143 Contridictions of the Bible.

[McQ]

Read your PMs. Your pushing it here.

Whatever. Like I said in my other posts I expect to be banned anyway, but I don't care as I am on several other atheist forums and have three of my own and I consider all religion a joke and its followers and believers idiots and morons to be made fun of.

In the name of the Fat Fucker, the Son of a Bitch and the Holy Goat. Ah women.

No.

Not, "Whatever."

Why would you, as an atheist, expect to be banned (and apparently seek it) from an atheist site, when you have the potential to contribute something positive?

If you are as seasoned as you claim, then you should have the good sense and manners to respect the rules of this forum.

If you are asking to be banned for being a rude fool, then we will be happy to accommodate you.

[rlrose328]

[whispering in McQ's ear] do it do it do it...

[Allhailtuna]

Would it matter if I came up with an explanation? Probably not. But I can assure you that there are many Theologians out there who could give you perfectly good reasons for these "seemingly" contradictory verses of the Bible. After 3min of research, here is a link to one persons response to these contradictions: http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/bible.htm.

But this really isn't the issue. It doesn't matter how the Bible was written. The Bible can't be true for a non-believer. And I'm sure the Bible isn't the reason you initially said no the question "Is there a God?". If the Bible was written in such a way with no apparent contridictions and full of black and white do's and dont's, I'm sure the non-believer would respond with "This is clearly the work of humans" or "There's nothing special about these writings as they compare to other writings, surely God would be more creative than this."

You have to understand that for us believers (in Jesus Christ that is), it is all about the relationship (or atleast should be) with Jesus Christ. There are 2 very important components if you want this relationship to grow, The Bible and prayer. These 2 things feed off each other. Through reading the Bible you learn how and what to pray for and what to expect. Through prayer, God's word reveals it's true meaning. Of course this needs to all be done in complete surrenderment (is that a word?) of ones heart.

So why is the Bible written in such a way to include apparent contradictions and seemingly off-the-wall verses?

Well I believe it's this:

As I discussed earlier, how the Bible was written and it's contents doesn't really matter to the non-believer. It's not made for the non-believer. So The Bible and it's contents have no affect (affect or effect? I never could get that one) on the non-believer.

On the other hand, suppose the Bible was written in such a way where it was cut and dry without any room for interpretation. How would this effect the believer? Well, It would only require somewhere between 10 - 48 hours of our time, depending on your reading skills, to determine exactly
how God wants us to live our lives. Why is this a problem? Because like I said earlier, the goal of a Christian should be the continuing development of close and intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior. We all know that time spent and communication are absolute necessities if you want to get to know someone. With a Bible written equivalent to a childrens book, you lose both of these components.

It's things like these apparent contradictions that keeps us believers looking and searching and coming back to God's Word. I don't uderstand the majority of the Bible at this point in my life, but that doesn't mean I don't believe it's the Word of God. I have complete faith that as I search for understanding of God's Word that my relationship with Jesus Christ will be strengthened and knowledge and wisdom will be attained and I will be able to stay within God's will which is what we're all (Believers) searching for.

Remember, I didn't decide to believe in Jesus Christ because I had a full understanding of the Bible. Just like your initial rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior had nothing to do with these "apparent" contradictions.
   

So your post basically says that your Bible makes another contradiction. It claims God to be good when really he left his book detailing the path to salvation open to loads of interpretations, and to be a load of nonsense to anyone who didn't read it with the conviction that it was true, and if it were interpreted wrong, or if a non-believer read it, and as it was meant to do, it made no sense to them (Which would put them further off Christianity), then the person who interpreted it wrong or saw it as a load of nonsense would go to burn eternally.

God's a nice guy, isn't he?

[SteveS]

Hi JustInterested - I was gone for a few weeks, and just stumbled upon this today.

You'd rather a baphoon (sp?) like me come in here and question your thoughts and try to convince you that's it's reasonable to believe the Bible is true in it's entirety.

