Questions about the Bible
These are some of the questions I've been thinking for a long time.1) The Bible talks about the absolute truth. The Bible said that human are not perfect, i.e. they can make mistake. People said that the authors were "under the guidance of god".
How can a mistake-prone author write about a book that talks about the *absolute* truth?
2) The Bible consists of 37 books in the Old Testament and 29 books in the New Testament. Over all, there are >4000 manuscripts.
How do people know that this is the 100% complete collection? And how do people know that each and every single one of the books are 100% correct?
3) The Bible has been translated by men. And the Bible said that human makes mistake.
How can people pick up a version, say English, and claim the *absolute* truth?
Reply
[quote]Originally posted by [i]westsider[/i] at 2005-8-17 06:58 AM:These are some of the questions I'v... [/quote]
After I read all three questions, I believe what you really want to ask is that human is not perfect and both you and me will make mistake. Therefore, same to those who write the bible. Is that true?
To answer your question, I first need to ask you. Do you believe that there is a God?
A God who create the Universe. A God that create the earth and it was so precisely done. If the axis of the earth is 1 degree more or less, many locations in this planet would suffer from extreme heat and vice versa.
He also creates the right balance of air for us to breath. If the ratio of Hydrogon Dioxide is more than it is right now... Guess what will happen?
Yes, you are correct that we as a human aren't perfect but with God guidance, everything is possible. Since he can create the planet, the universe, DNA, among others so precisely, why can't he guide human to write out texts - bible - that is true?
Tony
B. Eng., M.A.Sc. in Engineering
[[i] Last edited by x_integration_x on 2005-8-17 at 11:09 AM [/i]] yes.they may make mistake...but they write that by GOD's instructure.
If god ask them to write...do u think god allow they write with mistake? My question is about its claim of "absolute" truth, i.e. Zero error. If those who write the bible could be wrong, how can the literature claim the "absolute" truth?
I believe that our universe has certain underlying structure, but I am comfortable in talking about such structure only up to a certain accuracy.
The air does have the "right" balance of compounds, but such balance is "right" within certain accuracy. 0.01% more hydrogen dioxide is not going to hurt us.
Classical mechanics is "right" only above the de Brolie's wavelength. After that, quantum theory's accuracy is restricted by the Heisenberg's principle.
The "absolute" truth is a huge claim. The Bible makes such claim, and simultaneously says that the error-prone author is "correct under God's guidance". It really appears as a circular argument to me.
If I believe in God before believing in the Bible, and God himself is described by the Bible, it seems like my belief is based on nothing.
[[i] Last edited by westsider on 2005-8-17 at 11:48 AM [/i]] due to my poor english,actually i dun realy know what is yr question
u mean someone who wrote bible can make mistake?
but u should know...GOD tell them to write bible,GOD should ensure no mistake when they are writing bible. [quote]Originally posted by [i]imaimashi[/i] at 2005-8-17 11:59 AM:
due to my poor english,actually i d... [/quote]
Sorry I dunno how to write/type Chinese.
But what you're saying is "Bible is correct because I believe in God". But what is God? God Himself is described by the Bible. So you would then say "I believe in God because the Bible of correct."
So it is a circular argument. I tried to chip in what I know...
I guess you do have put some times in to the Bible...
Anyway, when the Chrostoan refers the Bible as the absolute truth, they are generally refer in three area.
1) Historic...
What the Bible record was totally true.. there was no making up of stories...
Example: Moses lead the Jews out form Egypt and subside the water from the sea.
Noah's build the ark
Biblical Characters, David, Solomon, JPseph and of course Jesus
2) World
The Bilble descride the world has corrupt into multi-religion even from long long time to now.
Example: Antheism ( No god)
Pamtheism ( Everything can be god)
Polythesim ( There are more than one god)
Dualism ( Everything has 2 sides, example, manvs woman, bright vs darkness, etc)
Humanism ( Man is the centre of everyhting)
Evolution ( Everything is evolved form nothing)
3) Religion
1) Man was made from the image of God
2) God gave man the rights to govern the world
3) God gave man to have a relationship with God ( Animal cannot)
4) The purpose of man's existence and the plan God has for mankind
These are the absolute truth of the Bible
When we read the BIble, I bet most of us do not know Greek nor Hebrew, sowe can only read the translation. How precise the translation is... I would say 99.99%
Some of the words are not translatable. and some of them with hidden meaning and can only be understand with a lot of explantation...
