(February 12, 2013 at 8:49 am)RichardP Wrote: So the Bible would be based on something that did happen historically but then exageratted the **** out of? A bit like how a crashed Soviet Sattelite became the crashed UFO of the Roswell Incident? That seems to make sense, I suppose. Though anyone into that sort of thing would just believe it was a crashed alien spaceship from the start.
A crashed alien spaceship would be an extraordinary thing to happen while a crashed Soviet spy craft would be relatively mundane. Mundane events are much more likely than extraordinary events. So if you were being 100% rational you would plump for the mundane unless there is compelling evidence.
(February 12, 2013 at 8:49 am)RichardP Wrote: You could argue that Solomon and Moses and Jesus all existed and got inspiration from "God" -- but didn't perform any miracles -- however you still think that God exists and you hope that there is an afterlife.
But then they would have nothing particularly to do with any God that may exist and taught about a God that existed only in their own imagination. So they need a supernatural capability to be the real deal.
