(June 16, 2015 at 10:05 am)Drich Wrote: ... So to you and yours 'ultimate truth' falls in how many women went into the sepulcher? or what specific time of day Christ died?
Let me ask you this.. What if I told you my wife and I went into the future just to Saturday at 11:30pm and got the winning lottery numbers, and they were 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42? Then she backed up everything I said, but she added it was actually 11:38 on Saturday night, and we also took my dog... Does her specific recollection change the 'ultimate truth' of the winning lottery numbers we provide?
Now ask yourself. Does the specific recolections of the two specific areas where the gospels conflict, change the ultimate truth of the ultimate ends to the plan of salvation? no. Not at all.
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The thing is, that proves that there are errors in it and it therefore cannot be completely trusted. It is just another book written by men, and they got things wrong. We then have no reason to believe that anything in it is right, unless it is independently verified. Which pretty well destroys the Christian religion, for every thinking person.
There are other ancient books, also written by men, and you have no reason to pick this book (or, more properly, set of books) as being anything special. You have just told us that it is not made by God and infallible, but is just another book that contains falsehoods. If God had actually guided the authors, they would not get things wrong, unless God himself is a liar and wanted it that way.
There are also contradictions that are clearly not trivial, nor do they depend on the particular translation, as the stories themselves are incompatible. For example:
In Luke 1:26-35, we have:
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
But in Luke 2:41-50:
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
Now, how is it that they did not understand what Jesus was saying there? There is no way you are is going to forget an angel visiting you and telling you that your virgin fiancée has been impregnated by God, so you should go ahead and marry her anyway. So if this later story is true, the earlier one about the virgin birth is false. The story is not consistent with itself.
So we have reason to doubt everything, as it is just a mess rather than a coherent story. And that is even keeping with the same book of the Bible, and not bothering with inconsistencies from one book to the next. It is a huge pile of crap, that no thinking person can take seriously.
It greatly resembles other writings of primitive, ignorant, superstitious people, and is of no value as a guide to life, or as a guide to anything even important historically. The virgin birth, miracle cures, it is all the same sort of BS nonsense one finds in other ancient texts, written by other primitive, ignorant, superstitious people than the primitive, ignorant, superstitious people who wrote the Bible.
Even you know that it contains falsehood, and yet you pretend that it is somehow a guide to life. But it cannot be a reliable guide when it gets things wrong.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