But for Christian, every word that has included in the Bible are allowed by GOD. For those that finalized the content of the Bible, they had put lots of time in research, dedication and total devotion to God's word then they came out with this content of the Bible.
NO matter what kind of language you are reading, the truth is, the Bible records how God created man, and how man turned away from God, and God's plan for man and the destination of this world.
Even when God showed up in front of many people, man still choose not to believe in HIM. This has been true in the past, and in the present and will be in the future .
So, for those who want to have an open minded to study the BIBLE and willing to see how true or how wild this BOOK is.... I am sure that person will not be disappointed... because my own expereince tells me that the Bible is very real and the BIBLE is a channel God use to talk to us....
Try and you will be amaze .......................... Well, I was brought up in a Christian family. So I have read some Bible.
And the teaching of Christianity has always been about "faith". The arguments, including the above, have always been based on "faith".
When it came down to it, its always "God is real because the Bible is correct", and then "the Bible is correct because of God's pressence."
So do you believe in God or the Bible first?
Also, something 99.99% true is not "absolutely" true.
I am just looking for some rational basis for this whole thing.
[[i] Last edited by westsider on 2005-8-17 at 12:35 PM [/i]]
reply
[quote]Originally posted by [i]westsider[/i] at 2005-8-17 12:21 PM:Well, I was brought up in a Christi... [/quote]
I doubt that anyone in this world would understand the truth if God let you know everything about Him. The Bible itself only cover a small portion of what God wants you to know. No matter you understand 100% or 99.9%, it is not the whole picture. You and I both don't have the knowledge and the brain power to understand the real truth.
The wonderful thing is that no matter how stupid we are, God still loves us and He died for us and gives us eternal life.
If you really want to know the answer, pray to God. The holy spirit will guide you to understand what you need to know. Meanwhile, buy some Christian's related textbook, tapes, or CD to enhance your knowledge of the bible.
[[i] Last edited by x_integration_x on 2005-8-17 at 12:56 PM [/i]] 點解d英文咁勁咖...?! [quote]Originally posted by [i]x_integration_x[/i] at 2005-8-17 12:54 PM:
I doubt that anyone in this wor... [/quote]
So how would you answer if I ask you "why do you believe in God?"
I mean, people believe in a religion until they switch to another one. People believed in the Crusade and Inquisition until... they believed no more. People believed in classical mechanics until experiments proved otherwise. Even engineers believed shrinking the ICs until 90nm the technology exhitbits tunneling effects.
Can one be comfortable in claiming to "believed in the absolute truth" without completely justify the "truth"?
I mean life is short. And peope dedicate their lives to their religion. What if you turn around and found out that life is just a bunch of random variables? 人生永恆咖 [quote]Originally posted by [i]imaimashi[/i] at 2005-8-17 01:32 PM:
人生永恆咖 [/quote]
how do you know? because of the Bible said so.
why do you believe in the Bible? because God is real.
why do you believe in God? because what the Bible said is true.
why do you believe in the Bible? because God is real.
why do you believe in God? because what the Bible said is true.
.
.
.
and there's no better justification? why i believe god?since i have tried his presence
why i believe god?i believe bible
why i believe bible?something that is truth,and futher proving make me believe bible description of god is truth
not circular [quote]Originally posted by [i]imaimashi[/i] at 2005-8-17 03:22 PM:
why i believe god?since i have tried his presence
why i believe god?i believe bible
why i believe bible?something that is truth,and futher proving make me believe bible description of god is truth
not circular[/quote]
I am ASKING why is the Bible absolutely true? Don't just tell me that it is true. not absolutely
but it is quite believable.
believe or not just u choose!
if u ask why
i can only said,Noah,jesus,some prediction,so i think it is believable [quote]Originally posted by [i]imaimashi[/i] at 2005-8-17 03:37 PM:
not absolutely
but it is quite believable.
believe or not just u choose!
if u ask why
i can only said,Noah,jesus,some prediction,so i think it is believable [/quote]
I'm not gonna make a choice between beliving or not beliving, I'm not gonna make a decision until I am convinced either way.
So what you saying is, the Bible is "quite believable".
And you 100% believe that this "quite belivable" Bible is "absolutely true"? So, the best answer to the above questions is: faith?!
So I need to
1) "Experience God."
