Originally Posted by Manglor
Ok i'll play.
The bible has it's share of errors and contradictions.
From simple things like...
Jeremiah 3:12 "...for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever."
Jeremiah 17:4 "Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall be forever."
God seems a bit flip floppy...
To big things like saying saying over and over that the earth is flat.
So a logical man would indeed admit there are mistakes in the good book.
If you can admit THAT then how do you know what is right and what is wrong? How can you have complete faith in something that isn't perfect? Doesn't that mean every person just picks and chooses what to believe and what to ignore? Doesn't that negate everything?
Hm, well addressing the excerpts out of Jeremiah, the only thing that would cause them to contradict is if they were said at the same time. If they take on different contexts, then basically all thats happened is that God said to one group of people - 'Im not gonna forget this', and to another 'Youre lucky that I'm a good guy cuz Im gonna let this slide'. The fact that the events dont occur at the same time and place means that from a logical perspective, this doesnt constitute a contradiction.
With regards to the earth being flat, all that I know is that there are a few lines in revelations that talk about the four corners of the earth- which maybe can be interpreted literally as saying as being flat, but the terms 'four corners of the earth' and 'all ends of the earth' and the likes are used frequently in literature to mean the whole world. I do know that it also suggests the earth was round before modern science accepts it to be. Passages like: Isaiah 40:22 -
http://It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are ... Now that I think about it, there are more than a few that suggest that its flat (beyond just an interpretation). The only response I'd have for this is that I generally approach the Bible partly from a documentation perspective. This is because it was written by a series of individuals claiming to record what had happened.
Originally Posted by AntonLaVey
Anyhow care to answer my "who created God?" question? I know for a fact no one has an answer to this, but I just want to know what your answer would be based on what you know about the scriptures.
Well yeah, I dont claim to know who created God, but I can tell you how I approach the issue. As I mentioned in my first response when considering Creationism vs Big Bang, I decided that everything had to have a cause provided that it was in its nature to have one. God, by very nature, does not have a creator given that he would be a divine, superior being. Its a tough concept to grasp, and I have to admit that Ive struggled a good deal with it as well.
And with respect to my knowledge of the scriptures, I try not to limit the debate to Christianity. Its generally a theism vs atheism issue. The fact that I cant justify a story or line from the bible shouldnt indicate the nonexistance of God and after a while, the longer you focus on debating something like the Bible, the dumber the arguments going to get. If its possible, focusing on the metaphysical issues here would be more productive.
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Basically with a lot of this stuff i use abductive reasoning. That is, inference to the best explanation. If there isnt a better answer available, then it is logically valid to accept what the best explanation for the given problem is until otherwise provided.
Anyways, Im at work now so I cant post too much. I'll post a lot more later tonight once I get home.
