RE: The Bible
May 8, 2009 at 3:29 pm
(This post was last modified: May 8, 2009 at 3:31 pm by fr0d0.)
Those aren't contradictions chatpilot. I know of a couple of exapmles that come close, but those of yours I don't need to look up I know them so well/ can answer them without trying, as they're so obviously NOT contradictions. If this is what you think is overwhelming proof of contradiction then I think your case is extremely weak.
I'm quite aware that much of the Bible was first aurally recounted and put in writing later. I'm also fully aware that the NT wasn't written until many years after the event. To say none were eye witness accounts is untrue. They weren't written at the time but they were aurally repeated as was the norm at the time, and put to text later. The 7 last sayings of Christ are well known. It's unimportant that there weren't identical accounts.
Following God's will isn't breaking his commandments. I explained this already. God isn't human and doesn't need to follow the commandments. Where does it say God must follow these commandments? You're assuming that God is doing bad when killing. You can't know that, but we can know that God is essentially good.
Looking back at the Salem Witch Hunts we conclude that this was people committing evil acts. Anti Christian acts if you like. Many people claim to be following divine instruction to perpetrate crime. Society judges these to be crimes and not people acting out the will of God. People can get it horribly wrong. People are only people after all. There's no guarantee that they'll do the right thing. Even though various points in history are said to be heavily influenced by Christianity, the opposite was actually evidently happening. Religion is easily corrupted to the ends of greed and power. Some of the worst atrocities in history have been committed by supposed religious types. Studying those cases though shows that it's religion that is used to that end.
I'm quite aware that much of the Bible was first aurally recounted and put in writing later. I'm also fully aware that the NT wasn't written until many years after the event. To say none were eye witness accounts is untrue. They weren't written at the time but they were aurally repeated as was the norm at the time, and put to text later. The 7 last sayings of Christ are well known. It's unimportant that there weren't identical accounts.
Following God's will isn't breaking his commandments. I explained this already. God isn't human and doesn't need to follow the commandments. Where does it say God must follow these commandments? You're assuming that God is doing bad when killing. You can't know that, but we can know that God is essentially good.
Looking back at the Salem Witch Hunts we conclude that this was people committing evil acts. Anti Christian acts if you like. Many people claim to be following divine instruction to perpetrate crime. Society judges these to be crimes and not people acting out the will of God. People can get it horribly wrong. People are only people after all. There's no guarantee that they'll do the right thing. Even though various points in history are said to be heavily influenced by Christianity, the opposite was actually evidently happening. Religion is easily corrupted to the ends of greed and power. Some of the worst atrocities in history have been committed by supposed religious types. Studying those cases though shows that it's religion that is used to that end.
