The Bible makes a lot of sense if you realize it wasn't written by modern people...

[luchitociencia]

I was at a Christian bookstore and there was a poster "proving" that the Earth was 6,000 years old. They started with Adam and traced his lineage to Jesus, and added up how old each was when he had a son, then they added 2,000 years to the total. Stuff like that makes Christianity look dumb.

Don't think so.

Today, there are lots of people who say that when you look the far away galaxies you are watching the universe "as it was in its past".

Ridiculous, but such are current beliefs.

While you are very close for those numbers to have a special assignment of meaning, like 3, 7, 12, etc, on the other hand the events themselves indeed have happened.

What is going on is the language used to describe them.

In order for you to understand what I say, just listen the weather man when he says that tomorrow rain will start at "sunset".

Then, the typical knowing all will reject those words, and will criticize such a common "phrase" as ignorance, because the Sun is not orbiting around earth and never sets, and etc. etc.

Today we speak with the same style of the ancient with the use of expressions, but as you can notice, the weather man was right, because when the day was getting dark, the rain started.

So, because the weather man used a literary expression, that won't mean the events didn't happen.

 

[norwegen]

So, that's your argument? I'm "cherry picking"?

Do you believe the world was literally created in six days, and on the seventh God rested?

Do you believe Noah had two of every animal in his ark?

Do you believe there was a garden somewhere where life was perfect and a real human couple named Adam and Eve lived there?

I take it that in the face of contrary info; you've abandoned these "facts"?

The point of my thread is that it's not relevant whether or not these events happened literally or whether they were stories created to teach us lessons about God and our relationship to him.

The point of the creation story is that God created the universe out of nothing, it was not created from something else, and God and his creation are not one and the same.

The point of the Noah story is that God has promised not to flood the Earth again, that is his Covenant.

The point of the Adam and Eve story is that the human race was created without sin, and it was our choice to become sinful.

Keep going... What is the point of the story of "virgin birth", The trifractal deitey? And all the "New Testament" stuff? Or is it just the foundational material of Christianity we shouldn't take too seriously..?

Jesus died for our sins, to reconcile us to God, and rose from the dead on the the third day.

Uh-huh... What sins were those?

Idolatry. The sin of the Israelites. Baal, Asherah, Ashtoreth, Molech, and all the rest. Also the secret arts. The Old Testament is full of such accounts. It's essentially about a people who abandoned their God.

 

[Meriweather]

How do you determine what, within its volumes should be believed, and what shouldnt?

How do we determine such things in everyday life? Ever watch or read the news? What story is being conveyed? What do those conveying the news want the audience to take from it? What adjectives (pejoratives) are being used to lead readers/listeners to what the authors and editors want them to learn/believe?

Which channels, papers, magazines, and websites do we avoid because we have no wish to believe what is being presented or how it is being presented?

 

[Carl in Michigan]

...there's a lot of symbolism that people of the time would know was symbolism, but modern people insist on reading literally.

For example, the people who read the creation story when it was first written understood the symbolism of saying the world was created in seven days. Seven is a number which symbolizes "perfection." Jesus said to forgive "seven times seventy times" which is a number which meant ultimate perfection.

People who read the Bible knew that "forty" was a "large number", not a literal number of days that the flood lasted, not the literal number of years the Hebrews wandered in the desert, not the literal number of days Jesus fasted in the wilderness.
,
Some things in the Bible are literally true: the Virgin birth of Jesus, the Resurrection of Jesus, Jesus' dual nature as both God and Man.

I love cherries! Pick some for me while you're at it...

So, that's your argument? I'm "cherry picking"?

Do you believe the world was literally created in six days, and on the seventh God rested?

Do you believe Noah had two of every animal in his ark?

Do you believe there was a garden somewhere where life was perfect and a real human couple named Adam and Eve lived there?

Yes. Do you?

 

[Questioner]

...there's a lot of symbolism that people of the time would know was symbolism, but modern people insist on reading literally.

For example, the people who read the creation story when it was first written understood the symbolism of saying the world was created in seven days. Seven is a number which symbolizes "perfection." Jesus said to forgive "seven times seventy times" which is a number which meant ultimate perfection.

People who read the Bible knew that "forty" was a "large number", not a literal number of days that the flood lasted, not the literal number of years the Hebrews wandered in the desert, not the literal number of days Jesus fasted in the wilderness.
,
Some things in the Bible are literally true: the Virgin birth of Jesus, the Resurrection of Jesus, Jesus' dual nature as both God and Man.

The Bible is rather fascinating. But I prefer not to comment on it beyond that.

 

[luchitociencia]

Besides, no matter how much technology has been reached today, if scenarios happen around us same as happened to those ancient people, then the most common reaction will be towards a god or gods, and with different attitudes, like fear, repentance, even hope and, of course, faith.