Because the bible tells you so?

[Exian]

Lately, I've been very disinterested in anything to do with religion, which is probably why I've been so inactive with a majority of the discussions here. I just have a hard time taking it seriously. For me, the problem starts with man writing the bible; I can't get past that fact to lend myself to any other argument for the existence of a biblical god. Things only get slightly more fun with discussions on non-personal, I.D style gods, but not by much.

Now, I know that most Abrahamic theists believe that the authors were divinely inspired, but that's so fucking weak, so here are a few questions I'd like answered (yeah, this shit again):

1. What are your reasons for believing the authors were divinely inspired? (I'm not looking for definitive proof or anything, just your reason, so "because the bible says" is perfectly acceptable to me.)

2. What do you make of the fact that written language is a human invention?

3. Is there anybody that you know of who you would believe if they told you some stuff they wrote was the word of god, or divinely inspired? Why or why not?

4. What role does time play in the believability of a claim that some written words are the word of god?

5. Do you think religion would exist if writing was never invented?

I guess that's it for now. Again, I don't care what your reasons are, I'm not even really looking to argue, so "I just do believe" is fine. Just curious. Although, I may have comment or follow-up questions depending on the answers.

[ignoramus]

2. What do you make of the fact that written language is a human invention?

That's what we do.
Newton had to invent calculus, just to predict the oblong orbits of the planets perfectly.

[Exian]

Oh yeah, we definitely had a need to invent writing, and it turned out to be a whopper of an invention, but that implies that there were scores of humans who lived without that invention. And throughout the formation of the bible, and for a time afterwards, there were tons of people who still couldn't read the damned thing.

You could take it a step further, and say that, while speaking isn't an invention, each tribe's specific language is. So, even while religion was just word of mouth, in its most esoteric form, only a handful of people would understand it.

[vorlon13]

Given the near universal prevalence of scripture cherry pickers, maybe #1 needs to be changed a bit ?

1. What are your reasons for believing the authors were divinely inspired when they wrote the parts of the Bible you are willing to comport to? (I'm not looking for definitive proof or anything, just your reason, so "because the bible says" is perfectly acceptable to me.)

[Exian]

Ha! Yeah, that's true. Although, I don't personally give a shit which part they comport to, just that they comport to any of it is what I don't understand. Furthermore, I will probably never understand, which is why I'm ok with whatever answer any of our resident theists will give.

And I'm only assuming they believe that the invented words written by man were divinely inspired. If that's the case, I would like to know why they believe that. If it isn't the case, I'd like to know how they think the bible came about.

[Spooky]

If I followed the bible to the letter I'd either be dead or in prison.

[Minimalist]

I just have a hard time taking it seriously.

But why bother taking it seriously.

You know the saying, "hate the belief - shit all over the believer."

Make your own fun, man.

[Exian]

Don't forget "Blow Jesus out your ass!"

I want to take it seriously so that I may "know thy enemy", but I'm not motivated to do so, and I don't budge if I'm not motivated by some single minded goal. And I think I've narrowed the initial snag to having no clue what the mechanism is that makes a book divine. Without that, I just go cross-eyed when I see "14:1 and Jesus fingered his peehole.." Just no interest to be read up on that nonsense. I feel like I'm watching some trashy reality show; an absolute waste of my time.

I have this thing where, if a subject is settled in my mind, I don't really care what someone else says about it, and that really puts a damper on the whole learning thing. Now, I maintain an agnostic stance on any god existing, but as far as biblical claims go, I'm a fairly strong atheist, which means I'm not holding out a mustard seed of hope that anybody will bring something new to the table. This thread is sort of my attempt to regain interest, and I'm doing so with what I think is an interesting question. A question which really goes for any religious text. It doesn't matter what the fuck it says, if your going to tell me it's divinely inspired, I'm gonna wonder how that is and why you believe it.

[Minimalist]

How could I ever forget that?

I feel you are over thinking the issue. It is not necessary to take it seriously. In fact. taking it with a grain of salt is best. Theists crave to be taken seriously. Strive to deny them that.

[robvalue]

I've yet to hear anything that is more convincing than "this book is magic". And the arguments sound no less silly than that either. "My mummy wouldn't lie to me" maybe.

I normally get drenched in loads of little arguments, all of which are fundamentally flawed. By the time I've shown what is wrong with the first one, three more have taken its place. I don't care how many arguments you have got, if none of them are sound, they don't amount to anything.