Dear Kathy,
Since you graciously agreed (in our recent conversation) to let me present you with some examples of the Bible’s problems, I decided to do it in this way so it would have its own comment thread. As I’ve said, when I was a Christian, one strike against the Bible was not enough to shake my faith — maybe it only seemed problematic, maybe there was an explanation we hadn’t uncovered yet, maybe the historical accounts were wrong, etc. But as the problems began to mount up, I reached a point where I could no longer deny the fact that the Bible had actual errors.
A couple of suggestions before we begin. Try to be as open-minded about this as possible. As you go through these examples, ask yourself if God would allow such problems to exist in a message that he wanted all people to accept and believe? According to the Bible, whenever God sent someone a message, whether it was Pharaoh or Gideon or Nebuchadnezzar or Paul, they had no question whom it was from. They didn’t always follow it, as we see with people like Pharaoh and Solomon, but they didn’t question the source of the message or what it stated. So why would God operate differently today? Why would he want us to be so confused about his message that we’re able to question whether or not it’s really from him?
Another thing to keep in mind is that even if you come to the conclusion that the Bible has actual problems, that doesn’t mean you have to stop believing in God. There are a number of Christians who don’t believe in inerrancy. And even if you lose faith in the Christian god, that still doesn’t mean you have to stop believing in God. A number of people, including several of our founding fathers, were deists. I have a lot of sympathy for that view and plan to do a post on it soon.
Some of the items listed here will have links that provide additional information, especially when the issue is too detailed to list here. I hope that you’ll check out those links, since some of them are quite significant points. And regardless of how this article strikes you, I hope it will help serve as a great springboard to launch you into your own research.
Some of the Problems
Creation
The creation accounts in Genesis do not match what we’ve learned through science. This isn’t shocking news, but it bears looking into. Evolution and the Big Bang Theory had nothing to do with my deconversion, but I’ve learned more about both since leaving Christianity. It’s shocking how much misinformation I had been operating under. Not to say that all Christians are that way — that was simply my experience. But the evidence for both evolution and the Big Bang are far more substantial than I had ever realized. Two good resources for learning more about these issues are the following (though I’d also recommend checking out the recent Cosmos series, as well as some of the PBS NOVA specials):
Another problem with the creation accounts is that Genesis 1 says that plants and trees were made on the 3rd day, while man was made on the 6th. But Genesis 2:5-9 says that man was created before there were any plants or trees in the land. Also, the 1st chapter says that man was created after all the animals, but the 2nd chapter implies that it was the other way around. It seems strange that such discrepancies would exist only a chapter apart, but there are a number of textual clues that suggest the first 5 books of the Bible were assembled over a long period of time from various writings written by a number of different people. Many scholars believe that Genesis 1 and 2 represent two separate versions of the creation story that were both included because the compilers didn’t know which was more accurate. Whatever the reason, there’s no question that the differences exist and are hard to explain.
10 Plagues
During the 10 plagues, God afflicts all of Egypt’s livestock with a disease (Ex 9:1-7), and it specifies that it would affect the “horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.” We’re told that all of Egypt’s livestock died. But the later plague of boils was said to affect both man and beast (verse 10 of chapter 9). Maybe it meant non-livestock animals. But Ex 11:5 says that the death of the firstborn would also affect Egypt’s cattle, and in Exodus 14, Pharaoh pursues the Israelites with horses.
Hares Chew the Cud
Leviticus 11:6 tells us that hares chew the cud. They do not. Animals that chew the cud are called ruminants. When they eat plant matter, it goes to their first stomach to soften, and then it’s regurgitated to their mouth. They spend time re-chewing it, and then it is swallowed and fully digested. Ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, etc.) are recognizable because their chewing of the cud is very obvious. Hares (rabbits) don’t chew the cud; however, their mouths do move frequently, so it’s possible to see why some people may have assumed that they do chew the cud. Of course, God would know they didn’t, and this is why the passage is problematic. You can read more about this here.
Arphaxad
In the genealogy given in Genesis 11:10-12, we see that Noah fathered Shem and Shem fathered Arphaxad. At the age of 35, Arphaxad fathered Shelah. This information is confirmed in 1 Chron 1:18. But Luke 3:35-36 tells us that Arphaxad’s son was Cainan, and he was the father of Shelah.
Where does Luke get this information? It disagrees with the Old Testament, so who should we believe? Some have suggested that Genesis and 1 Chronicles simply left out Cainan for some reason. But why would they do that? To further complicate it, how could Cainan have fit in there? Genesis tells us that Arphaxad was 35 when he fathered Shelah. Does it really seem likely that Arphaxad became a grandfather by 35, especially when you consider the extreme old ages that people lived to at that time?
