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Originally Posted by Zosimus
2. Evidence. This covers explanations such as "Archaeological proofs exist for many things in the Bible (places, people, etc.) so it's likely that the rest of it is true too."
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Archeology and anthropology disprove things, too, like the Exodus. It never happened, but people ignore that evidence.
Archeology and anthropology also prove that Canaanite culture and Hebrew culture are indistinguishable.
That came to light when disproving the Exodus. Only 3 of the 16 cities were actually destroyed and two of those cities that were destroyed were destroyed by "sea-peoples."
Of the sole remaining city, it's unknown if the Canaanites did it or the Hebrews, because it's virtually impossible to distinguish between the two cultures. Myself, I'm inclined to believe the Hebrews actually did do it.
People are dismissive of other evidence, too.
Why do you suppose the Book of Job has more than 100 Sumerian-Akkadian loan-words?
That's because the Sumerians wrote it first. Then the Akkadians copied it. And the Mari, Nuzi, Mitanni, Hurrians, Hittites, Gutians, Cassites and Elbaites copied it.
And then the Ugarits copied it.
And, finally, the Hebrews copied it.
The god El Shaddai appears 31 times in Job. El Shaddai is the Akkadian name for the Sumerian god Ninurta. According to both Sumerian and Akkadian texts, Ur was the principal city for Ninurta and he had his temple there. I mention that because in Genesis is states that Tehran, the father of Abrahm and Serai was a priest at Ur.
If you examine that, you cannot use the King Joke Vision. You have to use the Hebrew texts.
The King Joke Vision substitutes Yahweh for El Shaddai. Why? Because they lie. They don't want you to know the truth, because then you'd start asking questions and questions are bad for religion.
Worse than that, you might actually come to learn that the Ugarit pantheon was El (or Bull-El if you prefer), Ba'al, El Elyon, El Berith, El Shaddai, Yam, Mot, Asherah, Dagon, Kothar, Lothan, and Yahweh.
And then you'd ask:
"What the hell is Yahweh doing there?"
Again with the questions. Those were the gods the Hebrews worshiped
before they copied the Babylonian and adopted a single god as their national god.
That, of course, raises even more questions and questions are bad for religion.
The King Joke Vision lies a lot.
There's two stories of Jesus casting out demons near the Sea of Galilee, and the demons allegedly take over the bodies of 2,000 pigs, who kill themselves by running into the Sea of Galilee.
If you read the manuscripts, you should have lots of questions, but questions are bad for religion.
So, the King Joke Vision lies, so you don't ask questions.
Mark says Jesus cast the demons out of one man, while Matthew claims it was two men.
Which one is right?
Not only can't Mark and Matthew agree on how many men it was, they can't even agree on where it happened.
Mark says it happened at Gerasa and Matthew claimed it happened at Gadara, and neither are exactly on the Sea of Galilee. From Gadara, it'd be a five minute car ride if you're going 60 MPH. From Gerasa, it's a 30 minute drive going 60 MPH.
The King Joke Vision changes the location to Gerge, which is really deceitful on their part, but then again, their job is to ensure you don't ask any questions.
Not only are those three towns different, they're inhabited by three different ethnic groups.
If you get the manuscripts, and do location blocking, that is, "
Where was Jesus?" and then where did he go next and then after that, you'll see hundreds of conflicts.
The four gospel writers can't agree on anything. Then do people blocking, "Who was Jesus with?" That's a freaking nightmare. Matthew says Jesus was here with these disciples, and Luke says, no, he was with these disciples, and John says, no, it was these disciples.
Then action blocking, "What was Jesus doing or saying?" That's a mess, too. Like I said, Matthew claims Jesus was at Gadara casting demons out of two men, while Mark says Jesus was at Gerasa casting demons out of one man only. Dozens and dozens and dozens of those kinds of conflicts.
They cannot even agree when Jesus was crucified.
John says Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, and Matthew, Mark and Luke say it was a different day.
I'll warn you in advance, the manuscripts are expensive, as in pricey. Some are annotated or have commentary, and those are even more expensive. If you buy one that has annotations or commentary, just make sure it's not from an Apologist.
It's worth it to spring for the annotated, because it will tell you the manuscript, you know, Bodmer, Chester Beatty, E1, E13, or the codex, like
Codex Bezae, Codex Cantabrigiensis, or Codex
Boernerianus, and the school, like Alexandrian, Byzantine, Cesarean, Roman, Coptic, etc. The schools have different views on the "virgin birth" (some don't accept it) and the divinity of Jesus and the meaning of the crucifixion or resurrection and such.
It gives dates, too. For example, the Pericopa of the Adulteress doesn't appear in any manuscript prior to the 11th Century and a lot of things were inserted centuries after the fact, plus some things were edited to change the text.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zosimus
3. Testimony. I would guess that the vast number of people who believe in religious themes do so because of testimony. Much of Christian outreach focuses on witnessing in which a person or a group of people tell about their personal experiences with God. It may be as simple as "My life was a wreck. I found Jesus and got saved. Now I have a job, a car, and I'm not arguing with my parents as much." Others may involve personal feelings such as peace in the heart, seeing visions, speaking in tongues(babbling), etc.
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The testimony is irrelevant, because it's subjective. Not only is it subjective, it doesn't work out that way for everyone, and who's to say Allah or Shiva or Santa Claus couldn't have done the same?
Anything that is subjective cannot by definition be evidence, because evidence is totally objective.
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I'm liking this (admittedly imperfect and no doubt incomplete) list!
