renewedfaith1964 Posted November 1, 2013 Group: Members Followers: 1 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 2 Content Per Day: 0.00 Reputation: 6 Days Won: 0 Joined: 06/29/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted November 1, 2013 (edited) Edward Abbey, environmental advocate and author, once said, “Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.” The famous magician comedy group Penn & Teller once declared, “The characters and events depicted in the **** Bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.” One anonymous quote posted on an atheist’s website said, “The Bible –– A Fairytale book of rules brainwashing millions. Obviously used to help create war, kill, hate, judge and discriminate.” Part of me oddly enjoys these quotes. There is something refreshing about a person who can blurt out what he or she feels without concern for the consequences, like watching the big, fat guy polish off an entire large pizza. But do these Atheists have it right? Is the Bible just a fantastic conflict-inducing fairy tale? There’s an uncomfortable underbelly to Christianity that suggests that maybe a lot of the stories in the Bible are just children’s stories. Have we avoided critical analysis just so that we can sleep at night? What if we really scrutinized Christianity? Did Moses really part the Red Sea? Did Noah truly build an ark? Did Jesus really walk on water? These stories are asserted as fact in the Bible, not merely parable. Can they be true, or do they merely reflect our naivete as Christians? (Solicitation of book removed, please read the ToS) God Bless, Fez Edited December 2, 2013 by GoldenEagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphaparticle Posted November 1, 2013 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 48 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1,363 Content Per Day: 0.35 Reputation: 403 Days Won: 5 Joined: 08/01/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted November 1, 2013 If God exists (and I believe He does) then God can suspend the laws of nature and do whatever He pleases that way. That doesn't stop me from learning about and deeply appreciating the laws of nature. Sleep achieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ninhao Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Part of me oddly enjoys these quotes. There is something refreshing about a person who can blurt out what he or she feels without concern for the consequences, like watching the big, fat guy polish off an entire large pizza. But do these Atheists have it right? Is the Bible just a fantastic conflict-inducing fairy tale? 1Co 1:18-21 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (19) For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (20) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. In other words: people by their own estimation mock God's Word but God is pleased to save those who believe in His Word by the very means worldly people call foolishness. ( preaching the Gospel ). The reasons people hate the Bible are well explained in Shiloh's thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other one Posted November 2, 2013 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 29 Topic Count: 599 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 56,265 Content Per Day: 7.56 Reputation: 27,994 Days Won: 271 Joined: 12/29/2003 Status: Online Share Posted November 2, 2013 simply put..... niether Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwikphilly Posted November 2, 2013 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 96 Topic Count: 307 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 18,147 Content Per Day: 4.60 Reputation: 27,843 Days Won: 327 Joined: 08/03/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted November 2, 2013 Blessings renewedfaith, God bless you & may He help you by the power of the Holy Spirit to speak your user name into being,in the Name of Jesus!And that comes from my heart.I think Edward Abbey has it backwards,belief in the supernatural reflects a wonderful,vivid imagination and Glory to God for the ability to believe in what we cannot see & only imagine....Penn & Teller,I have seen them and I guess their "magic"has gone to their heads(perhaps they are beginning to believe it is for real-lol)...and as far as any quote on an atheist website,who cares?All we can do is pray for them, renewed,I can only speak for myself and to tell you the truth ,I have scrutinized Christianity and I am far from naive.....I tried for a very long time to refute the written Word of God,to find contradictions and in all the research I did it only lead to confirmation and substantial evidences,enough of them for me to trust every Word as true & valid....but not speaking historically,the Holy Spirit of God is where the true revelation comes from & God does reveal Himself to you in His Living Word(if you earnestly seek Him) If you are experiencing an uncomfortable underbelly through Christianity,something is wrong....God is the God of Comfort,of re-assurance.........perhaps it is time to sit down with Christ Jesus & have a real talk with Him,He is the Way,the Truth & the Life and only He can reconcile us into our Fathers Loving Arms With love,in Christ_Kwik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillfromTexas Posted November 2, 2013 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 2 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 236 Content Per Day: 0.06 Reputation: 79 Days Won: 1 Joined: 09/25/2013 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/29/1971 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Noah and Moses are authenticated by Jesus himself. So if you believe in the Lord then you can save yourself a lot of wonder. The amusing part is people who state, they're children's stories, because they are very far from that. Plague, murder, intrigue, betrayal, the rising and fall of kingdoms... Far from children's stories. Atheists only real contact with the Bible has probably been the Biblical cartoons and storybooks from their own childhood. Some Christians and a lot of the world don't believe the miracles in the Bible. They make up some account, obviously watched the History channel too much, and try and give some scientific reason for Biblical miracles. Such as the Red Sea parting was some sort of freak wind, or the water turning to blood was just an algae... Give me a break. God is supernatural and miraculous. Sometimes he will display his power to show it's God and there's no other explanation. Such as the parting of the Red Sea- it's been calculated it would have taken days for millions of Israelites to cross. Not only that but God adds the line- not even their shoes got wet crossing. Have you ever seen a recently drained lake? It's a quagmire of mud feet deep. It's the same age old story that non believers have told for years to ease their conscience. They have tried to destroy the Bible at every turn since it was first put into print. If you just do a cursory study of the things brought up against the Bible through history. Well you'd be amazed. The Bible has always came out on top and proven to be infallible. One example- they argued that there was no Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the