Of course i have no right to decide that. Neither have you to decide what I can decide ;) I have the right to express my opinion, which I do, just as you of course. Now as for the rest i think you make concessions here that you wouldnt make in any other field of "knowledge".
If I were to follow...
I understand your reasoning.
Of course there is nothing against a good fictional book. On can take whatever he likes and find wisdom in whatever he wants. After all even a 1999 hollywood film named matrix offered some spiritual guidance to those who wanted to see it.
Unfortunately some people...
I think one lies to himself in both cases.
In the second one he lies by not admitting his actions to himself. In the first case he lies to himself by admitting it but not seeing the consequences... namely that his belief has no solid ground at all.
So God is not perfect either as he made such a...
Let me answer a bit differently ...
If what you say above is true, then the Bible was man made and people are lying to themselves because there is obviously no reasonable and conclusive basis that defines ones belief.
In other words ...
if it is not clear enough to be taken as it is and not...
I can understand that idea. Basically it contradicts however what orthodox religious people have to believe ... that there is one true path to God and many false ones.
I would not so easily say that. If for you (not you personally) the claims in a religion are fact then it is comparable. And...
People that claim to be so ? Sure .... MiddleTownBibleChurch (YEC btw) for example when it comes to christians or zahirites when it comes to muslims.
I think thats difficult to answer to.
Theoretically many things are possible including a strict adherence to the literal text disregarding...
So far I understand that you believe that a man existed.
Well i guess that is not really a problem. Many people existed and even if someone believed in a person that didn't ... would it really matter ?
I guess no.
It matters when suddenly factors come in that make this person more than a person...
The term "denomination" comes from denominatio meaning as much as "differentiating naming".
As you state above these people believe in different versions of the bible or interpret different parts differently. In common they only have the claim to be christians but even amongst themselves they...
In the end indeed this must be the conclusion for anyone who believes that the sources have been altered or are not acurate. In the end this is my point.
Thats why i state that only those who follow their sources directly and claim that their sources are original and all statements therein are...
There is a difference between "authority by people" and rational thought.
I never said that you shouldnt allow scientists to have authority over you.
I said that i don't take anything for granted just because someone said it. In other words .. you shouldnt take any statement made by anyone (not...
The first statement in the artice is already nonsense:
There is no evidence that the universe is tailored and it definetly is not perfectly tailored for life. On must not look far to see that it definetly is a universe with not much life in it !
As for your impression that the universe has...
I think we talk about two different things here.
Let me try it first with the "wisdom" trail...
I do not think that you need to believe in anything in order to follow wisdom apart of (obviously) believing that it is wisdom.
I do not see any non human made wisom in the bible. And i see wisdom in...
Since I haven't heard any statement of the bible that a nonreligious man couldn't have made and since taking the bible literally obviously results in showing flaws and errors (which man at that time would have believed to be true)...
what evidence would you bring forth to make me believe that...
Yes
I dont get your point. How is that related to my post ?
Is your last statement the answer to my question. In that case you would claim that you must be a religious man or even God himself (as Jesus incarnate) to say "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" ? Are you really sure...
Of course you dont need to be christian to read a book.
Now my point is simple. You see I state that a true christian must believe in christ and his teachings. I hope you agree so far. You spoke about people not believing in the old testament or not being YECs or believing in the god of the old...
Would you explain to me what reliability has got to do with ones personal wishes or ideals ?
And at "Pick and choose" we arrived again.
Let me ask you another question ...
Can you name me one "loving advice"(btw. what do you mean by that) or lesson that you found in the bible that no...
I think this argument is flawed.
2000 years ago people believed the earth to be surrounded by different spheres, the sun and the moon being just two objects on such heavenly spheres, day and night being also part of a sphere. They had no clue about the sun being needed as source for plants...
If you argue with pick and choose you render God a fool not being able to deliver a clear message or a devil purposefully delivering a message that misleads !