Jesus' Origin Story

[popsthebuilder]

But since you believe in a fiction, what else do you have to go on????

Actually I don't really take the bible literally. I do reflect on the teachings and parables and find truth in them. There is wisdom in the pages.

[Mike Cl]

Actually I don't really take the bible literally. I do reflect on the teachings and parables and find truth in them. There is wisdom in the pages.

I have read the bible and some of it several times.  And I used the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary as an aid when reading some of it, as well.  I found wisdom.  And I found some personal truths, as well.  But I could say the same of many, many books I've read.  And within the bible I have found murder, destruction, evil, lies, distortions and stupidity.  So, the bible, from the history of it that I've read about it makes it clearly a book of fiction.

[popsthebuilder]

I have read the bible and some of it several times.  And I used the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary as an aid when reading some of it, as well.  I found wisdom.  And I found some personal truths, as well.  But I could say the same of many, many books I've read.  And within the bible I have found murder, destruction, evil, lies, distortions and stupidity.  So, the bible, from the history of it that I've read about it makes it clearly a book of fiction.

Well you might as well call all sacred writings ever written fiction too. That just isn't the case. They are not the product of people's imagination, but are inspired works. Historically, the bible may be not so accurate. But it isn't a history book. It is a guidance and book of prophesies and virtues. Man added in genealogies and other fantastical things in an attempt to make it undeniable, only making it less credible to many. I believe everything is in the bible for a reason, but that not all of it is exactly the Word of GOD per say.

[Mike Cl]

Well you might as well call all sacred writings ever written fiction too. That just isn't the case. They are not the product of people's imagination, but are inspired works. Historically, the bible may be not so accurate. But it isn't a history book. It is a guidance and book of prophesies and virtues. Man added in genealogies and other fantastical things in an attempt to make it undeniable, only making it less credible to many. I believe everything is in the bible for a reason, but that not all of it is exactly the Word of GOD per say.

Okay Pops--all sacred writings ever written are fiction.  ALL theism is based on fiction.  What the hell is an 'inspired' writing???  I'd call it a vivid imagination.  Prophesies in the bible--well, all prophesies--are lies; they were mostly written after the fact.  So, you claim some of the bible was added by men?  What part of the bible was NOT written by men???  All of it was.  Actually, the bible (all versions of it) were crafted from a huge amount of writings--crafted by men for all the reasons you would suppose they did it--power and money.  And of course everything in the bible is there for a reason--the men who crafted it were not dumb--they were pretty crafty and knew what it was they wanted--power and money.

[fencerider]

Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Edgar Allen Poe all got their inspiration from a bottle. Did some of their best work "drunk as a skunk".

[Blackleaf]

Well you might as well call all sacred writings ever written fiction too. That just isn't the case. They are not the product of people's imagination, but are inspired works. Historically, the bible may be not so accurate. But it isn't a history book. It is a guidance and book of prophesies and virtues. Man added in genealogies and other fantastical things in an attempt to make it undeniable, only making it less credible to many. I believe everything is in the bible for a reason, but that not all of it is exactly the Word of GOD per say.

You really have to cherrypick to find anything worth reflecting on in the Bible. Unless you think it's a good idea for a rape victim to be forced to marry her rapist, or to make life-long slaves out of people in other nations.

[Baruch]

You really have to cherrypick to find anything worth reflecting on in the Bible. Unless you think it's a good idea for a rape victim to be forced to marry her rapist, or to make life-long slaves out of people in other nations.

Different strokes for different folks ... stick to your comic books ;-))

[Baruch]

It is you imagining that all theism is the simple product of imagination that is the issue. How would one go about using their imagination to determine truth?

They cannot.

The Arabs also despise imagination, but think that the Quran is revelation, unique revelation.  That is of course, inconsistent.  There are no Arabs on Vulcan.

Imagination is a god-property, it only happens with living, conscious beings.  But if one is a bitter nihilist ... one can't enjoy even breakfast corn flakes.  Where did corn flakes come from?  A man's imagination, put into material form.  Dr Kellog, a scam artist.  Hey folks, it is scam artists, all the way down.  Everything is a lie, everyone is a scam artist ... waaaa.  Snowflakes aren't new.

[popsthebuilder]

You really have to cherrypick to find anything worth reflecting on in the Bible. Unless you think it's a good idea for a rape victim to be forced to marry her rapist, or to make life-long slaves out of people in other nations.

Get your head out of your ass and stop decieving people.  The old testament has some hard things in it. I won't deny that. But the majority of the whole book is profitable towards ones own direction.

Sharpen up on your misrepresentation of ancient law;

Rape was punishable by death.

[Baruch]

It is easy to judge other people, but we should judge their works, including their writings.  If some people are puritans, they will even find Gandhi inadequate.

[popsthebuilder]

See if that worked.

I used to have the same signature but at some point removed it to appease others.



faith in selfless unity for good

[Mike Cl]

Different strokes for different folks ... stick to your comic books ;-))

That's what the bible is--ancient comic book.

[doorknob]

Well nice and cute avatar pops! I like it.

[popsthebuilder]

Okay Pops--all sacred writings ever written are fiction.  ALL theism is based on fiction.  What the hell is an 'inspired' writing???  I'd call it a vivid imagination.  Prophesies in the bible--well, all prophesies--are lies; they were mostly written after the fact.  So, you claim some of the bible was added by men?  What part of the bible was NOT written by men???  All of it was.  Actually, the bible (all versions of it) were crafted from a huge amount of writings--crafted by men for all the reasons you would suppose they did it--power and money.  And of course everything in the bible is there for a reason--the men who crafted it were not dumb--they were pretty crafty and knew what it was they wanted--power and money.

I would expect you to surmise as much.

Regardless of the misdirection of man, the truth still shines through the pages. Inspired is not synonymous with imagined, though the average translations seem somewhat off.



faith in selfless unity for good

[doorknob]

And within the bible I have found murder, destruction, evil, lies, distortions and stupidity.  So, the bible, from the history of it that I've read about it makes it clearly a book of fiction.

Not saying your whole argument was bad but I'm gonna be nit picky here. Sure it's semantics but the way this is worded implies that, the bible is false because of the " murder, destruction, evil, lies, distortions and stupidity". But we all know that " murder, destruction, evil, lies, distortions and stupidity" are very real things! They exist! As in that's not a good argument as to why the bible is fake. To a Christians that's not very convincing.

I dislike bad arguments because they hurt the cause. Not saying they can't be totally avoided but they aren't useful.

Be careful of your wording. I understand you probably didn't mean to imply it that way, but the word "so" and it's placement is misleading. I know that grammatically it's correct but not every one is a grammar nazi and the way you stated that is very misleading.

Sorry to point that out I'm just nit picky about semantics.