victorf@houca.UUCP (11/09/84)
>>> >>> I have talked to my share of deeply religious people, many of them in my family. >>> I think I understand, for the most part why they believe what they believe. >>> The magic word is FAITH. Not scientific evidence. Not historical proof. They >>> believe that the Bible is the absolute truth but they don't try to justify >>> it using hard evidence. The fact is that believing in God, the Bible or >>> anything of a religious nature requires a leap of faith. I get the feeling >>> Ken, that you are not willing to admit that. Face it. It's a fact. I can >>> easily accept anything you say if you are willing to admit that it is >>> faith that is the deep-down reason for it. >>> >>> -- >>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------ >>> From: Scott Thompson >>> ------------------------------------------------------------ *Yes, Scott, it does take faith. But there is evidence. *Are you trying to say that it's posible that the writers of the Bible got *together and concoted this scheme to decieve millions of people? The Bible *was written over a period of thousands of years, and yet it all agrees with *itself. I know, you say that someone took the Bible and rewrote it to agree *with itself. Why? For what purpose? And, if this is the case, why include *four accounts of the life of Christ? Wouldn't that be considered a little *redundant? And how did these scheming writers or rewriters hide the deep *truths about God so well in the epistles? It must have been pretty difficult. *And to fake all those letters to those churches. And what about the *geographical accuracy of the Bible? How did the writers/rewriters get all *these details right? * *It just seems to much evidence to me to write it all off as a big hoax. * *Faith is necessary to believe the truths in the Bible, that is for sure. But *it doesn't require tremendous loads of faith in my life to believe in the *veracity of the Bible. -- *"...holding forth the Ken Nichols *word of life...' Phil. 2:16 ...!ucbvax!dual!qantel!ken ---------------- Yes, Ken, I am saying that it is possible that all those guys that wrote the Bible wrote it for the purpose of decieving future generations. In doing this I'm sure that each of them earned some amount of recognition in his time, as well as a fame that lasts to this day. Now, before you start gnashing your teeth, I should tell you that I don't really believe that's what happened. I think that the Bible is merely a product of some people, who truly believed in what they are saying, but were wrong nevertheless. I really do not doubt that Paul and whoever else thought they witnessed some things that they couldn't explain in terms of the day. This might have been cause by some deity but I think it more likely that they were tricked or suffered from an honest delusion. You must admit that back in that day the people were far less sophisticated and much more apt to credit anything to the interaction of some god. Take a look at Greek and Norse mythology. Those people honestly believed in those gods. I am saying that it is just as possible that the Apostles were similarly mistaken. I know, Ken, that you would never ask, "How can you believe that so many people could be fooled?", but for those of you that would ask this I merely need point to the example of Jonestown. Those people killed themselves for ONE MAN, and his view wasn't even an in-vogue religion! If people in the 20th century can be duped I find it very easy to imagine that those people back then could also be mislead, especially be a diety whose main theme is love and brotherhood. I respect the message, I just don't believe that a 'God' was the source. -- ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Scott Thompson Who is at: ihnp4!hoqam!rst Who boasts: 1)Fluency in English. 2) Prehensile hands. ------------------------------------------------------------