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 
Fulfilled prophesies are a dime a dozen. I have several myself. 🙂 I was on a finance committee of a church one time. They were spending $100K more each year than what they were bringing in. At the time they had $300K in their checking account. I told them they would have to start borrowing money in 3 years if they kept this up. Sure enough, they went to the bank to borrow money in 3 years. Prophesy fulfilled ! 🙂
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Decided to take Howie’s advice and break these comments out into separate pages. Hopefully that will help with load times. The post automatically loads the latest page of comments, btw.
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Kathy, when you talk about credentials, I get the impression you’re talking about the Bible’s accurate historical details, etc. As William said, I don’t view any of that as evidence for the divine. It’s not difficult to accurately recount geographic and historical details in a book, especially from one’s own time. In fact, the failure to do this by the author of Daniel is why most scholars believe it was written several centuries after the events in question.
No, I’m afraid the Bible has far more against it than it has going for it, and that’s why the way you keep phrasing your question is impossible for me to answer.
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I’ve been to a lot of jails KC, but eventually, with the aid of my attorney, I got out – two people can dig twice as fast as one —
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Ok, I was getting weird behavior from the paged comments thing every time I posted a comment, so I’ve turned it off.
I might break this thread into a “part 2,” but maybe we’ll get lucky and it will just finally end soon…
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@Arch,
Was your attorney named Saul Goodman?
“Better call Saul!” 🙂
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“Was your attorney named Saul Goodman?” – no, he worked part-time as an undertaker named “Digger” O’Dell.
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kc said:
“Kathy, Islam claims at least 14 fulfilled prophesies in their Quran. Wouldn’t this support the “Truth” of the Quran as well ? ”
Ruth said:
“That the prophet Muhammad was a real person is not in question. Do you believe the Angel Gabriel came to him and spoke to him? Do you believe that he ascended into heaven and met with prophets all the way from Adam to Abraham? The Qur’an has historical places and so forth. That it contains some kernel of truth does not make it divine nor “truth” in the sense of the word you want to attribute to Christianity.
Every other religion from Islam to Zoroastrianism has the “credentials” you are placing on Christianity. ”
William said:
“Kathy, this is a pointless argument and i’m not even sure why you’re hanging on to it so much.. the only credentials that I see any religion as having are those that point to them as being products of man. I see none that show any are from anything divine.”
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Yes, there is similar evidence for the other religions. Some do have fulfilled prophecies, included factual details in their books, and include real people.
I’ve never claimed otherwise. I really don’t know why my point is so hard to understand..
My question.. THE QUESTION I’m posing to Nate and the rest of you is HOW does the evidence COMPARE? When all the evidence for the other religions is combined.. and weighed against the evidence that argues AGAINST the religion’s truth, what are you left with?? Which one is left with the most credentials to support it’s truth?? THAT’S THE question.. to me, this is nothing but DELIBERATE LIBERAL ignorance.. there’s no excuse for it. I would think you all are smarter than this and I would HOPE that you all would have more integrity than this. You all aren’t trying hard enough to apply honesty and objectivity. You’re not asking yourselves objective questions, and if you do happen to accomplish that, you’re not giving yourselves objective answers.
There is no valid honest objective reason for not answering my question.
Nate, you are trying so hard to avoid answering this question.
you said: “Kathy, when you talk about credentials, I get the impression you’re talking about the Bible’s accurate historical details, etc. As William said, I don’t view any of that as evidence for the divine.”
My direct question addresses NONE of this.. you are now entering the liberal tactical offensive of obfuscation.. your “impression” isn’t pertinent to the question.. it’s a simple question that requires a simple answer.. which religion has the most evidence aka credentials to support it’s truth or claimed truth? Again, you don’t have to believe any of it supports the existence of God.. and I’ve tried to help you along by stating that you can add all the “howevers/buts” you want.. yet STILL you come up with excuses to not have to answer my simple question. And now, all your atheist comrades are trying to come to your aid. It’s getting beyond silly.
I’ve posted the definition of “evidence” for all of you, at least a couple of times now.. is it now time to post the definition of IGNORANCE?? It seems so. 😦
William, you wonder why I’m “hanging on” to this? I’m not.. NATE is.. he is the one in control.. all he has to do is answer the very simple question.. and then it goes away.. progress is made and we can move FORWARD from there. But, it’s clear that liberals don’t like where “forward” leads.. which, yet again, puts such irony and hypocrisy on the claimed liberal identity of “progressive”… what a joke that is… AND it legitimately QUESTIONS the claim of this blog.. that TRUTH is the desired goal.. “wherever it leads”..
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@Kathy,
THE QUESTION I’m posing to Nate and the rest of you is HOW does the evidence COMPARE? When all the evidence for the other religions is combined.. and weighed against the evidence that argues AGAINST the religion’s truth, what are you left with?? Which one is left with the most credentials to support it’s truth?? THAT’S THE question.. to me, this is nothing but DELIBERATE LIBERAL ignorance..
