Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
October 11, 2015 at 10:14 am (This post was last modified: October 11, 2015 at 10:41 am by Randys brother.)
(October 11, 2015 at 9:46 am)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote:
(October 11, 2015 at 9:20 am)Randys brother Wrote: So that means if you think am winning in the,argument then you will try to destroy my evidence right?
Aarchaeology proving it's true.
*sigh* The archaeology is against almost every point the Bible makes. It is fairly clear that, for instance, Jericho was never a walled fortress conquered by anyone anywhere near the time when Joshua would have had to exist, and that there was no mass migration of Hebrews from Egypt at that time, and that Egypt controlled the place they went to in the story, at the time (indeed, was fighting a border war with the Hittite empire just north of Canaan, at the time). This information was clearly not available to the priests who were making up a collective history of Israel/Judea for the people returning from the Exile in Babylon, so they could establish an "historical" claim to control of the people in that region and a collective identity that could help them stick together. They cobbled together a semi-coherent book from the fragments of scripture of the various peoples of the area, excised the polytheistic roots of the Hebrews (leaving a few traces, though most of the evidence of it comes from archaeology), and formed what we now think of as the Old Testament.
The flood is not only not supported, it is against every known law of physics, a fact which the writers were obviously unaware as they plagiarized the story from Sumerian/Chaldean legends and adapted it to the Hebrew history-tale they were weaving.
The Creation myth is not only blatantly silly (night and day were created before the sun... oops!) and defiant of everything we know about science from actually investigating the question systematically, it indicates a genetic bottleneck that would show up in modern DNA testing, due to all the incest, a factor which simply does not show up. How can it not be obvious to you that its writers simply did not know about genetics, physics, chemistry (claiming we are made from molded clay, which is made of Aluminum-Silicate and other similar inorganic molecule crystals, not the stuff humans are made of), and biology?
Archaeology shows that there was no unified and powerful Hebrew Empire, as claimed in the stories of David and Solomon, and that the descriptions given of their powerful kingdom were in reality small outposts and mediocre villages during the 10th century BCE. All the evidence of that era is 9th century or later. Except for a small, hard core of Evangelical Literalists who struggle to keep believing in the tales as-written, no serious scholar thinks that the Bible is valid archaeology.
Continue in your delusion if you want, but we actually read from multiple sources and grasp the actual historical record, which does not support the claims you are making here. No matter how many times you repeat your drivel it will become no more true than it was last time. Go read some books not written by people who already agree with you, for fork's sake!
That is why we call you arrogant. You already claim to have all the answers, from the Napkin you worship, and you openly admit that nothing could ever make you change your mind. How can you expect us to take you seriously after making a statement like that?
You're saying: "My mind is totally closed. I refuse to learn anything I don't already agree with. You should listen to me!"
GTFOH with that nonsense.
I don't agree with Finkelstein israel,who is a minimalist, someone who detests the very idea of God and who strives mightily to debunk each and every statement in the Bible.
Alas for the minimalists, pretty much every other week some archaeologist uncovers yet another proof that the Bible is true. It has really been a very discouraging few decades for them, hasn't it?
Not that mere proof has stopped Finkelstein and his ilk from continuing to do as much harm as they can, bless their unhappy little hearts. And to think that there are people who insist there is no God when we have people like Finkelstein. After all if there is no God, why is he exhausting himself trying to prove to other people God doesn't exist? WHy not spend his time in wine, women, and song? Personally, I consider Finkelstein and his cohorts proof positive of the existence of God.
David and Solomon were fictional characters, insisted the minimalists! And they kept that up, right up until the ninth-century BC stone tablet was found at Tel Dan and there was the radio carbon dating at Megiddo that confirmed the existence of David.
Now all Finkelstein can mutter on about is how, well, maybe there really was a David, but he was only a pathetic, little king, nothing as grand as the Bible suggests.
Yes, that is how badly Finkelstein and the minimalists have been refuted. Between that and the blinding, horrifying, massive proof of evil in our midst - the murder of one hundred and fifty million people by the atheist communists, all within living human memory - you would think that the atheists would be sensible and retire to their lairs to drink themselves to death. Never seems to happen, however.
Here are good books to refute everything that poor Finkelstein has written:
The Archaeology of Ancient Israel by Amnon Ben-Tor for the Old Testament
Ancient Israel in Sinai by James Hoffmeier for Genesis
There are many critic's against him,
Believing in what you said will only get me to Hell.
