why I post ... for lurkers, not the usual suspects ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.