Dirty Hippie said:
Better just get the kerosene now. Know who wrote the bible? People.
Uh, duh. Really? I thought it was faxed down from God. Darn it, better bust out the marshmallows.
This reply totally has nothing to do with what I said. Of course the Bible was written by man. I was referring to the underlying theme of all religions and moral framework.
Dirty Hippie said:
Yyyyup. And isnt that exactly what you'd tell people who doubted your authority?
I'm not sure that you have a valid point here, DH. Are you trying to actually communicate something of value, or are you just trying to get someone's goat?
"the Bible was written by man."
Yes, of course this is true. It was written by about 40 different individuals over a span of 1600 years, and reveals the same topic, God. This alone is rather amazing. Have you ever tried to get 5 people together to agree on something? It can be difficult even if all are living at the same time and are in the same room! One document written by one person has that one person's perspective, although some of the writers since the 1950's have had a problem maitaining one perspective. Mental imbalance might explain that! LOL
Speaking of perspective, no effort was made for any of the biblical writers to hide their perspective, or hide who they were. Authors are readily identifiable by their peculiar style. And yet, they agree on their uinderstanding and what they reveal about God. That is amazing.
I gather for some in this thread that the notion of "proof" is the same as one would use in the physical sciences. I will challenge that notion with another challenge. Everyone talks about "love." People love their cars, their cats, their dogs, their children, their spouses, etc. I ahve never ever been presented with any physical proof that this thing "love" exists or can be proven. When asked, people side track the challenge by giving examples of what people do, how they act, where they linger. But none of that is "love," but is simply actions credited with this supposed love thing. Prove love to me, just as you expect me to prove God to you.
Of course you can't. The physical world is not the same as metaphysical things (Aristotle, means "after-physics"), is it?
Dirty Hippie said:
///Mark- Im saying that the supposed authority of a supreme being which nobody else can communicate with, but sees everything and will punish you for your sins, would be a pretty good way to intimidate some peasants.///
As I said, you're just trying to get someone's goat. If you were being honest, you would tell us what YOU believe in, and then support those beliefs with facts.
Dirty Hippie said:
Alien- I may not like hardcore conservatives, and they may not like me, but absolutely nobody likes a troll. You really don't wanna open this can of worms. I promise. Buuuut since we're here i guess ill waste another few lines on the unanswerable question. Or at least clarify my position a bit. Burke-I've always thought that people don't really need a holy book or god to lay down the morals for them. In terms of keeping society together, the book provides a handy way to put together rules society can mostly agree upon (or at least those in power). What you should be asking is "If all atheists aren't self indulgent hedonists with no values or morals, then why do we need this book? Anyway. As for the "ill believe just in case" argument, do you really think a person can just decide to believe without being thoroughly convinced? Seems to me that would make one a bit of a bastard. So, until im convinced that a. there is a god, and b. that yours is the right one, ill go on trying to be a good person regardless. Alien, i believe that might be more what you meant to say.