(October 11, 2015 at 10:06 am)I_am_not_mafia Wrote: Or let's put an alternative question to Randy's brother.
Say I wanted to become a theist, how would I know to believe the Bible, the Quran or Joseph Smith's book of Mormonism?
Compare them.
Mormonism is a cult, a non-Christian cult because Mormonism denies essential Biblical teachings and adds new, false doctrines. Mormonism, also called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), teaches the following non-Christian, non-biblical doctrines. (Note that all the documentation is taken from Mormon writers and Mormon scriptures).
God used to be a man on another planet, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 321, Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 613-614, Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 345, Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 333).
God resides near a star called Kolob, (Pearl of Great Price, p. 34-35, Mormon Doctrine, p. 428).
"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s . . . ," (Doctrines and Covenants 130:22).
God is in the form of a man, (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p. 3).
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!!! . . . We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil, so that you may see," (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345).
After you become a good Mormon, you have the potential of becoming a god, (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345-347, 354).
There is a mother god, (Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 443).
God is married to his goddess wife and has spirit children, (Mormon Doctrine, p. 516).
The trinity is three separate Gods: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. "That these three are separate individuals, physically distinct from each other, is demonstrated by the accepted records of divine dealings with man," (Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 35).
In contrast to these teachings, the Bible teaches that God has always been God and was never a man (Psalm 90:2). The Bible nowhere says He lives near another star or that the Father has a body of flesh and bones--which Christ contradicted in John 4:24 and Luke 24:39. We do not have the potential of becoming gods because there are no gods formed (Isaiah 43:10, 44:6, 8,45:5). The Trinity is one God (Deut. 6:4)--not three. There are numerous books written about Mormonism from a Biblical perspective that expose its false teachings. Of course, we do not hate the Mormons, and we pray for their repentance that they would stop believing in false gods. But, Mormonism is not Christian.
Source:https://carm.org/is-mormonism-cult
Why believe in Christianity over all other religions?
Critics often ask why Christianity is any better than any other religion in the world. Of all the religions that exist, how can it be that only Christianity is true? If God exists, why can't God use different religions? Don't all paths lead to God? Skeptics ask these kinds of questions all the time, and unfortunately, few Christians have the answers. Therefore, in an attempt to demonstrate why Christianity is true and all other religious systems are false, I've prepared the following list of reasons for Christianity's superiority.
There are such things as absolute truths
If truth is relative, then the statement that truth is relative is an absolute truth and would be a self-defeating statement by proving that truth is not relative. But, if truth is absolute, then the statement, "truth is absolute," is true and not self-defeating. It is true that truth exists. It is true that truth will not contradict itself as we have just seen. In fact, it is absolutely true that you are reading this paper.
If we can see that there is such a thing as truth in the world, then we could also see that there can be spiritual truth as well. It is not absurd to believe in spiritual absolutes anymore than physical or logical absolutes. Even the statement that all religions lead to God is a statement held to be a spiritual absolute by many people. This simply demonstrates that people do believe in spiritual truth. Why? Because truth exists. However, not all that is believed to be true actually is true. Furthermore, all belief systems cannot be true since they often contradict each other in profound ways--and truth is not self-contradictory.
Religions contradict each other, therefore, they cannot all be true.
Mormonism teaches that there are many gods in existence and that you can become a god. Christianity teaches that there is only one God, and you cannot become a god. Islam teaches that Jesus is not God in flesh--where Christianity does. Jesus cannot be both God and not God at the same time. Some religions teach that we reincarnate, while others do not. Some teach there is a Hell, and others do not. They cannot all be true. If they cannot all be true, it cannot be true that all religions lead to God. Furthermore, it means that some religions are--at the very least--false in their claims to reveal the true God (or gods). Remember, truth does not contradict itself. If God exists, He will not institute mutually exclusive and contradictory belief systems in an attempt to get people to believe in Him. God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33). Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that there can be an absolute spiritual truth and that not all systems can be true regardless of whether or not they claim to be true. There must be more than a mere claim.
Fulfilled Prophecy concerning Jesus
Though there are other religions that have prophecies in them, none are 100% accurate as is the Bible, and none of them point to someone like Jesus who made incredible claims and performed incredible deeds. The Old Testament was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, yet the Old Testament prophesied many things about Jesus. This is undoubtedly evidence of divine influence upon the Bible.
