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That position presupposes that God, the inspiration and source for the bible, is unable to prevent mortal men, who, through evil intent or sheer stupidity, have distorted His Word. Made it a lie, full of 'mistakes' and 'errors' (but somehow 'true' all the same). That's an untenable position and one that atheists use to dismiss the bible as garbage. It assumes that Almighty God, the creator of all that exists, simply allowed His Word - the truth you say you believe is 'in there' - to be made very difficult to find and understand because mere men have screwed around with it. How ridiculous is that? You must assume God is helpless to make certain His Word is true and not distorted or changed in ways that make it's truth easy to mock, as so many do. Sorry, millions of Christians don't buy that and neither do I. If that's what you choose to believe, no one can stop you, but it's false and indicates a very shallow 'faith'.
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If God in all His glory, was to interfere with the creation of the Bible, doesn't that deny the greatest gift of all? The gift of Choice? Men were given the the power to choose right from wrong, left from right, front from back, and so on. God made us to mess up. He knows we are going to mess up, so how can you tell me that God made sure that His word, the Bible, was unmolested? Especially when man was taking notes?
I never said that the Bible was a lie. Nor did I say that it was Garbage. I said that I believe that it is exagerated. No more no less. I don't deny that Jesus performed miracles. But you have to take a look at the time period that these miracles took place and how desprated these people were to have something to believe in. Jesus promissed that when they died, they would assend into heaven, where the streets were paved with gold, and so on. Hell, I'd want to follow Him to the ends of the Earth and then some. I do now. But let's be a little more realistic. Jesus turned water into wine, cool. Magicians do that same trick today, and people believe that the guy on stage is really doing it. Hell, I can turn water into Kool-Aid in mere seconds, doesn't make it a miracle. I don't deny that Jesus turn water into wine in front of a bunch of people at a wedding. All I am saying is that there are plenty of ways to do the same thing, in front of a live audience.
Doctors bring people back from the dead everyday, granted, they don't just touch them and bam they're healed. But they do heal people. Miracle or not, it happens. Not to take anything away from Jesus. He gave the blind sight, the crippled could walk, the lepors were healed, you know it better than me.
All that I am saying is that from a certain point of veiw anything is a miracle. You just have to sort through the non sense to find true meaning. Does that mean that I am completely wrong in regards to the Bible? I don't know. Maybe. What I believe is based partly on faith, and partly on human history.
People believe what they are told to believe. Who killed JFK? Was it Oswald? Was it the FBI? Personally, I say it was the guy that pulled the trigger, whom ever it was. So why should the Bible be any different? It's a way of controlling the masses, as it is written. The church wants you to concentrate on what they want you to concentrate on. The church doesn't like gay marrage, so you shouldn't either. The church doesn't like abortion, so you better not either. History is filled will religious fanatics forcing thier will on others. Some of the bloodiest, most brutal wars were fought based on religious hatred. All because someone gave the wrong answer to the God Question.
"Do you believe in God?"
"No"
bang dead
"Do you believe in God?"
"Yeah"
"Do you believe in MY God?"
"No"
bang dead
Religion isn't so much about believing in what a book tells you to believe, but believing that God loves you, and created everything for you. He gave His Son for you. His Son loves you, and wants you to love Him for the grace He so freely gave to us. Get caught up in a book if you want to, but you might miss the whole point of being here. Books come and go, but God is here forever.
Later.