(July 3, 2015 at 12:11 am)Redbeard The Pink Wrote:I've heard all those things many times yet they amount to no more than the word you used and I put in bold. You're just parroting things others have come up with, nothing original about you, seems to me you have put yourself in the same category as you have put the Bible.(July 2, 2015 at 11:38 pm)Godschild Wrote: You've given evidence of this I'm assuming.
GC
I don't know if he has, but I sure will.
There is ample evidence to demonstrate that the christian bible is a clever(ish) fiction devised with two main purposes: explaining the natural world in the absence of widespread scientific process, and controlling humans. If you look at it for what it is, without bias, it becomes clear that the bible is part of an over-arching storytelling tradition that consistently comprises humanity's efforts to preserve what they think they know and to find deeper meaning in reality.
If you examine the content of the text itself, the stories share themes, components, and sometimes even whole narratives with other works of myth (some predating the bible) that were devised for reasons similar to the ones I've already mentioned. Some stories fill in at-the-time gaps in the popular understanding of the natural world, some stories are obvious propaganda to boost national pride and self-righteousness amongst the jewish and/or christian people, and still others serve merely to communicate "god's" commandments to society. It's the same kind of content you find in other systems of myth. Whether it's the flood story, Samson's strong-man-hero story, or even the story of a dying and rising savior god, none of these themes are unique or original to christianity or judaism.
So yeah...while there is no evidence of the existence of a creator god, there is evidence to suggest that the bible, like other works of myth, was written and inspired entirely by humans for entirely human reasons.
In the beginning, man created god in his image.
GC
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.