Well if Ron Wyatt is a nut case, why is Hershel Shanks editor of Biblical Archaeology Review quoted in Newsweek is now saying that Ron Wyatt's discovery is now the most likely spot of the real Mt. Siani. The Red Sea crossing site would have to be a three day walking distance from Mt. Siani and that is where they are finding the chariot wheels. Also horse and dead mens bones in the coral. Also carved in stone at the site is ancient writings which describe the biblical story. This is extra biblical writings. Same story, from another author.
You are writing about things which are entirely beyond the empirical realm. None of what you are writing can be proven to anyone but yourself (and even that may be delusion). Your claim that He has revealed truths to you or that He has given you Prophecies concerning your own life are meaningless to us. They as credible as someone claiming to have been abducted by aliens. You can 'prove' to yourself that the Bible is true all that you wish. Anyone can. However, anyone can also 'prove' the Bible to be false. Let me refer you to a quote from another website, quickly: http://www.deeptrancenow.com/imprints.htm William James, father of American psychology, tells of meeting an old lady who told him the Earth rested on the back of a huge turtle. "But, my dear lady", Professor James asked, as politely as possible, "what holds up the turtle?" "Ah", she said, "that's easy. He is standing on the back of another turtle." "Oh, I see", said Professor James, still being polite. "But would you be so good as to tell me what holds up the second turtle?" "It's not use, Professor", said the old lady, realizing he was trying to lead her into a logical trap. "It's turtles-turtles-turtles, all the way!" Don't be too quick to laugh at this little old lady. All human minds work on fundamentally similar principles. Her universe was a little bit weirder than most, but it was built up on the same mental principles as every other universe people have believed in. As Dr. Leonard Orr has noted, the human mind behaves as if it were divided into two parts, the Thinker and the Prover. The Thinker can think about virtually anything. History shows that it can think the earth is suspended on the back of infinite turtles or that the Earth is hollow, or that the Earth is floating in space; comparative religion and philosophy show that Thinker can regard itself as mortal, as immortal, as both mortal and immortal (the reincarnation model) or even as non-existent. It can think itself into living in a Christian universe, a Marxist universe, a scientific-relativistic universe - among many possibilities. The thinker can think himself sick, and can even think himself well again. The Prover is a much simpler mechanism. It operates on one law only: Whatever the Thinker thinks; the Prover proves. If the Thinker thinks that the sun moves around the earth, the Proves will obligingly organize all perceptions to fit that thoughts; if the Thinker changes its mind and decided the earth moves around the sun, the Prover will reorganize the evidence. If the Thinker thinks "holy water" from Lourdes will cure lumbago, the Prover will skillfully orchestrate all signals from the glands, muscles, organs, etc. until they have organized themselves into good health again. Of course, it if fairly easy to see that other people's minds operate this way; it is comparatively much harder to become aware that one's own mind is working that way also. It is believed, for instance, that some men are more "objective" than others. Businessmen are allegedly hard-nosed, pragmatic and "objective" in this sense. A brief examination of the dingbat politics most businessman endorse will quickly correct this impression. Scientists, however, are still believed to be objective. No study of the lives of the great scientists will confirm this. They were as passionate, and hence as prejudiced, as any assembly of great painters of great musicians. In the long run, we are hopefully approximating closer and closer to "objective Truth" over the centuries. In the short run, Orr's law always holds: "Whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover will prove.
Well if he really wanted to know what supports the world he should of read the bible. Because the bible states the earth hangs on nothing. Forget that turtle.
campbell34- It never ceases to amaze me how selective people can become when they are focused only on being right. The turtle story is merely an allegoy of Orr's law in action, yet you choose to focus on what you believe to be incorrect in the context of the story rather than come to grips with the concept that it illustrates. Did you read the rest of the post? Did you underatand what it was saying? Do you have any response to it?
What you are saying is that reality is often modified by things we try to fit into our preception. Yet I beliveve reality is often true and does not require modification to be true. The biblical account I believe is true and deals only in absolutes, which like any crime scene there is often evidence left behind which may lead to a suspect.
