John Murdoch
Senior Member
Re: Re: Re: Re: This is incontrovertible proof that God is evil. God does not live by his own golden
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
man-mademade or caused by human beings (as opposed to occurring or being made naturally); artificial.
If The God of The Bible is The One who inspired these human beings to write His Word, He is not made up.
Also, the 66 individual books that comprise The Bible were written by over 40 authors, over 1600+ years, on 3 separate continents, yet The Bible is without contradiction, and has a single central character (Jesus Christ) and theme (His redemptive work on all men's behalf). The Quran, The Book of Mormon, the Jehovah's Witnesses' version of The Bible, the New World Translation, were either written by one man (Muhammed or Joseph Smith in the first two's case) or a group of people (Watchtower's translation team), yet have contradictions and/or anachronisms that compromise the integrity of the work. So, if say, Muhammed couldn't get 100% accuracy within his own writing of the Quran, which took him 22 years to complete, yet 40+ authors over 1600+ years did get 100% accuracy and agreement in The Bible, reason dictates something, or Someone, was guiding The Bible authors' efforts.
The issue is with saying that the Catholic Church, any Gnostic group, or another XYZ group wrote it is that these groups is that both:
A) Their doctrines and teachings don't line up with what is in The Bible, yet they supposedly wrote it. For example, Catholicism adopted celibacy of the priesthood (by the way, The New Testament/Covenant did away with the priesthood) and not eating meat during portions of Lent, yet 1 Timothy 3:1-4 outright declares making those acts mandatory rules to follow are "doctrines of devils".
B) These groups either came 3 or more centuries after Jesus, or opposed Him and/or His Word/teachings when He walked the earth. For example, Gnostics were Rabbinic Jews - those that made The Old Testament Scriptures EQUAL to oral tradition - not Kairite Jews - The Scriptures alone are God's authoritative Word.
And yes, Lucien, they are dead, but you bring up a good thought: the men who wrote The Bible were just like you and me and everyone else (save Christ), sinners. Noah was a drunk. Moses a murderer. Peter denied Christ 3 times. In the case of Moses, he is the one who wrote his own failings in Exodus - Deuteronomy. Same with Solomon, Jonah, Paul, and really most of the writers of The Old and New Testaments. All heels. All failures. But all who believed in God, and He used them.
Also, let's take The Apostles: all of them could have gone back to being loved by the community, successful in their careers, free from constant endangerment by people wanting to kill them for preaching The Gospel. If fact, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two more disciples were doing just that before Jesus appeared to them (John chp. 21). But seeing Jesus risen from the dead changed them; they all died horrible deaths (except John, who was sent into exile on Patmos) instead of living out peaceful lives in order to preach The Gospel, Jesus' work on our behalf.
I mean I get it guys: I was a Catholic for 17+ years. Born into it. First communion. Confirmation. Learned it pretty well. Was skeptical of how The Bible could be God's Word. I knew of Jesus, but finally one day actually believed on Him and knew Him from that day onward.
But good discussion so far, it's beneficial to me and hopefully to you all as well.