Another explanation is that some copyist messed up when copying Luke and Cainan is just a mistake. But this is not much better. First of all, the error would have needed to occur early for it to be in all our copies of Luke. Secondly, are we really comfortable saying that we have the inspired word of our creator, but it got messed up by some guy who wasn’t paying close attention? To me, that doesn’t lend a lot of credence to the idea of inspiration or inerrancy.
Instead, the most likely explanation is that Luke made a mistake. This, of course, would indicate that he was not inspired.
Problems in the Book of Daniel
In Daniel 5, the writer refers to Belshazzar as the son of Nebuchadnezzar 7 different times. Yet we know from multiple contemporary sources that Belshazzar’s father was Nabonidus, who was not related to Nebuchadnezzar. The same chapter says that Darius the Mede took over Babylon, but this person does not seem to have ever existed. Daniel says that he was the son of Ahaseurus, and in mentioning this, the author of Daniel indicates that he was thinking of a later ruler — the persian emperor Darius the Great, whose son was Ahaseurus. This post in particular goes into the problems surrounding the 5th chapter, but if you’d like to learn about the problems in the rest of the book, you can access each article in the series here.
Jairus’s Daughter
In Mark 5:23, Jairus finds Jesus and says that his daughter is at the point of death. While they’re on their way to the house, some of his servants find them on the way and say that she has died and there’s no point in troubling Jesus further.
However, in Matthew 9:18, Jairus already knows that his daughter has died, but tells Jesus that if he’ll lay his hands on her, she’ll live. This may seem like a minor difference, but honestly, there’s only one scenario that could be true. Either the girl was already dead, or she wasn’t. And if Jairus already knew she was dead, then there was no point in his servants coming to tell him that (so of course, they don’t appear in Matthew’s account).
The Centurion
This is similar to the previous issue. Matthew and Luke both record a centurion who asks Jesus to heal his sick servant. Matthew 8:5-13 says that the centurion himself comes before Jesus to ask for help. Luke 7:1-10 says that the Jewish elders went on his behalf, and then he sent servants to follow up. In Luke, Jesus never speaks to, or even sees, the centurion at all.
Hight Priest
In Mark 2:23-28, Jesus talks about the occasion from the Old Testament when David ate the showbread, which Jesus said was in the days of Abiathar the high priest. However, in 1 Samuel 21:1-6, it appears that Ahimelech was the high priest. Some have tried to answer this problem by saying that Abiathar was alive during that particular episode, so Jesus’ statement is still true. But that’s obviously not the intent of the passage. After all, we would correct anyone who said that the tragedy of 9/11 occurred during the days of President Barack Obama. He may have been alive at the time, but that event did not happen while he was President.
430 Years
Galatians 3:16-17 says this:
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
Here, Paul says that the law came 430 years after the promises were made to Abraham. But in Exodus 12:40-41, we see:
Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt.
If the Israelites were in Egypt 430 years, then there could not have been 430 years between Abraham’s promises and the law. God made the promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, and as we read on through Genesis, we see that Abraham had no children at this time. Later, he had a son named Isaac. When Isaac was 60 years old, he had Jacob (Gen 25:24-26), and Jacob had 12 sons that produced the 12 tribes of Israel. Already, we can see that some time has passed since Abraham received the promise. Once Jacob’s sons were all grown with families of their own, they finally settled in Egypt. Jacob was 130 years old at this time (Gen 47:9), and this marks the beginning of that 430 year period that the Israelites spent in Egypt.
That means that the time between the promise to Abraham and the giving of the law was actually over 600 years. So why did Paul say 430 years? I think it’s obvious that this was a simple mistake. He remembered the 430 year figure because that’s how much time the Israelites spent in Egypt, and so he simply misspoke. It’s not a big deal… except that he’s supposed to be inspired by God.
Jesus’ Birth
There are a number of issues surrounding Jesus’ birth. First, Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts contradict one another on virtually all the details, which you can read about here. Secondly, Matthew seems to invent an episode where Herod kills all the children in Bethlehem who are 2 and under, causing Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to flee to Egypt (instead of just returning home to Nazareth, because only Luke says that they started in Nazareth). Matthew does this in order to “fulfill” some Old Testament passages that actually have nothing to do with Jesus or killing babies. You can read about Matthew’s misuse of the Old Testament here — it’s quite blatant.
