(November 13, 2013 at 3:44 am)max-greece Wrote: I have to go with no for this for the following reasons:I re-read my original argument to thry and see what was wrong with it. Apparently I'm not as good at explaining my argument as I thought.
If I am asked: "What is 6 and 9?" I answer immediately 15 without thinking about it. This is because I have learned that sum and am merely recalling the answer. My answer is instinctive - often I will then re-do the sum in my head just to check as it does feel the answer sprang out of nowhere.
On the other hand if I am asked what is 2346 + 9456 I will have to work it out as that is not a sum I have remembered (or even possibly ever done).
These answers may come from somewhere else - but if they do that somewhere else is a different part of the Brain - not an external source.

That said, our ability to do math cannot just come from our brains. If it did, we would still be able to add, but we would be clueless as to why addition worked the way it did. Surely even with a simple math problem like 6+9, which you have known for many years, it never came as a surprise to you that 15 was the answer. You didn't just know that when you put 6 and 9 together, you get 15 somehow. You understand what it means to have 6 of something, to have 9 more of them and to put the 6 and 9 together. It's the understanding part that has to come from somewhere else other than our brains.
5) The Old Testament condones slavery.
Esquilax Wrote:I don't take "slaves, obey your masters," to be a moral commandment. But it's there, along with a parable from Jesus himself that endorses the beating of slaves. Combine those with the never-repealed old testament rules for the owning of slaves from the tribes around you, and we've got one hell of an immoral system, right there.OK, so I'm sure you've all heard what I'm about to say before, but let me say it anyway so you all can respond to it.
Old Testament slavery (and even NT slavery, for that matter) was nothing like Western or modern slavery. It was a way for foreigners who had gone to war with them in the past to continue to live in their land. And the Bible defines slavery in no uncertain terms in Leviticus 25:
Quote:39 If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40 he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are my servants,[e] whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. 43 You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God.Although these rules are specifically for Hebrew slaves, it is important to remember that even foreign slaves would have to have entered into it themselves, because of this law in Exodus:
Quote:16 Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.6) There are too many denominations of Christianity for it to be taken seriously.
You're right in saying that there are many things even Christians disagree on, but there are also many things we agree on, and the truth of the Bible is one of them, for the most part. That's what I'm arguing for, nothing more, nothing less.
I'm still not sure why this makes Christianity in general less credible though, please elaborate?