We have looked at the supposed evidence that you have presented and disagree with your conclusions. The fact that we disagree bugs you so much that you won’t just let it go already. The alleged evidence you’ve presented to support it’s truth isn’t a)conclusive, b)reliable, or c)facts. They are all opinions based on your DELIBERATE CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN bias.
You presuppose God and then you presuppose the Christian God. Of course you are going to find the “evidence” you’ve presented compelling. I do not presuppose either of those things. I’m not angry with God, I’m not militant in my atheism, I just don’t presuppose the existence of a God.
Your presupposition of those premises makes you less than objective. No matter how much you want to purport that you are, you are not. You will consider nothing that doesn’t line up with your preconceived world view.
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…you wonder why I’m “hanging on” to this? I’m not.. NATE is..
No, Nate has tried to let it go. He disagrees with your assertion that Christianity is the most credentialed religion AND has explained that he doesn’t find any religion “credentialed” based on your use of the word. Asked and answered.
It isn’t the we don’t like where forward leads. It’s that we disagree about which way is forward.
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“Which one is left with the most credentials to support it’s truth?? THAT’S THE question.. to me, this is nothing but DELIBERATE LIBERAL ignorance.. there’s no excuse for it”
Kathy, do you have a peer reviewed study from experts in the field showing how the evidence does compare between religions ? I for one would be interested in reading this.
You just claimed we are all ignorant of this evidence so you must have this in your possession. Please feel free to share it with us.
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Ruth, your responses were perfect. I couldn’t agree more!
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Not only is this getting beyond silly.. it’s quickly approaching sad.
I have to remind myself that I’m conversing with educated adults.. note I didn’t say “debating with” because you all obviously refuse to do that.
Sorry Nate, but Ruth’s response was just more of the same deliberate ignorance. Can you all truly not see this? I hope you do know that those who are reading and applying honest objectivity CAN! You’re only digging the hole deeper and deeper.
Ruth, you said:
“We have looked at the supposed evidence that you have presented and disagree with your conclusions. ”
Ruth, I’ve never asked if you agree or disagree with my conclusions. Where in my question do you find this?? It’s not there!
“The alleged evidence you’ve presented to support it’s truth isn’t a)conclusive, b)reliable, or c)facts. They are all opinions based on your DELIBERATE CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN bias.”
Sorry.. wrong again. The evidence I claim for Christianity is based on facts. But again, Ruth.. THIS ISN’T THE QUESTION.
Here, let me AGAIN post the definition for “evidence” aka CREDENTIALS ..
ev·i·dence (v-dns)
n.
1. A thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment: The broken window was evidence that a burglary had taken place. Scientists weigh the evidence for and against a hypothesis.
2. Something indicative; an outward sign: evidence of grief on a mourner’s face.
3. Law The documentary or oral statements and the material objects admissible as testimony in a court of law.
And NOW.. as sad as it is, I must ALSO post the definition for “ignorance”
ig·no·rance (gnr-ns)
n.
The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.
But, that’s actually not an enough.. we’ve got to put the word “DELIBERATE” in front of it.
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Kc said:
“Kathy, do you have a peer reviewed study from experts in the field showing how the evidence does compare between religions ? I for one would be interested in reading this.
You just claimed we are all ignorant of this evidence so you must have this in your possession. Please feel free to share it with us.”
Kc, I’m asking for YOUR opinions on how the evidence compares.. why do you need the opinions of OTHERS to answer this?
Yes, while I do claim that you all are ignorant of the reality that evidence for Christianity IS complelling, that’s NOT the ignorance I’m accusing you all of presently.. THAT ignorance would be for deliberately ignoring/ refusing to acknowledge the unopposed FACT that Christianity has the most evidence for it’s truth. You’re getting your ignorances mixed up kc.. which, knowing liberals as I do, that’s perfectly understandable. 😦
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Ok Kathy, let’s approach it this way.
When people talk about evidence out credentials, they have an end goal in mind. In a trial, it’s evidence of guilt or innocence. If you ask for a police officer’s credentials, your asking for evidence that he’s a cop.
So when you ask about Christianity’s credentials compared to other religions, what do the credentials point to? Divine inspiration, historical accuracy, geographic accuracy, scientific knowledge, etc? I think knowing that would help me answer your question.
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@Kathy, ” THAT ignorance would be for deliberately ignoring/ refusing to acknowledge the unopposed FACT that Christianity has the most evidence for it’s truth”
I didn’t misunderstand you at all Kathy.Where is this “unopposed FACT that Christianity has the most evidence for it’s truth” ???
I asked you earlier, “Kathy, do you have a peer reviewed study from experts in the field showing how the evidence does compare between religions ?” You can’t make a statement as FACT and NOT have the evidence for this statement.
Kathy, “Kc, I’m asking for YOUR opinions on how the evidence compares.. why do you need the opinions of OTHERS to answer this?”