The Virgin Birth is one of the most famous aspects of Jesus’ story, and it was supposedly done in fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah. But it turns out that Isaiah was prophesying no such thing — he was talking about an event that was happening in his own time, and Matthew (once again) just appropriated the “prophecy” for his own devices. You can read all the details here.
Another problem concerning Jesus’ birth narratives is that Matthew and Luke both offer genealogies for Jesus, but they are completely different from one another. Worse, they don’t match the genealogies listed in the Old Testament, either. And Matthew claims that there was a pattern in the number of generations between Abraham and David, between David and the Babylonian captivity, and between the Babylonian captivity and Christ. But to get this neat division, he is forced to leave out some names. In other words, that pattern didn’t happen. You can read more about that here.
The Triumphal Entry
While not as blatant as most of these other issues, when Matthew recounts Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he once again borrows from the Old Testament, but seems to make a mistake in his implementation. See here for more info.
Judas’ Death
Judas is well known for being the disciple that betrayed Jesus, but what’s not as well known is there are two different accounts of his death, and it’s very hard to reconcile them. According to Matthew, Judas threw his money down at the chief priests’ feet and went out and hanged himself. We’re not told where he did this. The priests then take the money, and instead of putting it back in the treasury (since it’s blood money), they buy a field to use for burying strangers. Because they bought the field with this money, it’s called the “Field of Blood.”
According to Acts, Judas bought a field with his money (we’re not told that he was remorseful), and he somehow fell down, bursting open in the middle and bleeding to death. The field was called “Field of Blood” after that because of the manner in which Judas died.
To make things more complicated, Matthew (of course) says that this happened in accordance with Jeremiah’s prophecy, but there’s nothing in Jeremiah that matches up. The closest reference comes from Zechariah, not Jeremiah.
These issues really complicate the notion of divine inspiration, and you can read more about them here.
The Crucifixion
There are several big problems with the way the gospels record the events of Jesus’ death, including the fact that different times of day are given for it, and even different days altogether. You can read more about this here.
The Resurrection
There are also a number of problems concerning the resurrection, some minor, some major. They’re too involved to get into here, but you can read all about them here and here.
The Problem of Hell
The notion of Hell is fraught with problems. It might even surprise you to learn that the Bible’s teachings on the afterlife change dramatically between the Old and New Testaments. I go into detail about Hell’s problems here, here, and here.
The Problem of Evil
Another huge problem for Christianity is the problem of evil, which I talk about here. This post also addresses the “problem of Heaven.”
The Bible’s Morality
While a number of people believe that the Christian god is the source of all morality, the Bible is actually filled with some monstrous acts that are either commanded by God, done with his consent, or carried out by him directly. I talk about some specific examples here, and I address some of the common responses to them here.
Conclusion
Kathy, there are a number of other examples that could be given, including the prophecy of Tyre that we’ve been discussing. But to me, these are some of the most significant and clear-cut problems. We could try to manufacture explanations for every one of these — some might be more believable than others. But why should we have to? If a perfect God inspired this book, why should it contain so many discrepancies? And honestly, some of these issues can’t be explained. They’re just wrong. The problems go well beyond internal contradictions and unfulfilled prophecies. There are problems of authorship, problems with the doctrines, and problems with the way the texts were written, transcribed, and compiled.
I’m sure you’ve spent your time as a Christian trying to reach those who are lost. You’ve always believed that Christianity is truth, and it’s the one thing that everyone needs. But could it be that Christianity is just as false as every other religion in the world? And if that’s the case, wouldn’t you want to leave it behind? When one is dedicated to finding truth, they have to be prepared to follow it wherever it leads. It’s not always easy or popular. It’s not even a guarantee that you’re right. All it means is that you follow the evidence where it leads to the best of your ability. If you find out that you’re wrong about something, you adjust course when the evidence dictates. If God exists, and if he’s righteous, what more could he ask for than that? I’ll close with my favorite quote:
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
— Marcus Aurelius
Finding Truth 
“How about without so much bloodshed? How about speak to them directly as he (supposedly) did to Abraham, Moses, etc?”
Actually if You read Genesis that was done for quite some time as Cain indicates. Didn’t stop murder. Didn’t stop rebellion and sin.
” If all else fails, why not obliterate them all in an instant instead of making them live through the horror of watching their families be hacked to death before meeting their own grisly demise? ”
Depends actually. What were they guilty of. Had they done it to others. oh thats right we are not supposed to talk about the attrocities they did (which we know of independent of the Bible). Its only God on trial. Gotch ya.
