The bible is NOT full of what WASNT reported. Specifically the time LAPSE between the birth of Cain and Abel and the Death of Abel.... I asked the same questions of those in Sunday School. It was beyond the Dont Debate the Bible Mentality of the Teachers, So I read the bible and studied Hebrew myself. A lot of Intelligent inference falls into place. How much time passed from "Multiply and replenish the earth" to The Death Of abel??? How much multiplying went on... Remember Genesis is not a DETAILEd account of EVERYTHING that went on during those times. We can study countless other records to fill in the Gaps, but the Bible is a SPECIFIC iteration of things Directly related to the Hebrew People. So it is limited in its scope of information purveyed... Whereas the Babylonian records do not delve in DEPTH concerning Hebrew history, etc.... History from a specific perspective of a specific tribe of people.... Thats the Bible.
I didnt re-arrange your words. I asked you a question... I took your quote, didnt change it. Perhaps you edited your statement after I quoted you and responded. Too bad we dont have a record of the statement before the edit. Not to offend... So lets move on....
Rcan: >Assuming that at the end of life, it is you that will >be standing before God, maybe you will be a little >less smug when He says, "sorry, I don't believe in >you. The stove is over there. Get lost. The critical point of the statement being -- Who would want him as a god? Perhaps we are just 'ants' to be squashed by the 'god' you describe if we don't do his bidding -- if so, I'll be going down like a fire ant -- relentlessly driving toward a uncomprehensibly large enemy with no hope of success, but knowing I'm doing the right thing. A moral God worthy of respect would know that it is to be earned -- even by such an entity. JB
Judging the validity of the Bible as a moral guide is tricky. Morality is so perspectival. As a natural history book the Bible certainly looks pretty dubious, but it's possible the inerrancy some ascribe to the Bible refers to some other dimension of the book. If we think of the Bible as metaphor we may find that it has integrity. The Bible has been much tampered with over the centuries; it's impossible to know now what's biblical essence and what's not.
..."if so, I'll be going down like a fire ant -- relentlessly driving toward a uncomprehensibly large enemy with no hope of success, but knowing I'm doing the right thing." Yawn.... Turdick on his evangelical soapbox again claiming he knows he is doing the right thing... Turdick positioning himself again as knowing the belief systems of others are wrong, and he claiming he knows his beliefs are right... What can you expect from the offspring of a holy roller but self righteousness...
Hi Hansel Well.... although I'm sure Deists are capable of effective reasoning, that faculty gets somehow shut down when considering the existence of a Creator God. It is interesting to me that lately, Deists have started this crusade (crusade!! ) to get Christianity bumped up the level of science. I have yet to see one iota of evidence (that is, evidence derived by modern methods) for the existence of God. I see statements like 'It is not unreasonable to assume that the complexity of life on earth could only be explained by invoking an Intelligent Creator God as Designer'. However, when asked to provide evidence for this theory, proponents of ID/Creation simply say 'Can you prove otherwise?' or 'It seems reasonable to me' (Teleologist, are you following along?). Can reason be underpinned by a false set of assumptions? Can the result of 'reasoning' be false? Of course it can!! What about witches? What about Ahmedinejad? What about Hitler? What about genital mutilation of young girls? What about the flat earth theory? What about bloodletting as a cure? All invoked or invoked by an appeal to reason, right? That's why we have experimentation. In fact, religious belief does not require a reasonable basis. It is faith, right? Faith. I think I know what you mean when you say that the religious are unfairly labelled 'unreasoning'. I hope what you mean is that because of their belief in God, they are assumed to be unable to reason their way through non-religious problems. At least, I hope this is what you mean. If you are saying that there is an argument for the existence of God that is underpinned by an empirically testable theory (which is what we mean by 'reasonable' in this context), you'll have to incur the continued wrath of the Men of Reason, who will say 'Sorry, brother... but that's total bullshit. Belief in God is Faith, and the Faithful do not need our petty reasonings to hold their beliefs tight'. Is the scientific method the be-all and end-all? Of course not, and it's scientists who have shown us this. However, it's the best thing we've got, and is responsible for many of the good things we have, right? I am warm right now, and I live in a cold country.
The Bible is too cool. If you use it as your "top document" and toss out anything and everything that does not agree with it, you will be on the right track. Trust me I just know these things... after 40 years of checking it out that is...
Oh... My... God!!! Could it be? The resident Troll is back? The Disgusting Hypocrite is once again peddling his pathetic brand of assertion followed by denial? Hansel, I'm not sure if you've been around here very long (didn't check your incept date) but you have in the ZTroll an example of the very worst of humanity, a fiend so bereft of moral compass that he has, among other acts, condoned the genital mutilation of young girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the stoning to death of a young Iranian woman for the crime of speaking to an unmarried man at a market. In fact it would be impossible for me to enumerate all of the wooly-headed claims he has made over the years. Note his join date... and then consider the post count. He has been banned from ET for inappropriate conduct twice, so what is his real per-day post count? Boggles the mind, doesn't it? I have the distinction of being one of three people that this Disgusting Troll put on ignore, because he couldn't stand the withering heat of my reason-based missile attacks on his positions. If you push him too far, he starts to post pictures from a vast and bizarre personal library of images, most of which have something to do with male on male anal penetration. Hopefully you'll get a nice show sometime soon!