(October 2, 2013 at 10:49 pm)BadWriterSparty Wrote:(October 2, 2013 at 10:31 pm)catfish Wrote: Do I ever argue the existence of any god? Or do I debate what it actually written in the Bible?
Hold on, hold on. First, if you're going to appeal to the Bible as an authority for anything, then that entirely smacks of the notion that you hold a belief in god. For us to take your appeal to the Bible seriously (that is, to give a counterargument for your narrow biblical claims), then we must also hold the book to the same degree of authority that you apparently do. We don't, and that's because we don't believe in the god that it supposedly hails from. So we automatically dismiss anything you use as evidence when it comes from the pages of that book.
This is not done as a tactic to offend you, but instead it's to focus on the begged question: Is the assumed authority of this book (Yahweh) real? If he is, then we have every reason to listen to any passage you might want to throw our way. The existence of god is therefore your unspoken claim simply because you appealed to the Bible. To satisfy your demand that we listen to your Bible verses, you must first show that this god is real. However you manage that is up to you.
Or we could just be wasting our time because you may not actually believe in god, but the Bible just happens to be your favorite storybook, which is why you recite it so often and get pissy when people take issue with an interpretation of a word/verse/passage.
But shucks. What do I know?
Reading comprehension?
One simple question for you:
Do I argue reasons for accepting the Bible as an authority or against?