Please consider some of the many prophecies of Jesus in the following chart: Prophecy Old Testament Prophecy New Testament Fulfillment
Born of a virgin Isaiah 7:14 Matt. 1:18, 25
Born at Bethlehem Micah 5:2 Matt. 2:1
He would be preceded by a Messenger Isaiah 40:3 Matt. 3:1-2
Rejected by His own people Isaiah 53:3 John 7:5, 7:48
Betrayed by a close friend Psalm 41:9 John 13:26-30
His side pierced Zech. 12:10 John 19:34
Crucifixion Psalm 22:1 Psalm 22:11-18 Luke 23:33 John 19:23-24
Resurrection of Christ Psalm 16:10 Acts 13:34-37
Fulfillment of prophecy can have different explanations. Some state that the New Testament was written and altered to make it look as if Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (but there is no evidence of that). Others state that the prophecies are so vague that they do not count (but many of the prophecies are not vague at all). Of course, it is possible that God inspired the writers, and Jesus, who is God in flesh, fulfilled these prophecies as a further demonstration of the validity of Christianity.
The Claims and Deeds of Christ
Christianity claims to be authored by God. Of course, merely making such a claim does not make it true. Anyone can make claims, but backing up those claims is entirely different. Jesus used the Divine Name for Himself (John 8:58), the same Divine Name used by God when Moses asked God what His name was in Exodus 3:14. Jesus said that He could do whatever He saw God the Father do (John 5:19), and He claimed to be one with God the Father (John 10:30,10:38). Likewise, the disciples also called Him God (John 1:1, 14, John 10:27, Col. 2:9). By default, if Jesus is God in flesh, then whatever He said and did would be true. Since Jesus said that He alone was the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one can find God without Him (John 14:6). His words become incredibly important.
Again, making a claim is one thing. Backing it up is another. Did Jesus also back up His fantastic words with miraculous deeds? Yes, He did.
Jesus appeared to disciples after resurrection (John 20:19).
The eyewitnesses recorded the miracles of Jesus, and the Gospels have been reliably transmitted to us. Therefore, we can believe what Jesus said about Himself for two reasons: one, because what He said and did agrees with the Old Testament and two, because Jesus performed many convincing miracles in front of people who testified and wrote about what they saw Him do.
Christ's resurrection
Within Christianity, the resurrection is vitally important. Without the resurrection, our faith is useless (1 Cor. 15:14). It was Jesus' resurrection that changed the lives of the disciples. After Jesus was crucified, the disciples ran and hid. But when they saw the risen Lord, they knew that what Jesus had said and done proved that He was indeed God in flesh, the Savior.
No other religious leader has died in full view of trained executioners, had a guarded tomb, and then risen three days later to appear to many many people. This resurrection is proof who Jesus is and that He did accomplish what He set out to do: provide the only means of redemption for mankind.
Buddha did not rise from the dead. Muhammad did not rise from the dead. Confucius did not rise from the dead. Krishna did not rise from the dead, etc. Only Jesus has physically risen from the dead, walked on water, claimed to be God, and raised others from the dead. He has conquered death. Why trust anyone else? Why trust anyone who can be held by physical death when we have a Messiah who is greater than death itself?
Conclusion
Why should anyone trust in Christianity over Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, or anything else? It is because there are absolute truths. Only in Christianity are there accurately fulfilled prophecies of a coming Messiah. Only in Christianity do we have the extremely accurate transmission of the eyewitness documents (Gospels), so we can trust what was originally written. Only in Christianity do we have the person of Christ who claimed to be God, performed many miracles to prove His claim of divinity, who died and rose from the dead, and who said that He alone was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). All this adds to the legitimacy and credibility of Christianity above all other religions--all based on the person of Jesus. It could not be that Jesus is the only Truth and other religions also be the truth.
Either Jesus is true and all other religions are false, or other religions are true, and Jesus is false. There are no other options. I choose to follow the risen Lord Jesus.source:https://carm.org/why-believe-christianity-over-all-other-religions
(October 11, 2015 at 9:58 am)dyresand Wrote:
(October 11, 2015 at 9:36 am)Randys brother Wrote: We always get theses sceptics and minimalists don't we?
The middle one even a ministry is accepted that well there is no historical or archaeological proof of their belief. And its not because people are skeptics people have legitimately looked for evidence and found nothing. People have forged evidence like finding a piece of Noahs ark and stuff like that. When it comes down too it the stories in the bible are stolen from other mythologies and compiled into one religion so yeah there is not going to be historical or archaeological evidence by a religion that plagiarized most of it's contents.
If your really interested in wanting to know if the bible is true,make the effort to watch the video please.