Not exactly. I'm saying that ones perception of reality is altered in order to show one that reality works in they way that s/he expects it too. Your perception of reality is such that you believe your interperetation of the words in the Bible are the correct interperetation. Naturally, you will modify the way that you percieve the empirical data you recieve from the world so that you filter out all input that might indicate otherwise and focus instead on any input which supports your belief. You look for things which you might be able to interperet as 'evidence' to support your view of the Bible, and so naturally, you find it. Were you an atheist, and looking for 'evidence' that the Bible was complete bunk, I have no doubt that you would find evidence which 'proved' that case. Again, you would filter out all input to the contrary, trivializing it or even doing secondary research to find more evidence which might be used to disprove whatever stood between you and your belief, and you would give greater weight to any 'eveidence' which you might use to support you case. This is the nature of the human mind. You are doing it even if you aren't aware of it or won't admit it. Other people interperet the words in the Bible diferently than you. They also selectively valuate the empirical input they recieve from the world in such a way as to support their beliefs. They will place different values on the significance of certain events than you do, and interperet them differntly. They too will point to the Bible and say that their version of the truth is supported by the words therein. They will quote chapter and verse to support their statements, just as you do. They may even point to the exact same passages you often quote as evidence which proves their views, interpereting the words in that passage just as literally as you and yet find the passage has an entirely different meaning. All this proves is that all language is ambiguous. The same words can be interpereted in many different ways. You have found one interperetation and you have created a perception of reality which allows you to find 'proof' that your interperetation is the correct one. Many, many other people have done the same, yet have entirely different ideas about what those words mean, yet they will insist that their experiences in the world 'prove' that their interperetation is the correct one, and call you 'blasphemer' and 'false prophet'. In their eyes, they will be correct and no argument on your part, no number of Bible quotes, no 'evidence' you bring to bear will sway their opinion. They have their own 'proof.' Does that make sense to you?
Well said, Know1nozme. And to give an example that may claer this up a bit to campbell. Campbell, you said: But if this were true then how come there are so many different denominations in christianity alone? And any police officer will tell you that crime evidence is not always absolute and can be misleading if you aren't careful. And as far as Ron Wyatt goes, his history speaks loud and clear. To believe that the man has actually found almost every biblical archeological site to ever been found to date is just foolishness. Same level as bigfoot, UFO's, etc. I have offered plenty of resources showing that this man was a fraud. Most of those resources are from christian sites as well.
I think you are right to a degree, yet the bible has checks and balances built into it. Strong belief that is not biblical often overrides those checks. Which allows a belief that is convenient and yet not necessarely correct.. When I was younger I want to believe a certain way and often I was confronted with scripture which mocked my belief. I always went the way of scripture even when the church said otherwise.
Actually the bible is like an old friend to me. The more you hang around it the more you understand it. I know the author well and He guides me through it's pages. Long before I knew anything about religion, God showed me a vision of the anti christ, the beast, and the false prophet. I think I was four years old at the time, Im really not sure, but I found out who they were years later when I was 17. That's the funny thing about God, when you want a quick answer, sometimes He really makes you wait. You know the reason most people never get to know God is because they never talk to Him. A long time ago I started to ask God questions and you would be amazed how God responds. Your talking to someone who is not lost in translations. The Jesus that died on the cross, is truly alive.
Well Sera, I would agree that I donot believe he found Noah's ark. It will be found up on ararat. But I believe Mount Sinia is the real site and so do a number of others that are respected in the field. As far as the number of denominations, I can tell you I have been in churches all my life and Im really not sure how many really study the bible. I'm always amazed when you talk with various Christians and discover how little they know about the bible. To many churches today are more like social clubs than places of worship an learning. As far as evidence, you must be careful but when you have 10 items you are looking for and you find everyone of them and some of them are even signed then you can feel confident you have hit pay dirt.
