Archaelogy and the Bible

[BrokenAngel]

THAT'S not the freakin!!!!! POINT!!!! I don't believe in invisible freakin gods or any other of your stupid made up bull shyte.

BUT your avatar is great. I laughed out loud when I saw it. It is priceless. See that's what troubles me the most. You obviously have a mind. Why give up on yourself and waste your precious ONE CHANCE.. one life.. on this bullshit.

What exactly are we (Christians) "giving up". I have a great life and as a Christian don't feel I give up anything. As I have said before, If I am right, I spend eternity with God and if I am wrong, I have lost absolutely nothing!

Ahh ... but what if you are worshiping the wrong way? Then you do lose something.

I hate that thought.. it is so unsettling. So many religions how can any one be right? I am still struggling over whether I want to be cremated or burried whole. Beliefs range on the topic from the thought that your soul is trapped in your body so long as it is whole and others believe that you will never enter heaven if you aren't complete.

Trick is.. stop worrying about it. The non-religious don't give a shite about whether or not they are wrong so why should I? What I believe and feel is an ever lasting truth makes me happy in life. I don't have to give up caffiene or beef or pork so again the religion itself isn't a burden in any way. All I am required to do is be understanding and patient and open to love. What is so wrong with that? If I am wrong oh well.. I'm still being the kindest person I can think to be. By the athiest's logic there is nothing wrong with that and it should be supported.

 

[ABikerSailor]

See, here's the trouble with trying to say that any one religion is "right". God is much more than just 1 theology, so people should quite trying to shoehorn Him into a box.

A more beneficial idea would be to look at all the various theologies, see where they are similar and have parallels, because if you start looking for the similarities, you get much farther. Another benefit of this viewpoint is that you can see where they are divergent, and, from there, you can figure out where the various leaders of that faith over the years have diverted their theology away from God, and placed the focus more on themselves.

Catholics did it. Quite a few Christian faiths do it as well. Just look around sometime, because a lot of the leaders of various faiths tend to tell you that THEY are the ones that can connect you to Yeshua, and Yeshua is the one that connects you to HaShem.

But.......if you know what that electricity is running through your nervous system is, you would realize that is your soul, which is a small piece of God.

Who needs church leaders to connect you when you're already connected?

 

[Indiana Oracle]

One wonders how one can insist there's no proof that the bible is true, that it's a collection of fairy tales...while at the same time whining that we depend too much upon science when the stories are backed up?

???

Not sure what it has to do with my rant, but interesting question.

Here's the thing, people who look to prove the book is true by altering or reading more into archeology are those with weak faith, they need the proof for it as much as atheists need the proof against it. In reality archeology can not really prove or disprove any story, anthropology however can prove some, but then that's based on other stories which are also written by the same type of people. The only things that are truth based on archeology is whether a city existed in a place they say it is, which however proves little about that city and why it's not there anymore, thus the story itself is still not proven. There are some instances in which natural events can be misconstrued to match myth and legend very easily, because the causes of these events requires more study from other areas of science to understand fully, so they can be made to match the myths by ignoring research done by other fields.

A great example comes from the myth of the great serpent in ancient Egyptian, where the serpent was able to heal any damage done to it. There was a treasure in which the serpent selfishly guarded, one that held many answers to life and death. The pharoah at the time sent in his greatest warrior but all were caught and consumed by the serpent, none were able to draw near the chest. Then one man who was not a great warrior said he could get it, as long as he could take from the chest what he wanted first. The pharoah agreed to this doubting the man could get any closer. The man then forged armor with blades sprouting from every angle, every joint. He went in and every time the serpent tried to wrap or swallow the man the armor tore the serpent asunder ... of course he got the chest, and took from it the one great book of truth as he was promised, leaving only gold and gems for the pharoah, of which the pharoah had no use for. the morale was to think before acting. The river bed in which the tale takes place is there, there is also a "serpent pit" in the spot where the chest was suppose to be, and the city where the ancient pharoah mentioned does exist, as does the tomb for that same pharoah. Everything is there, so according to those who rationalize it, it is fact. But in reality we know it is just a story to teach a lesson. Oh, and they found the armor to.

That is basically all I have to say

 

[jeffrockit]

THAT'S not the freakin!!!!! POINT!!!! I don't believe in invisible freakin gods or any other of your stupid made up bull shyte.

BUT your avatar is great. I laughed out loud when I saw it. It is priceless. See that's what troubles me the most. You obviously have a mind. Why give up on yourself and waste your precious ONE CHANCE.. one life.. on this bullshit.

What exactly are we (Christians) "giving up". I have a great life and as a Christian don't feel I give up anything. As I have said before, If I am right, I spend eternity with God and if I am wrong, I have lost absolutely nothing!

Ahh ... but what if you are worshiping the wrong way? Then you do lose something.

What would that be?

 

[BrokenAngel]

This is rather rediculous, the whole of this argument.

The Bible is just myth so it can't be true..

Then when people go out to try and prove the non-believers wrong they are laughed at as jokes.

Truth is in a person's heart but when you are beat upon daily for proof..

What does the world want from the faithful? Keep your nose out of everyone's business and keep to yourself and you still get laughed at or get pushed off the perverbial sidewalk because non-believers feel they are superior.

Pick your poison here people. Either the faithful are able to look for proof so they stop being the butt of every joke or you let them be in their faith and stop asking them for proof for what feels right.

 

[AssHatZombie]

But the important thing about religion is the behaviors it produces. There are good and bad aspects of religion, and lately they have become mostly bad. That's why we need a rational definition of morality, not based on fear and mindlessness, but also not based on nihilism and elitism.



Morality is a set of attitudes and behaviors which facilitate, voluntary, cooperative, and mutually beneficial relationships.

 

[1soldier]

go to urim and thummim on youtube and you can see the biblical artifact known as the urim and thummim. this is real.there are people looking into a very odd looking artifact and they tell what they see,it is amazing what we have before us now.heres your sign

 

[Amanda]

My beliefs only "require" me to try to be loving toward all of humanity. I don't see the downside.

 

[Kalam]

The stories of the Bible are didactic allegories, not accurate historical accounts. Anybody trying to prove that they're the latter is missing the point of Christianity. My understanding (after reading the book in its entirety several times) is that true Christians are those who model their actions and morals after the teachings of Jesus, not those who try to prove the impossible. You Christians have a great religion when followed properly; don't scare people away from it with dogmatic literalism.

 

[Kalam]

My beliefs only "require" me to try to be loving toward all of humanity. I don't see the downside.

That seems to be the right idea.