Exactly!  Why?  Because what if I couldn't defend my thoughts?  What value would they be to me?  I'd have to discard them if I could not maintain them in the face of critical analysis.  How do I know that I'm questioning myself as thoroughly as someone else would?  Letting another person criticize my thoughts is a far better test than anything I could come up with on my own.  And what's to lose?  If I'm wrong then I'm wrong - better to know and change then keep living with something that's wrong but have no idea.  Maybe I'm making assumptions without realizing it - well, during an argument you would be sure to point this out to me - and there is the opportunity for growth.

So why do you like me? Typically people like me for my good looks but since that's not possible in this situation maybe you feel sorry for me. I don't know. I don't claim to know the answer. Yes, you read that right. I am a Christian who does not know the answer.

Haha!  I don't know how you look - but anyway I'm straight, so that's probably not it.  :wink:  

I thought we had a long, mostly polite discussion - this I like.  Exchange of ideas - and its only possible if people are willing to read and try to understand.  Toss things back and forth, mull them over, think about them - that sort of thing.  Rather than just spewing rhetoric at each other.  Also - you don't know the answer; neither do I.  Honesty as well - notice how we weren't trying to convert each other?  Just talking.  These are the reasons I like you.  I think.  I'm not really sure.  Like I said I start to like people I have long discussions with, even (and/or especially) if we don't agree.  Weird - you don't know any head shrinkers, do you?  This is probably some personality disorder on my part.

I certainly don't feel sorry for you - why would/should I?

Why is my spelling so terrible? Did it take everything you had not to call me out on "ecclilerating"? My spelling is simply subpar.

What would be the point of that?  Honestly, the word threw me for a minute, but I eventually figured out what you meant.  Spelling only has value as a way to communicate clearly - once I knew what you meant the end effect was the same.  I've probably jacked up a few spellings too - so what?

Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.

It's a damn poor mind which can only think of 1 way to spell a word.

Back to the topic at hand,

You find it hard to believe that a loving God would not reveal himself.

More like I find it hard to believe that a god that wants people to know about him would not reveal himself.  If god is perfect, then is god perfectly rational?  If so, then god would know that I won't believe on faith.  Why would god value faith above certainty?  Above rationality?  And more importantly, why believe this is the case?  Maybe it doesn't make sense because there is no god.

Its not so much that I don't believe in god because he doesn't reveal himself, but rather that I don't believe other people who think god is real because these sorts of descriptions of god seem self-contradictory.  The more they talk the more they weave this web of what appears to me to be nonsense.  How can I believe this stuff?  I certainly have no personal experience of god, so I'm left with: nothing.  No reason to believe.  So I don't.  My rational mind just rejects these stories on the grounds that they make no sense.

I find it hard to believe that we have somehow evolved into this being who would ask such a question.

Ah - now this I don't find hard to believe.  The way we are analytical, the way we see cause in everything, the way we attempt to discover other minds and figure out what they're thinking, what they're doing, the way we anthropomorphize everything --- well maybe we're faking ourselves out.  Postulating a god and attributing existence and events to his will --- almost seems inevitable to me that this would happen.  Every single culture on earth has basically come up with gods to explain things.  They're all different gods, and the gods all work in different ways --- but they're all gods.  What's the common denominator?  The human mind - human nature.  Why believe its something more?

As hard as it is for you to believe in a God, it is just as hard for me to believe there isn't a God.

I understand and accept this.  What I'm curious about is why?  I've tried to discuss why I don't believe in god - why do you believe?  All the talk about god wanting to reveal himself and god being kind and loving despite the existence of suffering seems like rationalization: why there could be a god with these attributes that would still reconcile with our experiences.  But how did we get past step 1?  Why believe there is a god in the first place?  Rather than postulate a god and then try to explain his attributes - I question whether or not there even is a god.  No matter the attributes for now - why god in the first place?

And welcome back - I'm glad you decided to stick around!