(May 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm)Paul the Human Wrote: I agree that this describes how many people probably come to 'believe' the bible, but I contend that a desire for belief and a willingness to accept outrageous stories at face value, must exist first. I do not have that capability. I have read both bibles (and parts of that Mormon thing) more than once and have been exposed to choice portions from both sides for years and years. I have had it explained to me by those who 'understand' it.There's the crux - to you they are outrageous stories. I accept them to be pertinent to what they describe, and completely coherent. I have no magical powers for this - this is straight forward deductive reasoning. When I decide to trust it and act upon it, THEN I step into belief.
I still don't believe a word of it. Back to the why such differing conclusions?
Both bibles?
You're trying to demean my opinion by suggesting that they ("outrageous stories") are clearly outrageous to everyone, which obviously they are not. And as far as I know, there isn't a single shred of evidence to discount a single word of it. So applying your own logic for the dissmissal of something based on no evidence... how about applying that measure equally here, and accept that the bible can be interpreted logically?