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The rest of the OT shows this didn’t likely happen. Or if it did, it stopped very early, because people like Pharaoh and Laban show that the god of Abraham was not widely known. Archaeology has shown no evidence of this as well.
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Gotta run — I’ll check back in later.
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“The rest of the OT shows this didn’t likely happen. Or if it did, it stopped very early,”
I just said it was used earlier and didn’t work. Read Nate
”
because people like Pharaoh and Laban show that the god of Abraham was not widely known. Archaeology has shown no evidence of this as well.”
Abraham was LOOOOONG after Cain Nate.
“Archaeology has shown no evidence of this as well.”
of what? God talking directly to men? Unless you were expecting cassette recordings you sure were not going to take clay tablets saying he did as proof he did now were you?
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“The rest of the OT shows this didn’t likely happen. Or if it did, it stopped very early, because people like Pharaoh and Laban show that the god of Abraham was not widely known. Archaeology has shown no evidence of this as well.” – Nate
let’s say he’s right. Let’s say god did in fcat speak to them one on one. What difference does it make that they still murdered, stole, and sinned? Nothing has prevented that, not the bible, not jesus. Would mike say that we shoudl abandon jesus for a better way, then? doubtful.
What speaking to everyone dorectly would do now is let everyone know, without question, who god is and what he wants. Just liek in the bible, they’d still have teh freewill to obey or disobey, but like the key characters in the bible, they’d know who god was and what he expected of them.
We wouldnt have to rely on an assortment of old claims from people we never knew.
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RE: “…as if you are on the same level as Him” – I’ve never ordered anyone to rip pregnant women’s bellies open, which already puts me on a higher level than your god.
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The thing that you can’t seem to see, and it certainly appears as though you never will, Kathy, is that MEN wrote the Bible. Nowhere in the world is there a giant monolith that reads, “Hi, I’m Yahweh, and I approve this message!”
Those men SAY that various things happened, but their mere word is no evidence that they did. Had archaeological evidence been found that backed up their stories, then you might be able to say that there was a kernel of truth in there somewhere, but in actuality, just the OPPOSITE has happened – biblical archaeologists, such as Dever and Finklestein have searched the sites where the Bible has assured us that various things happened, and found either NO evidence that they did, or found in fact, evidence that something else entirely, happened. This, in and of itself, gives us reason to doubt the truth of the rest of the book, and when we run across blatant contradictions, that doubt only deepens.
I truly wish that consciousness continued for a minute or two after death, so you you could finally realize that you had been wrong your entire life, but sadly, you will never know. Clearly it’s safer for you, that you stay buried beneath your blanket of ignorance.
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@Arch.. can you provide links to this archeological evidence that disproves the Bible? If already posted, can you give date/ time?
@Nate.. I’ll respond later to the rest of your comments..
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RE: – “@Arch.. can you provide links to this archeological evidence that disproves the Bible? If already posted, can you give date/ time?” – I already did, in some of my very posts to you, you know, back when I thought you were really seeking information – now I can spend time looking for it and serve it to you on a silver platter, OR, you can look for it yourself, and realize that you should have viewed it when it was fresh. Which option do you think I’ll choose –?
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““To follow by faith alone, is to follow blindly.”
~~ Benjamin Franklin ~~
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“To follow by faith alone, is to follow blindly.”
~~ Benjamin Franklin ~~
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I thought it would be interesting to copy and paste a few of the comments Kathy has made during this post. Tomorrow, I will be doing the same for Mike. Because this has been a long post, we tend to forget what they have said. I think they like it this way and that’s why they want it to go on longer.
Kathy, ” First, it’s important to remember that a partial report is not a false report.”
“I think a common problem with unbelievers is again, a lack of objectivity”
“Again, I’m alluding to numbers.. with these examples it still seems like you’re swimming up stream.. all of the contradictions I’ve checked so far have explanations”
“The one about the time between the promise and the law I’m still learning about/ researching.. the numbers can work out if you try to think like they did 2000 yrs ago”
“What sets the Bible apart is it’s credentials.”
“It’s about what is acceptable to God. (If God doesn’t want Tyre to mean “all” of Tyre (won’t be rebuilt), then it doesn’t have to mean that… unless He explicitly stated “all”… and He didn’t). Every day we make a statement about something and don’t mean “all”.. “I’m going home”.. ALL of home?”