blind man... So of course atheists ran with that for years until they found the pool... You should feel confident that your Bible is true, correct, and 100% real. There's nothing the world can do to destroy God's word. They try and try but it stands the test of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love is alive Posted November 2, 2013 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 22 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 325 Content Per Day: 0.06 Reputation: 81 Days Won: 0 Joined: 06/22/2010 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/03/1966 Share Posted November 2, 2013 The Bible is not a fairytale!! God gave us the Bible as an example how to walk through this life righteously. Someone once said " If you don't believe in God and you die and there is no God, then you have lost nothing. If you believe that God exists and you die and he DOES exist you have gained everything. I would rather be in the latter group. I am willing to bet my life that there is a wonderful God who made us and loves us with all his heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gray wolf Posted November 4, 2013 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 28 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1,046 Content Per Day: 0.27 Reputation: 194 Days Won: 2 Joined: 09/25/2013 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/30/1960 Share Posted November 4, 2013 (edited) Pascal's Wager! I just made a post related to that but no one responded yet. Even for a nonbeliever, the Bible should be required reading. Even Richard Dawkins (boooooo!) wrote that we should be familiar with it. I have questions and doubts but read it regularly. I have difficulty with some parts (Noah's ark and the sun standing still, for example) but I think people who say it is all fairy tales are just trying to get a reaction. And I would ask, how rich would your imagination have to be to conceive of a redemption story as unusual as that described by the Bible? As for science, well it's neither fairy tales as well. Edited November 4, 2013 by gray wolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuftWaffle Posted November 6, 2013 Group: Senior Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 0 Topics Per Day: 0 Content Count: 820 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 261 Days Won: 7 Joined: 01/09/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted November 6, 2013 Edward Abbey, environmental advocate and author, once said, “Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.” The famous magician comedy group Penn & Teller once declared, “The characters and events depicted in the **** Bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.” One anonymous quote posted on an atheist’s website said, “The Bible –– A Fairytale book of rules brainwashing millions. Obviously used to help create war, kill, hate, judge and discriminate.” Part of me oddly enjoys these quotes. There is something refreshing about a person who can blurt out what he or she feels without concern for the consequences, like watching the big, fat guy polish off an entire large pizza. But do these Atheists have it right? Is the Bible just a fantastic conflict-inducing fairy tale? There’s an uncomfortable underbelly to Christianity that suggests that maybe a lot of the stories in the Bible are just children’s stories. Have we avoided critical analysis just so that we can sleep at night? What if we really scrutinized Christianity? Did Moses really part the Red Sea? Did Noah truly build an ark? Did Jesus really walk on water? These stories are asserted as fact in the Bible, not merely parable. Can they be true, or do they merely reflect our naivete as Christians? (Solicitation of book removed, please read the ToS) God Bless, Fez Ugh, these sorts of village atheist remarks needn't be taken seriously at all. One could just dismiss it as ignorant ranting or attempts to stir controversy. Edward Abbey, environmental advocate and author, once said, “Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.” If belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination then it completely nullifies the typical atheist charge that we believe in an imaginary friend, "sky daddy", etc. etc. It seems to some our imaginations are too active and to others not active enough. Hard to please... The famous magician comedy group Penn & Teller once declared, “The characters and events depicted in the **** Bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.” And a magician comedy group should be considered authoritative on the subject of the historicity of scripture because....? Even vocal anti-Christian historian Bart Ehrman is strongly dismissive of the atheistic meme that, for instance "Jesus didn't exist One anonymous quote posted on an atheist’s website said, “The Bible –– A Fairytale book of rules brainwashing millions. Obviously used to help create war, kill, hate, judge and discriminate.” This charge is typical and reflects a spectacular ignorance of history. Of the great many wars fought by men, most atheist struggle to name anything more than the "crusades", which was much more politically driven than religiously caused. In terms of helping to create hate and judgement, one need only look at the history of western civilisation to realise how Christianity foundational teachings of race equality, gender equality and charity has positively affected culture. So really, these kinds of claims are terribly uninformed, uncharitable and often dead wrong. In terms of miracle claims in the Bible, on one hand miracle claims are difficult to scrutinise, because one wouldn't expect Jesus walking on water to leave any evidence behind. Given the background evidence for Christianity though, in terms of rational arguments for the existence of God, historical evidence for the resurrection, the conversion of Paul, the accurate way the Bible fits the human condition, the cohesiveness of the overall Biblical story, the pragmatic value of Christianity, and every Christian's personal experiences of God, these positively affect the credibility of the miracle claims. So even though a miracle claim in isolation may have a very low probability, if one scores a high probability to the background evidence, the individual miracle claims become more probable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 There’s an uncomfortable underbelly to Christianity that suggests that maybe a lot of the stories in the Bible are just children’s stories. Have we avoided critical analysis just so that we can sleep at night? What if we really scrutinized Christianity? Did Moses really part the Red Sea? Did Noah truly build an ark? Did Jesus really walk on water? These stories are asserted as fact in the Bible, not merely parable. Can they be true, or do they merely reflect our naivete as Christians? True Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. Psalms 119:160 ~ Talk About Faith~! Is That Evolutionary Faith Even Good Fiction? ~ Pure Truth, Pure Faith, Righteous God Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 2:1-3 That Saves For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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