(February 5, 2014 at 10:44 pm)Lek Wrote:Quote:Do you believe the bible is completely accurate and true?I believe that the events in the bible are true and that it coreectly[sic] leads us to Christ.
Evidence?
(February 5, 2014 at 10:44 pm)Lek Wrote: I can tell you about something that happened and it would be true and you would know what happened.
Depends on the claim and the evidence provided. If you said that you owned a car, that's very reasonable and I'd take you at your word. Cars and their owners are very common and not at all extraordinary.
If you said that you owned s spaceship capable of intergalactic travel, well I'd need quite a bit more evidence than just your word for it. Because to the best of my knowledge, those simply do not yet exist, and even if they did they wouldn't be owned by individuals.
(February 5, 2014 at 10:44 pm)Lek Wrote: In the course of relating the event to you I might say that a car drove by, but it actually was a truck. Technically, I was wrong, but it didn't affect the meaning of what I wanted to relate to you.
Depends on how crucial the vehicle is to the claim, which must be evaluated on a case by case basis. If the Bible said Jesus ate a fish, it's a normal enough claim to be taken at face. The problem lies when the Bible claims that Jesus performed miracles and was raised from the dead, extraordinary claims for which there is no evidence.
(February 5, 2014 at 10:44 pm)Lek Wrote: Another thing to consider is the style or type of writing.
Nope. The gospels were written decades after the supposed events, by anonymous authors who were not eye-witnesses. Not only that, but even if Jesus did exist, he would have spoken Hebrew and Aramaic; the Gospels were written down in Greek.
(February 5, 2014 at 10:44 pm)Lek Wrote: In many cases he's writing a story to demonstrate a moral principle. Sometimes a writer uses symbolism to demonstrate a truth. You also need to conisder[sic] the audience of the writer and how they would understand what was being said and so on.
Understanding cultural context still doesn't provide any evidence for any of the miracle claims made in the Gospels. However learning the history of the text, like the fact that the Resurrection story is not a part of the oldest and best copies of Matthew (they simply end at the crucifixion) and appears to have been added to the text much later; give us very good reasons to doubt the authenticity everything in the Gospels.