You stated something as FACT so why would an opinion matter ? I have not found a peer reviewed study from experts in the field who state the same thing you do as FACT, that is that Christianity has the most evidence for its truth. I’m not refusing to acknowledge anything. I’m trying to find this “unopposed FACT” you claim exists.
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@Kathy,
Stating something to be a FACT, even written in all caps like that, doesn’t make it one just because you say it does. We dispute your evidence. We have all along. You are claiming unopposed FACTS, which are not facts at all and are most assuredly opposed.
You continue to press about this. The FACT is, if we believed Christianity was so “credentialed” we would all be Christians. What you want us to do is answer what you want to hear so you can then say, if it’s credentialed as to it’s truth then there’s no excuse for not accepting Christianity.
This ain’t my first rodeo, either. Yes, the Bible has real historical people in it, it has real historical places in it, but your assertion that not knowing who the authors are lends to it’s credibility is beyond absurd. Your continued assertion of FACTS are nothing more than conjecture, some possibly circumstantial evidence, and some just a belief that you have that the Bible and your God should get the “benefit of the doubt”. I highly doubt you’ve studied at any length opposing views with any other goal in mind except to refute it, even in the most unlikely of ways.
Having real historical people in it, and real places in it, and real events in it does NOT equal evidence of the divine. If it did every other religious text would be credentialed on the same grounds.
I’m not sure why that is so hard for you to comprehend. Perhaps it’s because you haven’t studied those other religions as much as you claim.
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@ Kathy,
…I’m asking for YOUR opinions on how the evidence compares..
You have asked opinions and you have been given opinions, then you proceed to tell us that our opinions are ignorant. No, our opinions are based on the available evidence, or lack thereof. I am saying that my opinion, based on the available evidence that I have seen so far, there is nothing to compare. Either it is truth or it is not. It is my opinion that it is not. Therefore un-credentialed. So what if a man named Yeshua really was a person? If he is not a god and he wasn’t resurrected then the whole thing is worthless, is it not?
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The answer is simple, Kathy – since all of the religions on the list begin with the premise of a supernatural being, the clear answer has to be, “None of the above.”
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I’m not sure she knows what peer-reviewed means, KC – she’s already a twit, and now she’s trying to add “clown” to her resume.
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“1. A thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment: The broken window was evidence that a burglary had taken place.”
So let me, using the above definition, translate your premise into reality-speak:
“Four men, writing about a man they never met, is evidence that the man in question not only lived, but that he did everything the four men said he did, even if some of the things they say he did contradict each other.” Does that about sum it up? I’ll ask you again, do you ever listen to yourself?
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Arch, the way she phrases her questions and her answers is a result of her indoctrination. As Ruth has said repeatedly , many of us already have that T-shirt.
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This is so bad… I’m starting to believe you all really are ignorant.. “deliberately” might not actually apply.. and I don’t know which is worse. I hate using that word (ignorant) because it sounds like I’m just trying to insult you … which is not the case, I’m pointing out what I believe to be the truth. You all are ignoring the truth.. that’s my preferred definition of ignorant (to IGNORE). And this is all due to pride and ego.
archeological finds that support Biblical stories/ events = EVIDENCE
outside historical records that support Biblical writings = EVIDENCE
fulfilled prophecies = EVIDENCE
people who give up their lives to testify to the truth of the Bible /Christianity = EVIDENCE
that the Bible was written by MANY different people over thousands of years
who all agree on the basic doctrine = EVIDENCE
that Christianity has the most followers of all religions = EVIDENCE
that Christianity has SURVIVED despite receiving the most persecution = EVIDENCE
that the greatest most prosperous and powerful country/ nation in human history ALSO happens to be a CHRISTIAN nation = EVIDENCE
And I’m sure I there is much more that I haven’t listed..
All of this is EVIDENCE that CORROBORATES the claimed truth of the Bible and
the existence of God.
You can disagree on a few of these, which I know you all will, but most of them you CANNOT.
It’s E V E D E N C E which can ALSO be considered “CREDENTIALS” for the truth of the Bible.
All my question requires is to name ANOTHER religion that has MORE evidence / credentials
than Christianity. Very very simple.
And if you can’t name another that has more credentials, then ACKNOWLEDGE that Christianity has the most evidence to support it’s truth or “claimed” truth.. which, it’s pretty obvious.. is NOT very simple to do.. at all.
I don’t know how else I can explain my question to you all.. it’s really not complicated at all..
it’s actually your PRIDE AND EGO that is complicating things.. and it’s truly sad to witness. This is the very thing that is causing you to reject God.
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Oh, I KNOW that, KC – I can only repeat:
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yes, I spelled evidence wrong.. which if I didn’t have to type/ spell it out, I can spell it just fine.. your liberal ignorance is dumbing me down.. AND all of the country too! This kind of pride and ignorance is literally DESTROYING this country (the US). And you all won’t even realize this truth UNTIL it’s TOO LATE.
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