About other gods-question for theists

[Jenny A]

What event or happening that you can show to be outside yourself gave you the belief. As far as I can tell from what you say, you looked inside, saw god and then declared god to be an external force. What specifically happened outside of your head to give you belief in god?

The Bible.

Well the Bible is external to you. No doubt about that. And it certainly says god exists. But given the fact that it also says the world was created in six days and that there is essentially no historical corroboration for anything in it except bits of Kings and Chronicles, I wouldn't count it as evidence. Is the Book of the Dead evidence of Ra?

For example, please explain when Jesus was actually born since Matthew claims that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great but Luke claims that Jesus was born during the census of Quirinius (6-7 CE) which is ten years after Herod died in 4 BCE. Was he born twice?

The genealogies for Jesus in Mathew and Luke are so different that they hardly contain a single name in common. Further both are through Joseph which makes no sense at all if Jesus were born of a virgin. --apologists suggest that one of those genealogies was Mary's but that's not what either gospel says.

I will get back to you on this.

No problem, it's a chore apologists have been working without success on for many years.

Name one prophesy clearly stated in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament. Give me the verses.

Daniel 9:25-26

Okay, let's look at what Daniel had to say and when he is supposed have said it:

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian[b] kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

Daniel 9:1-2

So this prophesy was made during the Babylonian captivity. After much prayer concerning the misfortunes of Israel and the times god had both rewarded and punished Daniel, Gabriel came to Daniel and said:

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish[d] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

I've italicized the part you say was fulfilled in the New Testament.

You better explain just what you think this means. I don't think it in anyway clearly describes Jesus' coming and I'd like to know why you think it does. Or maybe you think it's John the Baptist? But supposing just for argument the Jesus is the "Anointed One": 7 sevens is 49 and 62 sevens is 434 bringing us to a total of 496. If that's 496 years, the Anointed one showed up way too soon after the beginning of the restoration of Jerusalem. If sevens mean weeks than it's 69 weeks (a little more than a year), than the Annointed One was very late.

Then again maybe it's not time at all. Whatever it is it's not very clear.

Jesus was put to death. But I wouldn't say he had nothing afterwords. Would you? There's been war since, but not especially more than there was before the prophesy.

The point is that it's all about as clear as mud. Worse than a horoscope.

OK, clarify. Let's see your syllogism. Don't just say I haven't gotten yours right. Supply yours.

You asked why believe the Bible over the Koran (or the book of mormon). I responded that the Koran asserts that the Biblical God is true, then goes on to deny Him. It is due to this logical inconsistency that I would choose Christianity.

Islam says the Biblical God is the true God.
The Biblical God says Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Islam says that God has no son.

The above set of propositions is a logical inconsistency. Therefore I would choose Christianity over Islam.

Islam says the Biblical god is the true god. But it specifically says Jesus is merely a prophet. That contradicts the Bible, but is not contradictory in and of itself. It simply says the Bible describes the real god but got some things wrong about him. Here let me tell you the real story.