So basically you can state an opinion as fact without even doing the work that paleographies do in establishing the authenticity of ancient texts who find staggeringly more confirmation that the four Gospels of the New Testament are authentic historical accounts than they can provide to prove that Plato wrote Republic.
So basically you can state an opinion as fact without even doing the work that paleographies do in establishing the authenticity of ancient texts who find staggeringly more confirmation that the four Gospels of the New Testament are authentic historical accounts than they can provide to prove that Plato wrote Republic.
People chose to put their faith in a lot of different things based on a lot of different criteria. What they want or don’t want; what they know experientially; what they know through scientific inquiry. It is not wise to put our faith in things that are not based on truth. So we all have to examine how we are determining what is truth.
Maybe you should read the entire Bible and consider how you determine truth before you write it off as fiction.
There are several versions of the Gospel. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD shit-canned several of them. Of the four that remain, there are many inconsistencies and contradictions. Thomas Jefferson's THE LIFE AND MORALS OF JESUS OF NAZARETH is Jefferson's cut/paste of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that contains no stories of magic and which appear in all four books.
Not only are their historic and logical inconsistencies in the Bible, there are some things inserted, words allegedly spoken by Jesus (John 14:6) that seem incompatible with Jesus the Jewish rabbi.
And the answer to you questioning Jesus’ words as being inconsistent with Jesus the Jewish Rabbi in John 14:6 are in 14:7:
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Oneness with the Father
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
Jesus is more than just a Jewish Rabbi. He is God who became man in order to offer Himself as the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb to pay the debt we cannot pay ourselves.
People complain that God does not intervene in human affairs enough when situations bother them. But when He does prove His existence and His nature sinful man does not like what He sees.
John 3:16-21 says it better:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His fnonly begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
There are differences that would be expected in eyewitness accounts--that actually support their authenticity. What are the historic and logical inconsistencies that trouble you?
Would you actually prefer one man’s account that he developed to ease his own lack of faith in an all powerful Creator God who made him feel ashamed of his own pet sin issues?
LOL Have you any idea what the "Thomas Jefferson Bible" is? I'll be happy to list two or three inconsistencies in the Gospels if you can document what "pet sin issues" Thomas Jefferson suffered from.
First of all, the "virgin birth" is not mentioned in every Gospel account. Jefferson, like millions of others, rejected the Egyptian myth of a virgin birth. Secondly, there are the so-called accounts of Jesus' last words on the cross. John 10:6 is the verse that gives me the most trouble. I find it obnoxiously narcissistic of Jesus to claim that "no one comes to the Father except through me". It seems totally out of character for a man who has been preaching as a rabbi for three years to condemn 99% of his fellow Jews to eternal hellfire for not believing in him. And, of course, there is that nonsense about Good Friday and Easter. If Jesus was put in a tomb on Friday and rose on Sunday, how does that fulfill his claim that he would be in the ground for three days and three nights.
I am comfortable believing that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist. After all, he never performed any miracles before his baptism. And I am convinced that he was crucified by Rome because, as heir to the throne of Jerusalem's king, he was a threat to Rome.
Have you studied the Old Testament prophecies that foretold the virgin birth of Jesus and MANY other detailed things that would make sure that people would be able to recognize the Messiah when He would come?
You can believe what you want--and you will, but your laughter and confidence in writing off the Bible on the basis of your personal incredulity shows that you are not seriously trying to decide whether the Bible is true or not.
The Bible is a consistent revelation of God and Man and the purpose for life from Genesis to Revelation. But you wouldn’t be able to see that unless you read it through with the mind that you would obey it if it proved to be true.
The teachings of the Old Testament promise the coming of Jesus and give the whys and wherefores of what He did and said.
Jefferson discounted miracles. And apparently that fits your concept of god or your world view. That is your prerogative.
I would rather discover truth and live according to it rather than decide what I want it to be true and end up deceived.
I stopped believing in miracles when my mother died of cancer at the age of 59. I don't know how many times the disease went into remission and we all praised the LORD for her healing. I am 73 years old and have never seen a miracle. I'm not saying that I never will; but the odds are decreasing every year.
I've read the entire bible three times and I own several translations. I've had interlinear versions and I currently favor the NRSV. That being said, I believe there was a Great Flood and I believe Adam and Eve are archetypal inventions.
Thank you for your civility. I remain unconvinced that three days can be turned to two by edict or that the Sabbath could be changed to the Venerable Day of the Sun.
There were many preachers in my family, the first one reached the New World in 1706 and the history of my family shows that, traditionally, the men were Mennonite preachers. I prefer Spinoza to John Calvin. I don't believe my "loving" heavenly father will condemn me to an eternity of suffering in a burning Hell.
I am very comfortable with my beliefs and I can see that you are as well.
