A true, honest and serious study of the bible reveals the virtual impossibility that 40 men writing 66 books without inspiration over 4000 years could have authored such a coherent, consistent and clear "story," explanation of God's purpose, His reasons for dealing with man like He did, and free gift of salvation.
52 comments
coherent, consistent and clear Never mind texts that are any of those things; how about the Bible?
If you walked into a medical library and found all the books were on medicine, would you think this was caused by divine inspiration?
Without getting into the argument about whether the 66 books are "coherent", the 66 books of the Bible were deliberately chosen by men from a much larger body of writing. If you choose only the books that agree with your beliefs and suppress the rest, of course they're going to agree with each other. The ones that disagreed were thrown away or burned. That's called "editing", not divinity.
NotMe
#238740
5/1/2007 8:42:45 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just like the small things that not all gospels mention.
What small things?
Well, all dead people rising when Jesus died is a nice example.
Is that a fact? Interesting.
The big number of incoherence would. And the big number of scientifical slopes(even for the time it was written), for example, the speaking snake, or the fact that people live 900 years. The number of contradictions would too.
coherent, consistent and clear "story," I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.
such a coherent, consistent and clear "story," explanation of God's purpose
Oh, yeah, which is why everybody's still arguing about it and there are numerous conflicting versions. Hell, it's so self contradictory that you can cherry-pick a passage in support or opposition, depending on your personal preference, of any topic you like.
Coherent, consistent and clear?
not.
66 texts were chosen from a field of hundreds. Most of the others were voted heretical by the first Nicene Council, and targeted for destruction because they contravened the totalitarian image the Council wanted to push on the christian peasants.
My prayer of thanks goes to some unknown Coptic scribe who, sometime in the third or fourth century, sequestered some very interesting [and authentic]Christian material from the church censors.
His reasons for dealing with man like He did, and free gift of salvation. Free? Monetarily, perhaps, but last time I checked you had to subscribe to his teachings for him to bother saving you from Hell. Not precisely what I'd call 'free'.
His reasons for dealing with man like He did, and free gift of salvation. Free? Monetarily, perhaps, but last time I checked you had to subscribe to his teachings for him to bother saving you from Hell. Not precisely what I'd call 'free'.
Conherent. No, the Bible is so hopeless confusing that no one can agree on the meaning of every single thing.
Consistant. No. God tells Abhramam to kill his son. Then God gives the Jews the Ten Commandments, one of them being "Thou Shalt Not Kill." Then God commands the Isrealites to go to war time and time again. Much killing ensures. And that's jus the OT.
Clear. No. Mud is clearer.
And you are right, the Bible is exactly what we would expect if 40 men wrote 66 books over 4,000 years, incoherent, inconsistent nonsense.
Coherent, consistent, and clear? How do you explain over a dozen GENERATIONS of difference in Jesus's lineage between two gospels (as one tiny example)? That's a long time, you know.
I don't know what's funnier, the idea that Tychicus1769 doesn't seem to realize that his use of the world "virtual" essentially invalidates his entire statement, or the idea that the Bible is "coherent, consistent, and clear."
A committee of Byzantine theologians working in Nicaea could easily take the different books, re-edit them and put them together as a coherent single volume and claim holy guidance in their task. There, issue solved.
They were supposed to inspired by god, that was the point. And if you find the bible coherent, constient adn clear, then that really explains a lot. A LOT!
If the Bible's so 'coherent, consistent and clear' why does every one of the many thousands of Xian sects have a different interpretation of it?
All of the sects other than Tychicus1769's are wrong, of course.
40 men writing 66 books into a coherent story. Thats easy and it won't even take 4000 years, its called Star Wars.
LOL. As someone who read almost every single one of those, I know there are continuity errors... but nothing on the scale of the Bible. For the most part, the stories are much better, too.
Also, 4000 years? I don't think the Bible is that old.
"coherent, consistent and clear "story,""
Do you even read your own bible? Don't tell me you never have been confused once by anything in there. Why do you think there has been so much debate over what some of that stuff actually 'means'?
LOL. As someone who read almost every single one of those [Star Wars books], I know there are continuity errors... but nothing on the scale of the Bible.
The various novels of the Star Wars universe show a surprising degree of consistency from one novel to another. The authors were basically under orders never to contradict anything that had been written in an earlier book, or which had appeared in one of the movies or radiodramas.
If you want to see REAL continuity errors, take a look at Star Trek novels.
The various novels of the Star Wars universe show a surprising degree of consistency from one novel to another. The authors were basically under orders never to contradict anything that had been written in an earlier book, or which had appeared in one of the movies or radiodramas.
If you want to see REAL continuity errors, take a look at Star Trek novels.
I know that, and I agree that it's a surprising degree of consistency. But I am not going to claim that consistency is perfect. A prosaic example: according to Dark Force Rising , the devastation of Honoghr took place during the Clone Wars, 44 years before the novel. The problem? The novel takes place only 31 years after the start of the Clone Wars.
As for Star Trek novels, they aren't purported to be in any continuity, and have no canon status whatsoever. Each ST author tends to have his or her own continuity and recurring characters.
I'd wager ST has better consistency than the Bible, though.
"Deuteronomy 25:11-12 NASB
If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity."
Timeless and coherent advice for the ages.
COHERENT?! CONSISTENT?!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
2700 years if you count the Torah sources, not 4000, you can't count the influences from earlier Babylonian, Egyptian and Sumerian works as they were not of the one Biblical God beliefs.
The books of the Bible AREN'T consistant.
Biblical Scholars all recognize the books to be parables, not to be taken literally, in fact only those who know the Bible the least (fundamentalists) claim it as literal.
The little consistency there is, is probably due to the bishops in Nicea...
Why can't God explain his own purpose? Isn't he omnipotent.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.