The Bible doesn't always seem to make a lot of sense, so why should I read it?

[SSI]

truthteller, Genesis 1:1 states, In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. Now in this we dont know for sure if this was done before the first day, on the first day God said, Let there be light.. the heavens and earth were either created before this or created on the first day. I adhere to the idea that they were created on the first day..

Genesis 2:4 states, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heavens and the earth.. --------- Many people believe that the days are not literal days but are long periods of time.. I dont really feel this shows a discrepency, seems there is a little difference in the wording.. Both state God did the creating, id suggest looking at genesis 1:1 again. the creation of the heavens and earth came, then came the first day..

any other major discrepencies, dont really believe these 2 passages clash or cause reason for alarm..

The People's Champ

 

[Marco]

SSI....I believe the Bible, the Koran, and all the other religious doctrines out in circulation have passages in them that try to prove themselves to be the correct manual for study and worship.......

....only difference is when something happens on this earth and as to the cause of it....one person says it was the work of Jesus, another one says it was the work of Buddha....another person says it was a totally different third god altogether.....put the three guys in the same room and none of them are going to win thier individual argument....what are they going to bring to the room except for thier bibles and thier beliefs and thier convictions.....all three quote passages to each other and in the end it is a big stalemate because everyone brings beliefs and no one brings evidence.

To each his own. Yes, although our beliefs are obviously different we can still be friends. Peace, bro'......

 

[SSI]

thanks Marco, i really enjoy hearing how others think..

Let me lay a few other things on you.. Most Bible scholars believe the earth to be only about 6000yrs old. The book of peter and another place in the bible (i cant recall where offhand) refer to a day as being 1000 yrs in Gods eyes, it seems that there were 2000 yrs from the time of creation until the time of the flood, and another 2000 yrs from the time of the flood until the time that Jesus came. Now stay with me, it has rougly been 2000 yrs since Christ was upon this earth and its time for another big change (his return).

You see God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th day he rested, and where do we as Christians get our rest (In Christ Jesus). so you see the 7th day of creation relates to the 1000yr millenial reign of Christ upon this earth.. after Jesus crucifixtion he rose on the third day. In the book of John, Jesus takes peter james and john up in the mountain and they see him transfigured (in his glory) but the first passage of this makes a key statement, It states Upon the Third Day Jesus takes peter james and john up. you see we are in the 3rd day or close --- my opinion is around 32-33 AD. does any of this mean anything, maybe -- maybe not.. its interesting to say the least.. You see Christ is coming again to set up his earthly Kingdom to rule and reign for 1000 yrs here.. well i study it from this side as well..

The People's Champ

 

[Jimmymak]

I remember as a kid my dad asking me the old question, “What would happen if an irresistible force met an immovable object what would be the outcome?” I thought about it for some time before giving up and asking the answer. He explained that it was really a kind of trick question to which there was no answer, he went on to explain that if such a thing as an immovable object existed then an irresistible force, by definition, could not, and vice versa. They are mutually exclusive.
Most of the things we use to define God are in the same way mutually exclusive. A simple example is when we ask the religionists why God allows all the suffering in the world we are usually told that it is caused by man. God gave man free will and if he chooses to use this free will to do evil it is not Gods fault. If this is true what happened to God’s ability to forsee all things. Much has been written on here about prophecy and God’s ability to see the future. If this is the case man does not have free will, all is preordained. If I could look into a crystal ball and see myself tomorrow in a car wreck I would make sure that tomorrow I exercised my free will and stayed at home, but if I stayed at home how come I saw myself in the car wreck? When I looked in the crystal the day before I would have seen myself at home, so I might decide to exercise my free will and go out in the car. And so it goes round in circles.
If God can see the future then man does not have free will and God is guilty of all the misery in the world past and present.
God being able to see the future and give man free will are mutually exclusive. Therefore using the definitions we use for god, god, as we define him, cannot exist.

 

[Jimmymak]

As far as discrepancies in the old testament are concerned what about something that has already been mentioned? The story of Noah. How many animals did he take into the Ark?
The first version says:
"And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark."
"Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah."
"And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life."
Then later it says:
"Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female."
So what was it two or seven?

 

[SSI]

God has a broad plan but man is in control of his free will.. this is not that hard to see.. if you choose to go out and murder one or many people this is not Gods fault, you chose to do this.. If Abraham had not been found righteous in Gods eyes then another would have been found to carry out the lineage of Christ.. Lots of things that happened were because of the coming of Jesus Christ.. Wish i could talk more but im very tired tonight..

The People's Champ

 

[Jimmymak]

So you agree that God is not Omnipotent? He does not know what I am going to do next as I have free will and I don’t know either. OK I’ll go along with that. So what is it that makes God, God? As far as I can see it if God is not omnipotent then he is not God. Ergo god does not exist.

 

[Jimmymak]

“it seems that there were 2000 yrs from the time of creation until the time of the flood, and another 2000 yrs from the time of the flood until the time that Jesus came”

If it was 2000 years from the flood to the coming of Jesus this means that the pyramids at Giza are antideluvian. The great pyramid was built by Khufu c.2585-2560 B.C.E. Strange that in the Egyptian records, of which there are a great many, no mention is made of a flood that killed everyone. Did they have a dispensation because they were going to harbour Jesus when his parents took him there to escape Herod?

