RE: Without citing the bible, what marks the bible as the one book with God's message?
January 3, 2013 at 5:35 pm
(This post was last modified: January 3, 2013 at 5:37 pm by Whateverist.)
(January 3, 2013 at 3:33 pm)fr0d0 Wrote:(January 2, 2013 at 3:32 pm)whateverist Wrote: justify 1) that the bible is the special book and 2) that a literal interpretation is the one intended by your god .. without (for obvious reasons) citing the bible itself.
1. Justification results from human intellect leading to deduction.
2. An understanding (literal interpretation) is what God chooses to bestow upon you.
Thanks for responding, Frodo. (I've just got a few more days until school starts back up and I have to put myself on internet restriction again.)
Your #1 really responds more to the nature of justification than it does to what justifies belief in the bible in particular. Can you think of any reason a person from outside the faith should give the bible a special place in their life - without appeal to the bible itself? I'm not sure what it implies if you can't. It wouldn't be any reason for the decided to give up belief but perhaps it would mean that no one who hasn't already decided the bible is the book should pay it any special attention. That makes me wonder why a wise god would set his followers up like this to go out to win followers with little more than smoke and mirrors. I know I wouldn't want to have to sell anyone a pig in a poke like that but then I value a good night's sleep and wouldn't want to undermine my peace of mind.
I'm happy to see your #2 would seem to justify other than literalist interpretations of bible. Perhaps fundamentalist literalism is what results when God chooses not to bestow any insight whatsoever on those who want to believe but just really don't have a clue?
