No. They show similarities between Christianity and older religions, showing that the bible cannot be entirely factual and was instead inspired be works before it's time.
So you are saying that the bible's stories are taken from older religions? I don't care if you call it 'synchronization of belief.' The point is that you were arguing that the stories in the bible were unique and new, but now you are saying that they were intentionally copied from older religions to make conversion easier?
Occaisionally. Ok then, don't care. I never said that. I just started reading/participating, but the latter part of that last sentence is somewhat my point. Does it truly matter though? The majority of the stories in the works are not made to force you to believe them, but to teach a lesson. Do we know for sure if the Samaritan really stopped to help? No. Does that affect the lesson of loving one another? At some point in this week I should have a video of the story of two people who currently live showing undeniable proof of miracles and a God that causes them, and if you do not believe their story, it would take me a long time and a lot of effort, but I could find proof of each thing they say.
Oh then how is that related to the existence of God? All religious works are made to appeal to people, and familiarity is one of the most appealing aspects of something new.
The point is that the bible was not crafted to be correct, as many believe it is, but just to draw as many people as possible into the religion. Edit: Read the post below this. That's what I've been trying to say.
It's important because it means the bible isn't "gods word", it's just a collection of stories written by people. It pretty much destroys the bible's validity.
The Bible is the Word of God passed THROUGH A HUMAN into the form of script. Who says God can't tell a story? Or maybe the stories we have today are simply the translations of translations of rough recollections of stories passed from one generation to another orally that originated with God teaching a lesson to a person.
Ok, I'll use the story of Zeus flooding the earth to prove you wrong. If you don't know the mythology, it's part of the way down this page. The problem with this logic is that we know a few things as a fact: -The Greek mythology was created first, and therefore the authors of the bible must have known these stories while the bible was being written. -It is impossible for the Biblical stories to be fact, unless you make the assumption that (1) the Greek mythology was correct, and god is simply retelling the story, or (2) god knew of the Greek myths, and retold them simply to tell a lesson. The flaw with (1) is that I doubt you believe in Greek mythology, since believing in one story would require you to believe in many more. This leaves only (2), but since we know that the Christian god is described by the bible as vengeful and jealous - not very likely to pass on stories of other gods. Also, if you are going to attempt to rationalize these stories by saying that they are just stories, why can't all of the bible simply be stories? You are willing to believe that stories of the great flood are fictional, but why can't you assume everything said in the bible is fictional, meant to tell a story? Undoubtedly it did spread many stories with good morals (for the time), but the fact that so many people choose to believe the stories that we can't disprove yet, including the story of Jesus' resurrections or even the existence of God himself, confuses me.
Well take the 10 commandments for example. Apparently God made the basic idea of them. Yet they bare striking resemblance to the 42 Egyptian "Commandments" you would need to follow to get into Egyptian paradise: Spoiler Transgressions Against Mankind Spoiler 1. I have not committed murder, neither have I bid any man to slay on my behalf; 2. I have not committed rape, neither have I forced any woman to commit fornication; 3. I have not avenged myself, nor have I burned with rage; 4. I have not caused terror, nor have I worked affliction; 5. I have caused none to feel pain, nor have I worked grief; 6. I have done neither harm nor ill, nor I have caused misery; 7. I have done no hurt to man, nor have I wrought harm to beasts; 8. I have made none to weep; 9. I have had no knowledge of evil, neither have I acted wickedly, nor have I wronged the people; 10. I have not stolen, neither have I taken that which does not belong to me, nor that which belongs to another, nor have I taken from the orchards, nor snatched the milk from the mouth of the babe; 11. I have not defrauded, neither I have added to the weight of the balance, nor have I made light the weight in the scales; 12. I have not laid waste the plowed land, nor trampled down the fields; 13. I have not driven the cattle from their pastures, nor have I deprived any of that which was rightfully theirs; 14. I have accused no man falsely, nor have I supported any false accusation; 15. I have spoken no lies, neither have I spoken falsely to the hurt of another; 16. I have never uttered fiery words, nor have I stirred up strife; 17. I have not acted guilefully, neither have I dealt deceitfully, nor spoken to deceive to the hurt another; 18. I have not spoken scornfully, nor have I set my lips in motion against any man; 19. I have not been an eavesdropper; 20. I have not stopped my ears against the words of Right and Truth; 21. I have not judged hastily, nor have I judged harshly; 22. I have committed no crime in the place of Right and Truth; 23. I have caused no wrong to be done to the servant by his master; 24. I have not been angry without cause; 25. I have not turned back water at its springtide, nor stemmed the flow of running water; 26. I have not broken the channel of a running water; 27. I have never fouled the water, nor have I polluted the land. Sins Spoiler 28. I have not cursed nor despised God, nor have I done that which God does abominate; 29. I have not vexed or angered God; 30. I have not robbed God, nor have I filched that which has been offered in the temples; 31. I have not added unto nor have I diminished the offerings which are due; 32. I have not purloined the cakes of the gods; 33. I have not carried away the offerings made unto the blessed dead; 34. I have not disregarded the season for the offerings which are appointed; 35. I have not turned away the cattle set apart for sacrifice; 36. I have not thwarted the processions of the god; 37. I have not slaughtered with evil intent the cattle of the god; Personal Transgressions Spoiler 38. I have not acted guilefully nor have I acted in insolence; 39. I have not been overly proud, nor have I behaved myself with arrogance; 40. I have never magnified my condition beyond what was fitting; 41. Each day have I labored more than was required of me; 42. My name has not come forth to the boat of the Prince Apparently when Moses escaped Egypt and on a mountain God told him them. Having come from Egypt, he would HAVE to know the Egyptian "Commandments".
I'm atheist over here. I don't have a clear cut argument or anything. I just simply listened to all the stories taught in bible class and thought, " This doesn't add up " I started to question religion and then it got to the point where my brother said, "Stop asking questions". He should have never said that. I knew then that none of the stories are true. I figured, hey, people used to believe that witches flew on broomsticks in the 1800s and there were hundreds of sightings. Then 1900 turned around the corner and flying saucers began to appear in the skys. Religion has one design, for all man to believe in one creed. Breaking this creed destroys your soul. I simply disagree...
Not to go off topic or anything, but UFO sightings have been recorded for centuries. There are art drawings from places like Ancient Egypt that show flying saucers. Not that it applies to this debate or anything, but just thought I'd say that lol.
I was referring to American Ideology, if that is the proper word to use. Maybe the Egyptians believed in this sort of thing, but let's not forget that ancient Egyptians once believed that the heart was equivalent to the brain. They weren't exactly the type of people who had physical evidence. Or scientific for that matter. This was just an example that I got from a substitude to prove a point that people jump from one belief of things to another.
so if a person who was good but dosnt belif in god will go to hell? kinda cruel if you think, people can belive in what they want
K, I'm back to this thread atm! Round 2 anybody? Yea, but that dude's saying God has to have matter... which is totally opinionated.. It's one or the other.. If you choose to be a follower, then you go to heaven. If you choose to not be a follower, then you go to hell. It's like saying, if you you work out, then you'll get strong. If you don't work out, then you you'll get weak. Nothing more to it, really..
For something to exist, it has to be composed of matter or energy. So even if there was a "god" who was not composed of matter... or energy, it would still not exist by scientific laws.
So you're saying that if you believe in Christianity then you don't believe in facts? You must have some messed up logic behind this one...