Sorry to hear about your loss. We all have much to sort through in our life experiences. And I guess that is why religious beliefs cannot, nor should not be mandated but be rather be protected by government authorities.
So basically you can state an opinion as fact without even doing the work that paleographies do in establishing the authenticity of ancient texts who find staggeringly more confirmation that the four Gospels of the New Testament are authentic historical accounts than they can provide to prove that Plato wrote Republic.
People chose to put their faith in a lot of different things based on a lot of different criteria. What they want or don’t want; what they know experientially; what they know through scientific inquiry. It is not wise to put our faith in things that are not based on truth. So we all have to examine how we are determining what is truth.
Maybe you should read the entire Bible and consider how you determine truth before you write it off as fiction.
There are several versions of the Gospel. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD shit-canned several of them. Of the four that remain, there are many inconsistencies and contradictions. Thomas Jefferson's THE LIFE AND MORALS OF JESUS OF NAZARETH is Jefferson's cut/paste of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that contains no stories of magic and which appear in all four books.
Not only are their historic and logical inconsistencies in the Bible, there are some things inserted, words allegedly spoken by Jesus (John 14:6) that seem incompatible with Jesus the Jewish rabbi.
And the answer to you questioning Jesus’ words as being inconsistent with Jesus the Jewish Rabbi in John 14:6 are in 14:7:
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Oneness with the Father
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
Jesus is more than just a Jewish Rabbi. He is God who became man in order to offer Himself as the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb to pay the debt we cannot pay ourselves.
People complain that God does not intervene in human affairs enough when situations bother them. But when He does prove His existence and His nature sinful man does not like what He sees.
John 3:16-21 says it better:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His fnonly begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
There are differences that would be expected in eyewitness accounts--that actually support their authenticity. What are the historic and logical inconsistencies that trouble you?
Would you actually prefer one man’s account that he developed to ease his own lack of faith in an all powerful Creator God who made him feel ashamed of his own pet sin issues?
LOL Have you any idea what the "Thomas Jefferson Bible" is? I'll be happy to list two or three inconsistencies in the Gospels if you can document what "pet sin issues" Thomas Jefferson suffered from.
First of all, the "virgin birth" is not mentioned in every Gospel account. Jefferson, like millions of others, rejected the Egyptian myth of a virgin birth. Secondly, there are the so-called accounts of Jesus' last words on the cross. John 10:6 is the verse that gives me the most trouble. I find it obnoxiously narcissistic of Jesus to claim that "no one comes to the Father except through me". It seems totally out of character for a man who has been preaching as a rabbi for three years to condemn 99% of his fellow Jews to eternal hellfire for not believing in him. And, of course, there is that nonsense about Good Friday and Easter. If Jesus was put in a tomb on Friday and rose on Sunday, how does that fulfill his claim that he would be in the ground for three days and three nights.
I am comfortable believing that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist. After all, he never performed any miracles before his baptism. And I am convinced that he was crucified by Rome because, as heir to the throne of Jerusalem's king, he was a threat to Rome.
Have you studied the Old Testament prophecies that foretold the virgin birth of Jesus and MANY other detailed things that would make sure that people would be able to recognize the Messiah when He would come?
You can believe what you want--and you will, but your laughter and confidence in writing off the Bible on the basis of your personal incredulity shows that you are not seriously trying to decide whether the Bible is true or not.
The Bible is a consistent revelation of God and Man and the purpose for life from Genesis to Revelation. But you wouldn’t be able to see that unless you read it through with the mind that you would obey it if it proved to be true.
The teachings of the Old Testament promise the coming of Jesus and give the whys and wherefores of what He did and said.
Jefferson discounted miracles. And apparently that fits your concept of god or your world view. That is your prerogative.
I would rather discover truth and live according to it rather than decide what I want it to be true and end up deceived.
I stopped believing in miracles when my mother died of cancer at the age of 59. I don't know how many times the disease went into remission and we all praised the LORD for her healing. I am 73 years old and have never seen a miracle. I'm not saying that I never will; but the odds are decreasing every year.
I've read the entire bible three times and I own several translations. I've had interlinear versions and I currently favor the NRSV. That being said, I believe there was a Great Flood and I believe Adam and Eve are archetypal inventions.
Thank you for your civility. I remain unconvinced that three days can be turned to two by edict or that the Sabbath could be changed to the Venerable Day of the Sun.
There were many preachers in my family, the first one reached the New World in 1706 and the history of my family shows that, traditionally, the men were Mennonite preachers. I prefer Spinoza to John Calvin. I don't believe my "loving" heavenly father will condemn me to an eternity of suffering in a burning Hell.
I am very comfortable with my beliefs and I can see that you are as well.
Sorry to hear about your loss. We all have much to sort through in our life experiences. And I guess that is why religious beliefs cannot, nor should not be mandated but be rather be protected by government authorities.
Still glad to be walking with you on the path.
Same to you, sister!