“ I’m just being honesty.. it’s just not correct that we have “no idea” who wrote the Gospels.. “
“And, when any non believer cites dates and authors or non authors.. it’s certainly not anything I take as “fact”.. especially when no sources are given.. the mis information passed around by the atheist community is great. Just as the bias is great”
“The thing is is that these are not fictional stories.. they are about real people in real life.. that isn’t taken into consideration when atheists are desperately searching for “contradictions”.
“They want to apply everything literally and not allow context to enter into it. And the context here is.. real life.”
“Maybe you are just interpreting them that way.. you must apply context because as I explained earlier, it’s real life.. it’s not fiction.. all kinds of circumstances affect the stories we read that are NOT included in the writings.. that’s real life.”
“I don’t know anything about the “DH”. But based on my experience with liberal “truths” and also my knowledge of God and Christianity.. I’m am extremely confident that the information is incorrect.”
“Yes, that is my claim.. it is evidence of their firm belief, which is evidence (however compelling) for the truth of the Bible. My claim is that it is VERY compelling evidence. “
“ Proof and evidence are not the same thing.”
“And those who are gullible believe & give their lives based on the word of a SINGLE person.. Muhammed.. a pedophile and a murderer. THAT’S gullible.”
“And I assert that you lack objectivity.. that is based on my “research” of liberals/ atheists and the knowledge I have of Christianity based on the Bible.”
“William, to me, a liberal is someone who adheres to all the beliefs & political views that are anti God/ anti Christian.”
“My research is based on all the knowledge I have of the Bible AND outside the Bible. I don’t know how anyone can be more objective.”
“My research outside the Bible includes archaeological discoveries, fulfilled prophecies supported by outside evidence, outside historical records that verify things inside the Bible.. and just simply looking up.. and all around us.. that’s some of the very best evidence.”
“ This is nothing new with humans.. every faith is based on one man’s creation, where they essentially receive worship… which again is not the situation with the God of the Bible.”
“You don’t understand the messages of the OT.. you choose to see all the horrible things and blame as many of those horrible things on God as you possibly can.”
“What you don’t discern is that God and human beings are not the same.
God created human beings. He has the sovereign right to do with us as He wants.
You have to look at the TOTAL picture of the Old Testament to understand why God
“orders” people killed or allows horrible things to happen. Atheists don’t want to do that. But primarily when God “terminates” a pregnancy, that in no way is an endorsement of abortion.
It is God using HIS sovereign right.. something we do NOT have.”
““..Middle Eastern God performs abortions on demand,..”
On WHOSE demand? The Creator of the universe’s demand.
For reasons you don’t understand, but because you don’t understand, that
doesn’t mean God was wrong. It means you lack the knowledge that He has.. it means you don’t understand the big picture… but somehow THINK you do.. and therefore are perfectly justified in judging your Creator.. the Creator of everything. #liberals”
“This inability to discern, an inability that is extremely common among liberals/atheists, is evident all throughout your examples. And also lot’s of distortions and twisting of the actual words/ context / meanings.. also common.”
“Jesus would NEVER agree with the liberal views of today.”
“I know about the “core” beliefs of liberals.. they are mostly beliefs that go against God’s commandments / teachings. Yes, liberals also do things that are in line with God’s teachings.. but I can’t honestly understand what the reason would be for doing so except to try and prove to themselves that they are “good” WHILE they adhere to the other beliefs/ views… which is impossible.. you CANNOT be good and ALSO adhere to views and policies that go AGAINST God.. which include the killing of innocent unborn human beings.”
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“My research outside the Bible includes archaeological discoveries, fulfilled prophecies supported by outside evidence, outside historical records that verify things inside the Bible – imagine, studying “outside historical records” for all those years, and yet has never heard of William Dever or Israel Finklestein. Sorta makes you wonder where she’s been studying – Answers In genesis? Doorknob.
Good job, KC – lots of work, and more effort than I would care to spend! You’re a credit to your species!
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Thanks Arch (I think) 🙂 Sometimes we miss or forget these “nuggets” if they’re not all there staring you in the face. I will probably have to do a 2nd Kathy Comments as there are more that should not be left out.
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My guess is that all of her “research” consists of sites that confirm her already-held biases. I really wish NeuroNotes would chime in, and explain how Kathy’s clinging to her beliefs so fiercely, deals with dopamine “fixes” she receives everytime she feels “inspired.” Unfortunately Neuro decided it would be like arguing with a fencepost (my paraphrase).
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@kc … Wow, what an impressive argument to my points.. repost them. Very profound kc.. you got everyone thinking!
