An Open Letter to All Young Christians - Please Convince Me.

You can't have your cake and eat it too though, because it happens far too often when a bible passage will be found to be contradictory or irrational and without any reason but to justify their own beliefs religious people will through these passages into the "non-literal" bucket, without any prior reason for them to be just to portray a message. Many Christians believed (and some of the wackier still do) in a Noah's flood actually happening, but when this was shown to be completely irrational and impossible the majority of Christians changed their thoughts on it instead of actually taking a good look into why they would believe something nonsensical. Don't fall into that cop-out.

 

I'm not trying to cop out a verse. Some simply aren't literal. I didn't go through ever single one of the "contradictions" in the video but I'm sure that most of them are out of context or not literal. Its all about what you believe as far as which ones you see literal I guess though some are more obviously symbolic then others and some people like the ones you call wackier take everything as literal (where in fact they would be mistaken)

 

False, not all Christians believe or teach this. Catholics, for example, believe that in its entirety, the Bible is truth. However, there are contradictions within it. This can be explained by human error, but I haven't learned much on that, so I'm not going to delve into it too much.

That's a lot more informed than most people. Thank you!

Parables, for one example.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 13, 2015, Original Post Date: Apr 13, 2015 ---

I'd like to point out that almost every ancient major religion had a very similar story of the flood, and not just from the same place either.
Besides, who wrote the OT, where most of the contradictions/literal arguments took place? The Jews. Historically, the Jewish people have been known for writing very symbolically. These can be translated into modern day phrases.

For example, the number 7 - a representation of holy or perfect. Exampels: 77x7 (forgive someone that many times. Not literal, unless you count every time you forgive someone xD), 7 days of creation.
Another example: 40. Forty represents "a long time" and is often coupled with wanderings in the desert - 40 years in the desert for the promised land, 40 days and nights in the desert for Jesus, 40 days of Lent.

Let me reiterate: the Bible isn't a history textbook. The Bible is a religious work created by people over thousands of years. This means that it cannot possibly be 100% accurate. It's there not for picking over the details. The world wasn't created in 7 days. I know that. Science obviously disproves it. That was a story to counter the Babylonian creation story - a story that showed the world was created out of fighting and hatred. (Please fact-check me on that, it's been quite a while). Besides, there's two creation stories, one right after another. They can't both be literally true, they vary in detail.

You argue that taking it not literally is the only way that we can hold onto our beliefs. But really, if you've ever read Frankenstein or any other major book that carries religious, social, political, or any other themes, you know symbolism, metaphors, and parallels are ALL employed to get across a point. In the Bible, that point is GOD.

*Please note, in the above, I am speaking about in the Catholic Church, where it is taught that the Bible as a whole is truthful but acknowledge there are contradictions.

 

You are so stupid.

 

A. Someone's religious beliefs does not mark them as "stupid", because when you boil it down it's just an opinion, much like yours could be considered stupid by them
B. there was no reason to bring this back up, especially since you had nothing intelligent to add to the conversation

 

Im done Im just done

 

As to your second-to-last statement "I was born into a Christian family..." It would be really easy to find out, but it would be a bad idea. You could always commit suicide, but I've heard that's a sin (I don't know at all so correct me if I'm wrong). However, it would give you an answer.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 2, 2015, Original Post Date: Jun 2, 2015 ---

Actually I use that "religious logic" all the time. I say something, my friend asks me to prove it, and I tell him to disprove it. However it would be really simple to prove that the guy didn't have a baseball. However, I don't usually believe in something that has no evidence. So god? No, not really. Bigfoot? Maybe... it's possible but unlikely. Miracles? No. Aliens? Maybe. My one pet peeve is that people say "There're thousands of planets out there, so life is really likely!" to which I respond, "What if life is a 1 in 100^10^10^10 occurrence? Then it's incredibly UNLIKELY that life exists elsewhere."

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 2, 2015 ---

You just attacked my, and my family's, beliefs, so shut up.

 

STOP BRINGING THIS BACK YOU HALFDONKEY

 

That would be really cool, If we were the base of the hominid tree. Unfortunately though, they have dated the bones, and have found that we, among others, all came from another species at a certain time. So no, the other animals didn't come from us, but I love the curiosity!

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 2, 2015, Original Post Date: Jun 2, 2015 ---

Bringing what part "back" ( I haven't said much of it before, so i'm just wondering...)

 

This whole thread
In case you didn't notice
the last post was over a week ago
it keeps getting necro'd
the original poster hasn't been on in 2.5 months

Just let the thread die

 

Even though I don't agree with most of what you said: THAT WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL POST! You have some really strong arguments, and some weak points, and you have been polite... I wish more people were like that. One thing I do wonder about: How did Adam and Eve populate the world? Inbreeding would have been a HUGE problem.

Once again, I appreciate your arguments, and hope to cross paths with you in debates more often!

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 2, 2015 ---

Oh haha, It's been getting a lot of posts, so don't yell at me Plus, so many people are posting, I think It's pretty cool.

 

You and Qwikin are the only 2 that are posting. (Excluding me)

 

Adam and Eve repopulated the world by... I know it's weird but.. It's true. they repopulated the world by inter-marriage sex. After they had children, their children would have children. It just keeps on going until they finally have enough people to have babies with that are not in the family. In the modern culture this is unacceptable, but God gave them a plan and they fulfilled it. Hope you like / dislike the answer!

 

Speaking for Catholicism here (as the Church teaches), you can't take one part of the story literally while the rest is taken metaphorically. Adam and Eve represent humanity, not a factual two people that did x x and x.

 

Haha that makes a lot more sense.

 

Well damn how I used to be really dumb

 

Hi Adrian. I just have a few questions for you if that's okay?

How do you know which passages to take literally, and which not to take literally? (And what would stop another Christian from arguing that the verses *you* think are metaphorical, should *in fact* be taken literally?)

[RE: Contradictions. Here's a nifty site that displays all of the contradictions in the Bible as a bunch of lines. (http://bibviz.com/)]

If God is perfect, why did he create/influence a book in which so many people can see so differently? Shouldn't it be incredibly easy to write a book that everyone can comprehend and understand? Shouldn't it be clear what your god wants, if he were perfect?

And, from the looks of it, the main character portrayed in the Bible is anything but perfect. He loves to use genocide, even infanticide in some cases. He promotes slavery, and blood sacrifices. If these things are bad, why does your god resort to them so readily?

There's a lot to get 'into', so I'll leave it at that for now. I hope to hear from you soon.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 18, 2016, Original Post Date: Apr 18, 2016 ---

MLP + TF2. LOVE IT. Rarity is best pone.