2) somehow make the connection between that experience and the Christian God
3) somehow make the connection between the Christian God and the complete validity of the Bible
is this actually what you guys did? Westsider,
You concerns are very legitimate. I am sure many people has the same questions and many Christians have the same questions in the minds. I did too.... What happpen if there is no GOD, then what I believe all though my life were stupid..... As of today, there are no science or philosphy that can prove or disprove GOD's existence.
Let me tell you what my believe are base on :
1) If the whole world and universe are a sequence of random variables... if you look form the probability point of view, it will be a number like 2to the power of more than 30. A very very very small chance.
It would take even a bigger faith to believe this theory than believe the world was created by GOD.
2) Arguing BIBLE is absolute truth or "99.99 truth" ( I have to clarify that I mean 99.99% truth is the translation) is somewhat waste of time, because if you do not believe the BIBLE is the record that was recording history of man and the relationshiip between GOD and man. Then there is no point of going forward. For myself, the more I read the BIBLE, the more I found out how GOD intervene man's life through out human's history. The Bible did not only say how great of successful when those man follow GOD. Instead, it shows how weak human are, LOOK at Solomon, David, Jacob, most of them were so called great person in the BIBLE.. Look at what they have done in their whole life. The Bible did not hide their short fall. Instead it kept on stating human's shortfall.
If you can read the Bible with an open mind and look at it from a more historic and human sense ( Like reading a novel). You will find it very intersting.
3) I always think, if there is no GOD, then what are we doing on earth, why do we have to do what we ae doing now? Life is so short? Why don't I enjoy my life while I can? Why do I have to be a god man? WHy do I have to abide all the rules set by human, both moral and legal rules? I should enjoy myself with my maximum ability.
It does not matter you have religious believeor not, but you have to admitt everyone has a moral standard... Have you wonder why? WHy don't we just do whatever we like? If you see a girl you like on the street, why don't you just have sex with her on the street? Why didn't you just pee on the street when the nature call? WHy did we all feel shame when we did something stupid?
Why did we have conscience and not other living creature?
4) Believe in GOD, like a sounds, it is a believe, believe involve faith, something that cannot be caluclate or proof. However, it does involve experience. I firmly believe if anyone really want to experience GOD, he/she can and will. But man are too busy in other things, making a lving, having a better living, a lot of other things to chase, and not enough time...... And the main reason is, man wants to be their own god, we are all afraid if we let God intervene our life, there will be a lot of things that we can not do......... What happen if we slack off at work, or got drunk... and many many other things....... there will be a lot of rules that will bound us from enjoying our life......
I can tell you this, I felt the same too before...... but more I know theGOD we believe and His plan, the less concern and worries I have.... because when you really read the BIBLE, GOD said it very clear, HE wants us all to haveJOY , not just after our earthly life, but NOW. BIBLE is not a book of laws, but rather a book of resource to find JOY and resource to live.
how do you know? because of the Bible said so.
why do you believe in the Bible? because God is real.
why do you believe in God? because what the Bible said is true.
why do you believe in the Bible? because God is real.
why do you believe in God? because what the Bible said is true.
What your argument here is not logical......
Do you believe in History of man? Do you believe the persons that write the history were telling the truth? Do you believe the existence of ROman Empire? Greek culture? Chinese? Indian? Were all those people that record their history are telling the truth?
In today's world, sometimes, we can't even believe what we see...... so in whatever way, everything involves a certain degree of faith......
In the BIBLE case, I believe everything that record in there is Truth. 100% truth. then is every word that we read really means literally, somehow, I have some reserve.......
For example,
1) Jesus said, forgive your enemy 70 of 7 times, so in another word, should we start revenge after that... or is it a way of saying forgive those who mistread you...
2) Jesus always mention fig tree, is the fig tree a very special tree or is it just because fig tree is very common in middle east
3) David said in Psalm, " Hear my prayer, O LOrd; ... Do not hide your face from me... Turn your ear to me..." DID David really see GOD turn his fac from him and cover HIS ears when David prayed? or is it a way of how David express when he prayed?
There are many many example .....
Make it short, if you read the Bible with a critical view and not even try to have a objective mind.. than the BIBLE means nothing to yu but just anoother book..... but if you have a open mind and willing to see whether the Word in the BIBLE is powerful or not, then I am sure you wll find amazing result......
ALL the best............. **** 作者被禁止或刪除 內容自動屏蔽 ****
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