How do you deal with a religious family?

[genkaus]

You have thus-far missed my point entirely. It is not helpful to be so divisive in an argument, especially when you have no evidence. Any dialogue you open with a Christian in that way can only end badly - you are in effect planning to fail. If you can't even answer my points, and listen to my argument coherently then how could you be expected to hear other points of view?

But I did answer all your points - which is why you are left with nothing. It is not only helpful to be divisive here - it is necessary. I'm divisive about what constitutes valid evidence and what doesn't - and I'll not compromise that principle and allow you to sneak in any invalid evidence.

Your position - in a nutshell - is to say that you admit the unreliability of evidence but you'd still rely on it to establish the validity the story and that's a valid position to take. It isn't.

Right, so then when they find graves with inscriptions reading "here lies such and such" they're lying?

When they find graves saying "Here lies Imhotep, son of goddess Isis and god Ra, a god in mortal form and a death curse be upon him that disturbs his peace" - then yes, the inscription is a lie.

Why, do you believe it?

You have very little appreciation of history and how historical records are considered.

Not true - I've great appreciation for liars and lies they tell.

I don't believe the Exodus ever occurred - I believe that is a myth. I don't believe that it's a deliberate "lie" I believe that the Israelites beliefs were written down into the Pentateuch (almost everyone believes this FYI including Jews and Christians).

And why would the fact that its not a deliberate lie make it any more reliable?

That doesn't have any bearing on the historicity of other writings though, whether those writings are included in the 49 writings (66 "books") of the Bible or elsewhere.

Since the events recorded in the earlier books have a direct bearing on the events recorded in the latter one, the established factual inaccuracy of the former does call the historicity of the latter into question.

Example:
1. People living in 3000 BC had developed advanced technologies like spaceships and inter-stellar travel - these technologies were later lost due to fall of civilization.
2. A band of wanderers in 400 AD found the remains of the lost technology and used it to fly off earth and explore other worlds.

Now, if you accept that 1. is incorrect, then the historicity of 2. is automatically called into question.

Also, you have been unable to back up any of your claims with evidence.

The only 'claims' I made were that there were lies and contradictions in the bible. You accepted the first and I provided evidence for the second.

This is the problem with your position - you take an extreme view that not even sceptical scholars take, that all the authors are inherently liars, this polarises you from the discussion even away from the sceptics who would prefer to have you on their side, all the while you cannot back up your view with any evidence other than facts that Christians already know about such as there being numerous minor textual inconsistencies.

Textual inconsistencies, lies, unreliable witnesses and gross violations of natural laws - that's a lot to go on for now.

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At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them. (Joshua 8:30-35).

That alter was discovered at Mt. Ebal and has been partially excavated in the 1980's (after being searched for for hundreds of years) by Dr. Adam Zertal, an Israeli archaeologist and a sceptic who originally believed the OT was only full of myths. There was plaster recovered with Hebrew lettering, bones consistent with animal sacrifices and the alter itself was consistent with the description given in the Talmud.

Archeologists have also found remains of Troy - clearly, that is evidence of historicity of Homer's Illiad and the direct involvement of Zeus in earthly battles.