 

[Oceans11]

The Sphinx has apparently been eroded by water.

Possible water erosion.
Most scholars have resigned themselves to the fact that the water caused the erosion to the body of the Sphinx. Geologists agree that Egypt was subject to severe flooding, at the end of the last Ice Age, c. 15,000-10,000 BCE.

So, if the erosion was caused by water, the Sphinx must have been carved before Egypt was under water i.e. more than 12,000 years ago. This, in turn, is too radical for scholars to swallow, as they prefer not to change their theory that Khafra (Chephren) built the Sphinx. As a result, those unfamiliar with scientific principles, suggested that the ground water, and not direct flooding, caused such erosion.

http://www.egypt-tehuti.org/sphinx.html

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/ritson/quest/sphinx/

 

[SSI]

im a little tired today fellas and still have to go to the gym.. God wants to reconcile with man JM, but it has to be under mans own free will. Once Adam sinned in the garden of eden, all bets were off.. You see man has always had a choice..

I dont really have the time or energy today to discuss things with you guys but ill tell you this, the people that adhere to a 6000yr old world, beleive that the flood of Noah distorted man's ability to measure time.. beleive i have mentioned the area around Mt. St Helen appearing older than 24 yrs. i belive in the grand canyon there are older layers on top of younger ones. lots of fish fossils found high in many mountainss.. You see if there really was a flood -- then it was the greatest natural disaster the world has ever seen.... I belive all the land mass was once connect, i know that the deep trenches in the oceans run parallel to the mountain ranges. i know there was a canopy surrounding the earth that allowed people to live much longer as well... Read the account in Genesis as to the age of people dropping immediately after the flood..

guys im tired and may not be around much today but as always enjoy the discussion..

The People's Champ

 

[Jimmymak]

eek

Obviously I have no idea when the sphinx was carved and it may well be 10-15 thousand years old. What I was questioning was the assertion that the flood took place 2000 BC. If you look at what was around at that time and the records that have been kept it makes you wonder why no one recorded such a cataclysmic event.

Indus Valley Civilisation 3200BC
Upper and Lower Egypt Unified 3200BC
Cuniform Script in Sumeria 3200BC
Egyptian Hieroglyphics 3100BC
Longshan Culture in China 3000BC

If someone said to me they believed the flood took place 10,000 years ago I wouldn’t argue. I might not agree with them but I suppose the end of the last ice age probably caused flooding over large areas and over large periods of time which may have come down to us in myths of a great flood. But 4000 years ago?? It looks like trying to fit 1000 years into a day of god.

 

[Jimmymak]

SSI

You say there are lots of fish fossils found high in many mountains, all the land masses were once connected, deep trenches in the oceans run parallel to the mountain ranges.
All perfectly true and have been known about for many years and all perfectly explainable from plate tectonics. With modern technology it’s possible to measure a lot of these things, like the Atlantic getting wider and the Himalayas getting higher, you certainly don’t need god to explain them

Sorry to read that you’ve been really tired the last few days, hope you’re feeling OK and not catching a bug or something. If you are feeling better maybe you can explain the discrepancy in the Noah myth and explain how god who is not omnipotent can still be god.

 

[TheGeneral+]

I am still seeking to understand all of this.

 

[Phaedrus]

Nothing to understand dude. A "religion" is what we call a "mythology" while the practitioners are still alive, in order to be polite.


Phaedrus

 

[GAMEFACE]

I believe.

 

[TheGeneral+]

Why did an infant baby die today of cancer at St Judes, but yet I live and breathe another day?

 

[RobFunk]

we are just in one solar system. here are hundreds of planets we will probably never even be able to explore, some of which might have liveable atmospheres and some type of lifeform which could be something as simple as a micro organism or as complex as something 50 times more intelligent then human beings.

to just sit there and say "god created earth, made light one day, made some water the next and grabbed a coors and doob on the 3rd" you are just succombing to drivel written eons ago by humans less developed in intellect and everything else on the evolution chain.

science rules all over religion. its the human mind challenging itself to finding out awnsers and truths and not just giving into incredibly dated literature and beliefs written when having a 110 IQ was something to write home about.

 

[mizagot]

it takes as much faith to believe in evolution and the big bang theroy as it does to believe in the bible

i just signed up recently, and don't think I can make it through the entire post... but I totally disagree with this statement

the bible was created by humans to serve whatever purpose it was created for, with no peer review... the scientific theories, on the other hand, have at least some basis in scientific fact, and while no means foolproof, and though some leap of faith is required, comparing those theories with subjective prose written on pieces of paper is not the same thing

 

[mizagot]

Nothing to understand dude. A "religion" is what we call a "mythology" while the practitioners are still alive, in order to be polite.


Phaedrus

Thumbs-up

 

[JinnRikki]

One of the best explanations I've heard is that man was created/evolved so the universe could know itself.Someone may have said this in a prior post if so I apologize.