10-07-2016, 11:49 AM
(09-27-2016, 12:58 AM)rfaulk34 Wrote: For me personally, no. The Bible is...i hope this doesn't sound as bad as i think it does...to me, a history book. A book with guidelines on how i should live.
Now that you ask, i realize i've never really looked at it as anything specific. It's a book that i can read for reassurance, to study for answers to questions i might have. A reference for questions others may have. Things like that.
I can't really say it's something that has been any kind of deciding factor in shaping my belief in the beginning. That's why i've always said, for me, my belief is based on more than words i've read or heard from others.
I don't believe the Bible because I've read the Bible. It is inconsistent, contradictary, and illogical.
The creator of the universe would be the ultimate intellectual because the creator is the subject matter expert on every subject. I understand faith based belief, but we are taught the Bible was written by God. Specifically, different authors (many unknown, but presumed to be written by specific men...and only men) influenced by the Holy Spirit. Correct? If God wrote the Bible and is the ultimate intellectual then why does He contradict Himself so much and why is it so illogical?
I'll give you two examples. We've already touched on free will. God gave us free will and wants us to do they right thing and even though He knew what we are going to do before He created the universe we still have to choose to do that thing He knows we are going to do, but if we were to choose to do something different than what He knows we are going to do then He would already know.
It's like if you and I sat down at a poker table in Vegas. Before we started playing, I know every card every player will be dealt in the exact order it will be dealt, I know every decision every player will make, I know who will win and lose, and how much. So if I know you will lose all your money trying to draw to an inside straight flush are you ever going to fold or win or decide to do anything else other than what I know you're going to do? No. You're going to lose trying to draw to an inside straight flush infinity out of infinity times. There is only one outcome and it is the same outcome I knew would happen before we sat down at the table and before we decided to travel to Vegas and before you and I were born and before the game of poker was invented and even before the atoms used to make the molecules which form the playing cards and all matter in the universe even existed. So even though you still have yet to choose to lose that hand, you are going to choose to lose that hand. You will never win. I know you will never win.
Unless, God usurps your free will like he did Pharaoh's free will in Exodus. In which case, you don't have free will. So we all have free will except when God decides to over rule our free will to carry out His plan. That's a major contradiction which has been rationalized for over 2000 years and I'm just not buying any of the rationalizations.
Second example, the Fall of Man. God punished Adam and Eve (and all of posterity) for disobeying him and eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Before they ate, they had no concept of good or evil. Right or wrong. They had no conscience. That thing that tells us not to do something because we know it is wrong. Like disobeying God, for example.
That would be like me punishing my infant child for shitting in his diaper after I commanded him not to shit in his diaper although I know with 100% certainty the infant is definitely going to shit in his diaper after I ordered him not to shit in his diaper because he doesn't yet understand not to disobey his father. If I punished my infant son for doing something he didn't understand was wrong that would make me not only a complete idiot, but an awful father who doesn't have any business having kids because I obviously don't have the intellectual capacity to raise a child, let alone create a universe.
With all that being said, I'm not saying "God" doesn't exist. I don't know. I'm undecided. However, "in the beginning" is just another way of saying, "Once upon a time." The Bible is just an anthology of mythology. No different than Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Norse, Hindu, Aztec, etc, etc, etc mythology.
I don't believe any single religion has it right regarding god, but I think there may be a little truth to each. I just try to live my life the best I can. If that isnt good enough for "God" then He isn't much of a god.
People can believe what ever religion they choose. However, people confuse respecting their right to believe with respecting their belief. I don't have to respect their religious belief any more than I have to respect someone's belief Justin Bieber is a great singer. I don't want to have laws based upon specific religions anymore than I want to hear Justin Bieber on the radio 24/7.
