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I was thinking about this the other day. What my faith rests on. I've always known two of the three pillars supporting my faith were extra-biblical: they were:
* a general belief in God, a creative agent and an ultimate purpose for humanity. Not necessarily the God of the Bible.
* at it's core Christianity 'felt' right
I suppose faith in the Bible rested on 'blind faith' but I needed something I could 'hang by hat onto', and 'bet my bottom dollar on.'
When I was 17 I read Michael Drosnin's 'The Bible Code' (many of you may be familiar with it) which claimed that many future events were encoded in the books of the Torah. For awhile this buoyed my faith. Then there were the Messianic prophecies, and prophecies in the OT. Well over time, I suppose that's where I generally go back to. My faith has sort of wavered a bit since I always felt my way needed to be supported.
Anyway, as the above site suggests, a lot of the evidence that the Bible is God's word to me may prove it's historicity and it's unity, but I felt I needed more to prove that God was behind it.
At the moment prophecy is the closest thing that's upholding my very weak faith (sometimes I feel I don't have any). Other than that, it's a generalized belief in God. I think, if I were to lose that faith my belief would just be a generalized belief in an entity called God.
It'd be great if Jesus made more specific predictions that did come true, but tbh most of his predictions relate to his own era.
So yeah, that's how it is for me at the moment. For you, what do you 'hang your hat' on it terms of actual evidence that the Bible is God's word? What to you constitutes truly convincing evidence?
I guess what I lack is a feeling of being very sure. Is there anything specific about the Bible that totally convinced you it was divinely inspired?
I'm not going to give you a Looooong talk here - you will have to find you own way, one way or another. But I would certainly like to hear from believers as to why Trimac can rely on the Bible as inspired word of God.
And now I do have a question. Is what you really need some assurance that the Bible is not only generally reliable as fact...well the important bits anyway...but more, can be reliable as to the god -claims and really that can only be if God had inspired the writers to tell the facts about God?
Wouldn't the accounts of men interacting with God and Jesus and all the miracles and prophecies coming about be evidence enough for you, or do you need to also have evidence that God actually had some part in dictating the content?
I was thinking about this the other day. What my faith rests on.
* a general belief in God, a creative agent and an ultimate purpose for humanity. Not necessarily the God of the Bible.
That is very well stated. I think you should stop right there and rest for awhile before you proceed.
Many other people have believed in a god and there are many stories how a god interacts with humans. Some people say their god talks to them and gives them rules to live by.
You can choose to believe some of these stories or you can sit outside and let your god show you how to live your life. You know the difference between right and wrong. If there were a god and he (or she) knew you needed help, do you think your god would ignore you?
With Dna there should be proof. Such as the wood of the arch, his shroud with his face on it, the unearth items of the Mayas and more info of the Egyptians. The golden Temple where no one is allowed knowledge just yet. Many things are coming up in the future.
Like with any other religion Christianty comes down to faith. Without faith then Christianty would not have the followes that it has now. Of course this goes for any other religion as well. Proof? There is nothing that proves that the bible is the word of God.
Like with any other religion Christianty comes down to faith. Without faith then Christianty would not have the followes that it has now. Of course this goes for any other religion as well. Proof? There is nothing that proves that the bible is the word of God.
True.
Just as I can't prove He is real, you cannot prove He is not.
SO is this FAITH that a person must have to believe that the Bible is the Word of God really nothing more than superstition and self-delusion? Does telling oneself a lie over and over convince the peron that it is true? Perhaps THAT is faith. It may convince the person but it will not convinve someone like myself or ashville who sees better reason not to believe it.
I had a religious propoganda book that consisted of about a hundred or so pages saying over and over that Jesus was God because he came back from the dead, and while the book had no evidence, no proof and no facts, I think the author was not only trying to convince the reader by rehashing this argument, but probably trying to convince himself as well by writing it. Kind of a point of Goebbels supposed quote "If you repeat a lie long enough it becomes the truth."
WHat many evangelical and Fundy Christians do not realize too is that the Bible did not come into vogue as the "word of god" until the 1700s with Colonial preachers. It is a very uniquely American movement, and is not shared on the same scale by Christians in Europe and South America. When the Bible was assembled and written, it was done as a reference for Roman Christians. Through the dark ages and Renaiissance, "Scripture" or "sacred writings" were not equated to "God's word"
Of course many of us accept the view now that since there is no such thing as the god described in teh Bible, then the works are purely fiction and purely the works of humans, some with an agenda of their own like Paul. I would think that using contemporary psychology theory, one could look at the egomania of Paul as a great example of the failure of the religious system. In Roman times, Paul's egomania was socially acceptable and seen as perhaps divine inspiration. But in our times, knowing what we know now 2000 or so year later about psychology and neuroscience, we know now that Paul's egomania was the result of mental disorders. Christians who hold to the divine inspiration theory cannot discern this, and sadly cannot see this. Paul was not a great religious thinker or philosopher, he was a sufferer of mental illness, and one the scale that today we could rank as severe. But, this concept called "Faith" along with the ignorance that appears to accompany it, do not seem to allow for followers who mistakenly read something Paul wrote and then afterwards say "The Word of God" to ever arrive at this insight.
I would look then at the socially redeeming value of the Bible and ask if the acceptance of this non-existant god and the acceptance of the book in question as "his writings" outweighs the harm done to society by the faithful. Clearly my life is better without the Bible, and my works, my deeds and my success is better without it.
I woud propose though that each person hahas to make this a personal decision.
I used to be a belieer, I grew up in a small town fundy church with a couple of fundy parents. My life is better now without the Bible and without church. I have come to a personal revelation that the Bible is NOT god inspired, and even that there is no god as described in the Bible. In my case, the bad outweighs the good so I do not follow what is self-destructive and what I see as detrimental to society. But again, that is a personal choice which we each must make.
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