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Hi People 🙂
This is the Oxford definition of Objective:
1. Objective
ADJECTIVE
(Of a person or their judgement)
“not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts”
Contrasted with subjective
2. Subjective
ADJECTIVE
“Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions”
Contrasted with objective.
So when we use words like Objective and Subjective this is what we are referring to.
When we say we are being Objective, this is what we are referring to.
Unless you disagree with these definitions.
This goes for both theists and atheists.
either definition does not change, based on your position and beliefs, or lack of beliefs
Thanks.
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“you got everyone thinking!” – except you. I doubt that all 2000+ gods, working in concert, could pull off THAT miracle!
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In other words, according to this definition of Objective
anyone who is:
“not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts”
is being Objective
Whether you are:
a Christian, an atheist, a Hindu, a Jain, a Moslem……
or whether your are a liberal or a Conservative.
Thanks
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Nate, you said:
“The writers of the Bible also claim that God wants everyone to believe in him and come to repentance. Knowing that much of the world will be initially skeptical of this due to their own religions / cultures, it makes sense that a rational being would make the barrier to belief as low as possible. So inspiring writers to tell versions of stories that are completely different in every detail (like Judas or Jesus birth) seems to run counter to that.”
This point prompts me to AGAIN ask this question that still hasn’t been answered…. why do you think the Bible holds 4 different Gospel accounts?
If you are going to argue about “barriers to belief”.. why stop at seeming contradictions in the Bible? Why doesn’t God just show Himself? .. that would remove all the “barriers”.
“So does allowing this all-important writing to be corrupted by unknown people later in the process (like adding entire passages, or allowing early Christians to think books like The Shepherd of Hermas or The Apocalypse of Peter were legitimate texts).”
Early Christians were constantly lead astray, as we are today… that’s not God’s fault. There were many “new” teachings that tried to corrupt God’s truth. If we obeyed God through the teachings of Paul and the disciples and the scriptures of the OT we would be successful in avoiding those deceptions/ lies.
“On the other hand, it’s also important to remember that people who are already predisposed to believing it (like those raised in it) will likely be willing to look past those kinds of clues and make all kinds of excuses for why they exist.”
Or, people will eventually come to the conclusion that following God’s will is just too inconvenient, and convictions too uncomfortable for their pride/ ego and so find “reasons” aka excuses to dismiss Him instead.
It amazes me that you could think that me or Mike would be included in “those people”.. we’ve spent countless hours debating and defending our beliefs.. people who hold beliefs because that’s what they were raised in wouldn’t do that.. because clearly they can’t think for themselves. People who’ve spent the hours and typed as many arguments as I have.. couldn’t POSSIBLY be following someone else’s beliefs. If that were true, I’d do what kc or Arch does.. repeat my opponents arguments.. as my counter argument.. lol.. or I’d call them boo boo face or whatever it was that Arch called me.. I just tend to scroll past his comments.
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I did answer this. In fact, there are more than 4 gospels. All the gospel writers were simply recording the order of events that they knew and had no idea that some of them would later be assembled into the same book.
Yes, exactly. Yet another reason to doubt the existence of this god.
Not God’s fault? Really? If God allowed his word to be corrupted, how is that not his fault? If you had young children and told them not to play in traffic, but then sometimes told them that they should play in traffic, whose fault is it if one of them gets hit by a car while playing in traffic? We can’t be expected to follow God’s rules if he doesn’t insure that we get accurate copies — it’s as simple as that.
Maybe that’s an issue for some people. It wasn’t for me.
I’m not saying that your beliefs aren’t genuine. But it’s a fact that all humans are susceptible to confirmation bias, and when you post things like this:
it’s a strong indication that you’re succumbing to that bias.
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Also, just to Note
in regards to being Subjective or Objective.
Being either is not right or wrong…..
they are just different ways or “modes” we process things..
None of us are completely Subjective or Objective all of the time 🙂
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also didn’t mean to put conservative in with a capital “C” above… I wasn’t trying to suggest that conservatives were necessarily more “right” than liberals in all polices 🙂
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Quoth Kathy: “It amazes me that you could think that me or Mike would be included in ‘those people’.. we’ve spent countless hours debating and defending our beliefs” (emphasis, mine)
I had a feeling they were a team!
“boo-hoo face?” Where did she get that? I’ve never called anyone “boo-hoo face” in my LIFE! I can think of a number of choice phrases to describe the dynamic doorknobs, but none of them would ever be “boo-hoo face“!
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Portal, you are trying SO hard to remain neutral and be helpful, and you’re doing an excellent job of it. “Blessed are the peacemakers –“
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