Why do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?

Right, but as I said, making the claim doesn't mean much to me, and if it comes to it, neither does anything else. I don't see that any other book is "eliminated" from anything by being less popular or less commonly translated or by failing to say "this is totally God's opinions right here" in the text.

I can't claim to know how many languages it's been translated into, but I would argue that the reason for it not being translated so often is pretty laudable really.

 

If god was real, he would have presented his message in such a way that there could be no possible doubt about its authenticity, or any confusion over its actual messages. Or even any possible doubt about his existence.

To me, the very fact that this has ever been up for discussion and debate among anyone demonstrates that this "god" fellow is totally incompetent when it comes to delivering a clear message to mankind. All religious texts are simply the words of man.

 

So you think the Thoughts of Chairman Mao is the Word of God even though Mao himself would deny it. I don't know but an atheist writing a book about his own thoughts, would seem to "eliminate" it from being God's Word.

Why?

 

Christian arguments never fail to amuse me.

The Bible is full of condradictions and illogic. The reason it's been a best seller is because most people are too stupid to figure out how to live on their own.

I think there's a lot to be learned from the Bible. A lot of what Jesus taught was amazing. But the Buddha was saying the same things long before Jesus.

Lets say the Bible IS more logical than Hinduism. Why does that make it the infailable word of God?

If God created everything then he created human reason. Why would be want us to bypass reason and just believe whatever an ancient book tell us? Science and religion have always been at war. Scientists are educated intelligent rational thinkers. Religion is an assembly of mostly weak minded people who are too scared to think for themselves.

Why would God create Lucifer and order him to obey everything he says? Why would he create a thinking feeling being that is never allowed to question or debate him?

IMO there is nothing more sad than reading a Christian try to rationalize their faith. We don't need religion to be an ethical society. We don't need religion to be charitable. All we need is empathy and reasoning.

I say read the Bible and take what we can from it. There's a lot of wisdom in it. But to believe that it is the one true word of God is embarassing to humanity. Nobody's going to Hell. There is no Hell and there is no devil. The only devil and Hell I know of is fear and ignorance.

 

No, I didn't say that. I said that a book written under divine influence would not necessarily proclaim itself as such. It needn't be the Thoughts Of Chairman Mao because I do not consider the extent of sales of a book to be an indicator of divinity. If anything was inspired by the divine it was Moby-Dick.

God moves in mysterious ways

Or, to put it another way, YOUR God does. And that's ultimately the issue here, isn't it. If someone doesn't already believe in (and worship) your God, would it even matter to them if the Bible could be unequivocally proven to have been written by Him?

That whole missionary thing I mentioned earlier. Far as I know, Mao never had any aspiration towards spreading his word outside his own country.

Also, and I know this is a bit Old Colonial of me, once a book's been translated into Spanish, Chinese and English, that covers a HUGE percentage of the population without having to piddle about getting it into every other one. That and the Bible is well known for having its meaning clouded by translation. Most people accept that the KJV and various other English translations benefit from some knowledge of versions that they were translated from. Wouldn't more translation = more confusion?

 

This thread is for people to state reasons why they think the Bible is the Word of God, not why they think the Bible is not the Word of God, if you want to do that Sanctuary is not the place for it. Now if you just want to question what has been said that is different, as long as it's reasonably respectful.

 

Hey, Lion, i've thought on that, before, too,

but life is so much more than just "school."

He made the Truth seem like it's relative, so that we could have the free will to CHOOSE our pathes,

to be our own gods, as it were (made in His image).

He wants US to love the Truth, enough to be willing to SEARCH for it, to be willing to reach out, in FAITH, to grab the golden ring of understanding.

From this side of the equation (a Christian), it's absolutely hilarious to me that,

for all it's "hidden,"

IT'S HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT!

 

This is so true that it's hard to understand why people have so much trouble finding it.

 

NO ONE will ever convince me that our Lord doesn't have one DYNAMITE sense of humour!!!

 

Their can't be love without trust and their can't be trust without faith.

Remember back in genesis when both Adam and Eve hid from God? It seems like the end times will parallel that moment because people have forgotten God. Adam and Eve have forgotten God's nature, which is why I think they hid away. You'd think the continual miracle of existence would be proof enough. I guess not.

:cheers2:

 

I think the places for it are the main Christian forum or the Atheist/Agnostic site. I won't start such a thread, but I'm very uncomfortable with threads that only allow one side of an issue to be expressed unless they're "respectful".

 

Did you understand the question in the OP?

OWB didn't ask DO You Believe ~

he asked WHY Do You Believe,

which presumes the fact of belief.

If anything, the posts to this thread that are "anti" are nothing more than trolling...

Also, correct me if i'm wrong (and i very well could be! )

but isn't Sanctuary specifically for Christian believers?

(You know, so we'd have a place to go, where we didn't have to Start From Scratch, as it were, and could discuss Biblical concepts with other believers?)

 

A Book With Influence
To be God's word the Bible would understandably be a influential Book, so has the Bible been influential on mankind?

The New Encyclopædia Britannica calls the Bible “probably the most influential collection of books in human history.” The 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine confessed: “I owe my enlightenment quite simply to the reading of a book . . . the Bible. It is quite rightly called Holy Scriptures. He who has lost his God can rediscover Him in this book.” During that same century, antislavery activist William H. Seward proclaimed: “The whole hope of human progress is suspended on the ever-growing influence of the Bible.”

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, called the Bible “the best gift God has ever given to man . . . But for it we could not know right from wrong.” British jurist Sir William Blackstone highlighted the influence of the Bible when he said: “Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation [the Bible], depend all human laws, that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”

 

Perhaps they were so influenced by it not because of it's supposed divine significance, but instead because they had it forced upon them by authority figures there entire life?

Just a theory, to go further into it could not the same things be said of the Islamic Koran throughout the middle east?

 

Well seeing as the Bible says nothing about forcing the truth on anybody, perhaps those doing the forcing weren't "Christians".

That wouldn't be world wide influence would it?

 

I know what this phrase is getting at, but I can't agree with the wording of it. The only God out there is our God. The Lord of the Heavens. Yes, we have free will and we have our own mind, but we are not Gods within ourselves, merely we are creations of God who live their lives to make the decision to follow or reject the Lord's teaching. This free will is not indication that we are our own Gods, as this detracts from the truth and makes us as people think we are as strong as, or if not more powerful than the Lord is. That kind of arrogance does not bring any good. iggy:

 

Hence, the fact that i made the word plural,

AND used a lowercase first letter.


i used the phrase "in His image" juxtaposed to free will,

trying to say that THAT is what sets us apart, making us more like Him.

 

I was just rereading this and thinking that sometimes I'm too much of a brain person and although the heart can be treacherous, used properly it can give great insight into the God's Word. You seem to be more of a heart person, may you use it well and may you keep it well guarded.

 

Not all Christians are fundamentalist Bible thumpers. If you think Amen choruses are appropriate in any forum, you have a restricted view of dialogue. This ghetto was established because in the main forum the Christians were vastly outnumbered by the lions, and the lions were not much into rational discussion. More importantly, it was intended to pre-empt the evangelicals' tendencies toward proselytizing and substitution of incessant bible quotes for thought on the main Christian forum. I don't think it was intended to establish a sheltered workshop for fundamentalists.

 

You did say you were a Christian didn't you?