Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site cybvax0.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh From: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Evidences for Religion Message-ID: <563@cybvax0.UUCP> Date: Mon, 3-Jun-85 15:43:59 EDT Article-I.D.: cybvax0.563 Posted: Mon Jun 3 15:43:59 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Jun-85 04:22:16 EDT References: <2006@decwrl.UUCP> <749@rayssd.UUCP> <323@scgvaxd.UUCP> <324@scgvaxd.UUCP> <325@scgvaxd.UUCP> <326@scgvaxd.UUCP> Reply-To: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) Organization: Cybermation, Inc., Cambridge, MA Lines: 111 In article <326@scgvaxd.UUCP> dan@scgvaxd.UUCP (Dan Boscovitch) writes: > > The Uniqueness of The Bible > > Unique in its continuity: > > Written over a 1500 year span; 40 generations. Assuming you believe it literally, perhaps it was written over that long a period. But continuous? Hardly. Most of those generations made no contribution other than mentions by some later generation in a "begat". There's a blatant geneological and generational gap between the OT and JC. > Written by over 40 authors from every walk of life (Kings, peasants, poets, > fisherman, herdsman, doctor, tax collector etc.) That's a subject of extensive debate. There is a well known 5 author hypothesis for the origin of the OT. > Written on three continents; Asia, Africa, Europe. Written where the three continents meet. This is the stupidest claim I've seen yet, unless you want to make that 4 continents and add in the Book of Mormon. > Its subject matter includes hundreds of controversial subjects which > would normally create oppossing opinions when discussed, yet biblical > writers spoke on these issues with harmony and continuity. With ~3000 years to make up explanations to try to make the whole thing harmonious, it's not surprising you claim that. However, the truth (appaent to anyone who looks at Christianity) is that since Christians can't agree what the writers meant, and are disharmonious, there's no reason to assume the writers all meant harmonious things. > The message is one great drama in which all parts fit together! > Such a work, encompassing the lives of generations of individuals, > can only be accounted for by a common author, the Spirit of God. Why? There's a tremendous non-sequiteur here. > Historical accounts found to be tremendously accurate. Confirmed by > other historians, by archealogy, by geography. Right. We've found the Garden of Eden, complete with flaming sword, huh? Accurate geography and day-to-day living is all you can really claim for the bible's accuracy, because that's all archaeologists and geologists can find out. In that respect, the bible ranks right up there with other famous works of fiction like "Gone with the Wind", which also was historically and geographically correct. But this gives us no reason to believe in the religion of the bible, since a secular work of fiction could do as well. > Records the sins and failures of its own characters and own country. > > Even the greatest of the Heroes are shown at their worst. King David > commits adultry, Moses loses his temper and disobeys God, Elijah > falls into self-pity, Jonah disobeys God out of prejudice, Peter > denies Christ, Paul condemns himself for persecuting the church, > Jacob deceives his brother out of his birth right. > > The great prophets of Isreal and the Apostles accuse their country > of disobedience, wickedness, and apostasy. You need to read the Bhagavad Gita. This is not unique. > The writer's of scripture could only have portrayed such an accurate > picture of man, writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit. I guess you must be ignorant of literature. Or maybe you just don't dwell on it long enough to convince yourself of its accuracy and inspiration by the Holy spirit. > The bible has survived various attacks and attempts to destroy it. > Some powerful men in history have tried to rid the world of the holy > Scriptures, as others have predicted its demise. The French humanist, > Voltaire, boastfully proclaimed, "Fifty years from now the world will > hear no more of the Bible." In that year, the British Museum purchased > one manuscript of the Greek New Testament from the Russian government > for $500,000 while a copy of his own book was selling for eight cents > a copy! Fifty years after his death, bibles were being printed by the > Geneva Bible Society in the very house where Voltaire had lived and > on his presses! Every culture in the world attributes its worldly successes to its gods. Big deal. I'm sure this is as significant as the taking of Jerusulem by the Moslems X number of times. > The Bible, is the only religious book in which there has never been > found a legitimate error. The Koran, the Book of Mormon, and many other > "sacred" books contain gross errors and inconsistencies. Sez you. Only someone with his head stuck in the sand can not be aware of the counter arguments. And only someone with his mind made up could accept this position. > The bible is accurate in history, science... The bible's scientific accuracy is a well-known subject of ridicule. Usually circumvented by claims of symbolism. > A book as unique as the bible could only be supernatural in origin! I have a piece of plastic in my hands. Given 3000 years of analysis, I could find umpty ump zillion ways this lump was unique. Does that make it supernatural in origin? Alternatively, I have the oldest known story. Does that make it supernatural in origin? -- Mike Huybensz ...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh