Reasons for believing in the Bible as the literal word of God.

[1213]

Well, if nothing else, we at least usually provide REASONS for the opinions that we are offer.

It would help, if they would be good reasons.

 

[1213]

...But we know...

I don't see any good reason to believe you, sorry.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I don't see any good reason to believe you, sorry.

Then you acting in a rather foolishly ignorant manner. You do not have to believe me. Check out the historical sources. The Census of Quirinius is well documented. That Israel under Herod the Great was a client state of Rome and not part of Rome proper is well documented. Instead of saying that you do not believe me, which is the same as you admitting that you are wrong since you cannot refute well recorded facts , you should have at least tried to find what reliable sources claim.

Do you want links? I can provide them for you. A good place to start is with Wikipedia. It is both very reliable in such matters and it lists and often links its sources:

Census of Quirinius - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Overview​

Herod I (Herod the Great, c. 72 – 4 BCE), was a Roman client king whose territory included Judea. Upon his death, his kingdom was divided into three, each section ruled by one of his sons. In 6 CE, Emperor Augustus deposed Herod Archelaus, who had ruled the largest section, and converted his territory into the Roman province of Judea. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, the legate (governor) of the province of Roman Syria starting in 6 CE,[2] was assigned to carry out a census of the new province of Judea for tax purposes.[3] This was a property tax, and required that the value of real property be registered along with the identity of the owners.[4] The census triggered a revolt of Jewish extremists (called Zealots) under the leadership of Judas of Galilee.[5] (Galilee itself was a separate territory under the rule of Herod Antipas.) Judas seems to have found the census objectionable because it ran counter to a biblical injunction (the traditional Jewish reading of Exodus 30:12) and because it would lead to taxes paid in heathen coins bearing an image of the emperor.[6]

Gospel of Luke[edit]​

Contrary to the Gospel of Matthew, which places Jesus's birth in the time of Herod I,[10] the Gospel of Luke (2:1–5) correlates Christ's birth with the census:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.

Most biblical scholars have acknowledged that Luke is erroneous.[11] The gospel's author seems to have incorporated the census to move Joseph and Mary from Nazareth, "their own city" (Luke 2:39), to Bethlehem, where the birth was to occur. (Matthew's author had the reverse problem; believing that Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived in a house in Bethlehem prior to their flight into Egypt, they move to Nazareth to avoid the recently appointed Herod Archelaus.)[12][13] Luke's author may also have wanted to contrast the rebellious Zealots with the peaceable Joseph and Mary, who had obeyed the Roman edict, and to find a prophetic fulfilment of Psalm 87:6: "In the census of the peoples, this one will be born there." (In the Greek or Septuagint version, it is "princes" who will be born.)[14]Census of Quirinius - Wikipedia

Scholars point out that there was no single census of the entire Roman Empire under Augustus and the Romans did not directly tax client kingdoms; further, no Roman census required that people travel from their own homes to those of their ancestors. A census of Judea would not have affected Joseph and his family, who lived in Galilee under a different ruler; the revolt of Judas of Galilee suggests that Rome's direct taxation of Judea was new at the time.[16] Catholic priest and biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown postulates that Judas's place of origin may have led the author of Luke to think that Galilee was subject to the census, although the region is clearly distinguished from Judea elsewhere in the gospel.[17][18] Brown also points out that in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke the Evangelist (the traditional author of both books) dates Judas's census-incited revolt as following Theudas's rebellion of four decades later.[17]


The author of Luke screwed up in more than just not agreeing with the author of Matthew. He claimed that there was a empire wide census under Augustus. There was not. He tried to claim that it required people to go to their historical homes. No census does that, it would have been an incredibly stupid requirement. Do you want to know why? The purpose of the census refutes that claim. When one does a census for tax purposes one does it based upon where a person lives and makes money. Where the person came from makes no difference at all. It would also have been a logistical nightmare. Can your reason logically and honestly?


Seriously do you have to lie to believe in Jesus? You should know that one does not have to be a liar or to believe that God is a liar to be a Christian. You keep denigrating your own faith.

So why don't you believe me? