Is the bible really the word of god?

[Moontanman]

I ponder this all the time when people argue using the bible. They sometimes say conflicting things from it and they claim is the exact words from god but... I tell them that the bible is "interpreted" by humans and due to the fact for catholics the vatican does revise the book once in awhile. So how do we know that the "word of god" is not a book of human being's opinion on ethics that are out of date

The best answer is that we don't know, but no evidence supports it being anything but a collection of myths...

[John Cuthber]

I find it very difficult to understand why people do not believe that the Bible is the actual word of God the father. What's in the Bible is too complex to be just some made up story. The Bible talks about things that could not be made up. The way the Bible is written someone would have had to have been there to tell it the way it is told in the Bible. It's too much for it all just to be a made up story.

 

Did you somehow imagine that bold text would make it seem less wrong?

[SlavicWolf]

 

I find it very difficult to understand why people do not believe that the Bible is the actual word of God the father. What's in the Bible is too complex to be just some made up story. The Bible talks about things that could not be made up. The way the Bible is written someone would have had to have been there to tell it the way it is told in the Bible. It's too much for it all just to be a made up story.

So what about Lord of the Rings? Or Hamlet? Or Romeo and Juliet? These stories are so complex that it's utterly impossible that they're made up! Probably...

 

If you think the Bible is too complex - just tell me what's the physical unit that literary complexity is measured in and how it is calculated.

[Phi for All]

I find it very difficult to understand why people do not believe that the Bible is the actual word of God the father. What's in the Bible is too complex to be just some made up story. The Bible talks about things that could not be made up. The way the Bible is written someone would have had to have been there to tell it the way it is told in the Bible. It's too much for it all just to be a made up story.

 

One of the things that helps people understand this is to start with the Bible as an historical text being told by someone who was actually there, as you say. There are some very dynamic claims going on there, cataclysms and miracles as well as historical points in society. Typically, events like this are mentioned by historians from multiple spheres of influence.

 

As with any other historic text, you look for other texts that corroborate what's written, and that's where the Bible comes up short. It matches some mundane historical points covered in other histories but in most of the major claims, like Noah's flood or miraculous resurrections, no other documents (outside the Bible) mention these things, events that surely would be recorded by non-religious scholars as well. If this were any other historical text, it would probably be judged untrustworthy as an accurate document, especially if there are multiple outside sources that are actually in conflict with the Bible's accounting.

 

I also don't understand why you would say some of the things in the Bible couldn't be made up. There have been many works of fiction that have better continuity and those were written by a single human author. Why would you expect creativity and imagination to lessen when multiple writers are involved?

[iNow]

List of biblical contradictions: http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

List of scientific errors in the bible: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scientific_errors_in_the_Bible

Breakdown of biblical absurdities, cruelties, injustices, etc.: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Ways the bible stole from earlier religions and traditions: http://listverse.com/2013/06/30/ten-influences-on-the-bible/

Examples of plagiarism from pagan rituals and stories: http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2013/07/several-examples-of-how-biblical.html

 

I could go on, but... Gosh... Yes. That's clearly too perfect to have been authored by mere mortals.

[Moontanman]

To this guys defense, if there is any, I have to admit he has pretty much stated what i am sure he had heard thundered from the pulpit many times. Last night it was late and my back was giving me a fit so my answers weren't quite as eloquent as they should have been. People like LWalkersr are either lost forever in their refusal to even consider questioning their beliefs or so uninformed that they truly believe they are delivering a message of truth for our benefit.

 

For the most part hearing this PRATT over and over your entire life with no idea that that any of it is less than the truth is crippling to the mind. I have family members that way, their world view is so tiny and narrow they cannot imagine being wrong or that any other world view exists outside possibly some other denomination that just worships the wrong way but still the same myths.

 

They have no idea of the richness of the world outside what they've been told and many if not most have had such thoughts as Satan is deceiving the world implanted to the point of terror at even being exposed to anything that could possibly plant doubt in the mind they keep locked down.

 

They almost certainly do not know the richness of reality as told through scientific naturalism and assume anyone who suggests they are wrong is working either intentionally or accidentally in league with Satan. I hope we can talk to him some more and see if his e-mail is possibly a call for help because he is beginning to question and groping for answers but still afraid to acknowledge his need for more...

 

I think one of the most important things that can be said is this has nothing to do with intelligence, this is of paramount importance because the fundamentalists excel in teaching their flocks that we skeptics are assuming they are stupid and they equate ignorance with stupidity which is of course not true but it is a good way to keep them feeling hostile to those who would question their beliefs and makes sure they do not listen to other view points..

This sort of thing says it all...