Horrible things in the bible

[Jenny A]

Lek,

What I'm hearing is:

1) God is the source of all good;
2) Therefore anything God does is good;
3) If faced with something ugly God has done, refer to rules one and two.

The problem is with premise number one is that even if god made everything and therefore is the source of all goodness, he's also definitionaly the source of all evil as well. Second, as depicted in the Bible god has done enough evil to puncture any notion that he only indulges to good part of his nature.

When pressed you resort to: God made everything therefore he has a right to do whatever he wants with his toys. It's a might makes right argument of the worst sort.

If I'm missing something here, please explain it.

[DramaQueen]

I still don't understand how do you know that the Bible is true

[Minimalist]

[downbeatplumb]

" He sacrificed his son to atone for the sins of all of us because he loves us all."

Anyone who can believe that can believe anything at all.

It is absurd on every level.

What is the process that a son/himself sacrifice kick off?
How does this atone for our sins?
What, in short was it supposed to do?

---

I still don't understand how do you know that the Bible is true

The bible says its true dur.

[Crossless2.0]

I still don't understand how do you know that the Bible is true

They don't, but belief that it's true apparently absolves them of any further need to think -- unless 'thinking' is redefined to mean mental masturbation within a closed belief system (see Min's graphic above).

[JesusHChrist]

I don't have testimony from living witnesses that King Henry VIII existed, but I believe he existed. I have testimonies from people I know well of how their lives have been changed and I can see it in their lives.

And a Hindu has testimonies from people they know well of how Vishnu changed their lives.

And a Muslim has testimonies from people they know well of how Allah changed their lives.

And a Scientologist has testimonies from people they know well (and who are FAMOUS!!) of how the e-meter, auditing and forking over cash have changed their lives.

In short, testimonies aren't worth the bullshit they are written on. Like the place where the sun don't shine, everyone has a testimony. And many, many testimonies are contradictory.

Utterly worthless without outside corroboration.

Hell, I've got a testimony for how my life has changed since I accepted Pastafarianism as my One True Religion. I met a beautiful woman, got a nice house, even got a raise the other day! Praise the FSM! May he be covered in sauce! We do eat MUCH pasta my friend. Much. Clearly the FSM is responsible for my good fortune!

And you know the funny part? This is all you theists have. No evidence, but we've got stories! Stories by the boat load. Stories of "revelation"! The whole pathetic enterprise of theism is based on story-telling, except many of you don't know when to quit.

Stories, but no evidence; the essence of theism.

At least make better stories, K? For all it's weirdness, at least Scientology *tried* to make it interesting. Christianity/Islam/Mormonism/Judaism - dull, dull, mind-boggling, soul-crushing dull!

Sex it up a bit! And those plot holes! OMG!

[Tonus]

What is the process that a son/himself sacrifice kick off?
How does this atone for our sins?
What, in short was it supposed to do?

Well, think about it: say you've done some really horrible things in your life, and now you feel really really bad about it. The grief is almost overwhelming. So this guy comes to you and says "hey, I hired these goons to torture me to death so that you won't feel bad about the awful things you did. Remember, this is all for you!" Then the goons torture him to death. Suddenly you're like "holy shit, that was a weight lifted off of my shoulders!"

...and you go back to doing horrible things, you worthless sinner, you.

[downbeatplumb]

What is the process that a son/himself sacrifice kick off?
How does this atone for our sins?
What, in short was it supposed to do?

Well, think about it: say you've done some really horrible things in your life, and now you feel really really bad about it. The grief is almost overwhelming. So this guy comes to you and says "hey, I hired these goons to torture me to death so that you won't feel bad about the awful things you did. Remember, this is all for you!" Then the goons torture him to death. Suddenly you're like "holy shit, that was a weight lifted off of my shoulders!"

...and you go back to doing horrible things, you worthless sinner, you.

That's what I thought, but it can't be right surely! you'd have to be a complete moro....no wait, I think I can see what's happened.
Complete morons believe it despite it making no sense.

[Cyberman]

"Horrible parts of the bible"

There are good parts of the bible?

Yeah - the bottom of the last page.

[Retrolord]

Okay so I was silently observing this thread for about a week now. The sacrifice of Jesus goes far beyond what you guys call scapegoating. My honest opinion- you don't want to immerse yourselves and find out more about it. You don't really want a priest ( yeah now some will make paedophilia jokes) or devout christian to explain it to you. I'm not pointing fingers or insulting anyone. It's just an observation

Anyway I returned because I wanted to suggest reading about biblical archaeology and how many places and people they have found. Again, not stating its true. Just sharing