Well if you believe in the three I’s, yes.
What are three I’s?
The inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of Bronze Age ‘scripture’.
Just checking to clarify your position. After all, you didn’t say: “Once, the prophet Samuel directed Saul to destroy the Amalekites”, you said: “Sometimes God actually ORDERS atrocious behavior.” There’s a difference, in case you didn’t notice. Want me to 'splain it to you?
IMO, your assessment is too generous, @Marta.
Notice Rave’s Activity.
- He’s started four threads:
- This thread, in which he posted the OP and nothing else.
- Donald Morgan Contradictions, in which he posted the OP and nothing else;
- Is God evil for allowing all this pain and suffering, in which he posted the OP and nothing else;
- And the silliest of them all: Does the Bible teach the earth is flat, in which he posted the OP and three responses, two of which culminated in anti-theistic questions, to wit:
and
and a really silly one describing a theory that he allegedly “came up with”.
- In other words, IMO, he’s an anti-Christian having fun or he’s pretending to be a curious inquirer seriously seeking opinions, … and having fun doing it.
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I don’t see how I’m being anti theist. I’m asking genuine questions here. I heard people say that the Bible taught the earth was flat, looked at the verses, and thought they were true (as in it “taught” it). Also confused on what you mean by “posted the OP and nothing else”. Either way, I’m genuinely seeking answers here. I’ve had doubts about Christianity for a long time, and if you just feel like claiming I’m an anti theist for seeking answers, then I don’t know what to say.
Also that’s pretty much the point of a theory. It’s just a theory. I just came up with it in my head and thought that it’s one way to interpret it, but not the way I’m gonna interpret it as.
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how come can we claim Christianity as Religion of Love with all the bad stuff in the Bible? How can we claim God to be good? Are anti theists right in using biblical atrocities as their arguments? Did Bible cause slavery and is it upholding racism(this one seems to be popular on social media)?
That was what I was intending to ask, exactly.
I’m not sure if I’m Christian or not. If I am, then my faith is probably wavering on thread with all the doubts I have.
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Inspired does not mean “encouraged”
Synonyms for inspired
- bore up,
- bucked up,
- buoyed (up),
- cheered (up),
- chirked (up),
- emboldened,
- encouraged,
- heartened,
- inspirited,
- steeled
Try again
Richard
I’m a new believer. Only a couple of months ago, I began reading through the OT for the first time.
Yes, it’s challenging.
On the other hand if my fleshly father was to write a book about all the f’ed up s I did and how he loves me anyway, that would also be a challenging read!
And that wasn’t even in the olden days. Well, not quite as olden.
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I refuse to project myself on Him knowingly. I would settle if I could. There is no way. Apart from acceptance.
I thought we were talking about “inspired” in the context of Scripture. Perhaps the goal posts are moving.
Nope. Paul said that the scriptures were inspired. by the Spirit. Agreed there are other variants including the notion of breathing. However you do not breathe words. There is also the notion of inspired being excellent or better than usual, but that one does not work at all.
Some people like to convince themselves (and others) that Scripture was dictated by God. But
- Paul was talking about Hebrew Scripture, not the New Testament
- Paul had too much humility t consider his own words to be anything other than from himself
- God would not refer to Himself in the third or even second person
- Books like Eccelsistes, Proverbs, Psalms all have annotated human authors.
- The Bible did not exist in the format we have it until after Paul wrote (obviously)
So, no matter what you think Paul meant, it does not refer to all the bible.
Richard
What a pleasant surprise. You responded to my post to Marta.
Check my post to Marta again. I edited it after you read it, and before she’s read it. I changed “anti-theist” to “anti-Christian”. That said, I’m going to assume that you would still wonder why I would tell Marta that you’re an anti-Christian. What you missed is that I didn’t tell her that you’re an anti-Christian. What I told her was that, in my opinion, your OP does not appear to me to be serious; it appears to me to be an opportunity to have fun, either because you’re an anti-Christian or because you’re pretending to be a curious inquirer. How so?
- Anti-Christians are notorious for presenting reasons for:
- questioning the existence of God,
- questioning the morality of the God of the Jews;
- questioning the questioning the morality of Jesus;
- questioning the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus;
- questioning the divine son-ship of Jesus;
- questioning the rationality and reasonableness of Jesus;
- etc.
- Why do anti-Christians do that? IMO, they do it to sow doubt in God the Father and in Jesus’ divinity.
- That’s the difference between atheists and anti-theists. Atheists don’t believe. Anti-theists don’t want anyone to believe.
- Questioning the morality of God is a major step in a person’s descent into anti-Christianity and anti-theism.
- You say: “I’m asking genuine questions here.”
- If you are, then I was wrong to suggest otherwise. But I have to ask you: where did the questions come from? From within you when you read the Old Testament or were you “inspired” by your inability to answer questions asked by anti-Christians and anti-theists.
- re: your statement: "I heard people say that the Bible taught the earth was flat, looked at the verses, and thought they were true "
- I’m 73 years old: I’ve heard a lot of things, including “the Bible teaches that the earth is flat”. Fortunately, some of those things can be accepted without affecting our daily life. Unfortunately, accepting other things can affect a person’s decisions, their sanity, and their relationships with others.
- For example, the last thing you’ll want to do is plan a trip across Antarctica because you’ll believe that you’re just traveling in a circle; and believing that existence ceases with death in this world kills hopes about post-death existence.
- I’m 73 years old: I’ve heard a lot of things, including “the Bible teaches that the earth is flat”. Fortunately, some of those things can be accepted without affecting our daily life. Unfortunately, accepting other things can affect a person’s decisions, their sanity, and their relationships with others.
- re: your statement: "Also confused on what you mean by “posted the OP and nothing else”. What I meant was that your OPs showed a shallow interest in something, but your “nothing else” suggested that your interest was extremely brief, and that the thread didn’t shed any light on the subject for you.
- re: your statement: “I’ve had doubts about Christianity for a long time, …” Welcome to the world. At some point, though, you’re gonna have to make a decision, otherwise you’re going to drown.
- re: your statement: “if you just feel like claiming I’m an anti theist for seeking answers, then I don’t know what to say.” Fortunately, that’s not what I felt like claiming, because I wouldn’t know what to say either.
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And when you accept things that cannot possibly be true?
Can’t happen. Contingency rules.
That reminds me of a book about former Pope Joseph Ratzinger and his stance on inerrancy I’ve been reading. You might like this!
Would that be something like?
“In short, the contingency rules theory recognizes that all persuasive choice-making behavior takes place within boundaries that expand and contract as a function of relatively fixed potential context.”
I’m not trying to “have fun”, these are serious questions I have about the Bible that I guess I worded wrong. But either way, I’m just looking for answers here. “If the Bible preaches love and a God of love and mercy, why do so many bad things happen in it?”
That’s the primary question I have
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