RE: Proof of Christianity
August 11, 2013 at 2:48 am
(This post was last modified: August 11, 2013 at 2:48 am by Tea Earl Grey Hot.)
(August 10, 2013 at 11:28 pm)Locke Wrote: If the Bible's validity can be proven to be externally free of contradiction (not contradicting with known historical events, geography etc.), internally free of contradiction (nothing in it that contradicts itself, which includes the writings of its over 40 authors, as well as Old Testament prophecies being foretold before they happened, and being fulfilled by Jesus), and it must be shown that it is reasonably accurate to the original writing (which is what was inspired by God) and that no point of doctrine or teaching has been changed.
If these criteria are met, then the Bible has good reason to be taken more seriously, especially if its claims are indeed true.
Does that sound rational?
Sure, it would give reason to take it more seriously but nothing you mentioned if true would necessitate the conclusion that Christianity is true. It's a non sequitur. Even if the bible was externally and internally consistent, even if it contained fulfilled prophecy, and even if scripture were preserved all of that gives no proof of the existence of the Christian God, the existence of heaven and hell, the existence of angels and demons and so on. Simpler explanations exist which by themselves are far fetched but in comparison to what Christianity asserts is easier (for me at least) to believe. I'll make up one: aliens did it. Life arose here by chance it seems and as big as the universe is it's not far fetched to postulate that life exists else where. Perhaps beings from an advanced civilation wanted to make up a religion and trick humans into believing it. Who knows why. Maybe they were alien sociologists doing experiments; maybe they were just spoiled teenager aliens doing it all for laughs. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...or should I say, miracles? Anyways these aliens convinced the primitive Israelites they were angels and one of them pretended to be God. All those stories involving God and angels? They were all aliens.
Of course I don't believe any of that but assuming what you said, I think it's a more likely scenario. We have reason to believe life can arise else where. We don't have reason to believe however that supernatural beings such as angels and demons and supernatural things such as the soul and sin etc exist. Those things are just asserted by Christianity. Maybe Moses did see "God" on top of Mount Sinai and maybe "God" gave Moses stone tablets with commandments etched into them. I'm more inclined to think that Moses saw an alien.
Again I don't believe the ancient aliens theory. It's just an absurd idea still more plausible based on what we know than "God did it." I can make up an equally tantalizing story involving time travelers.
My ignore list
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
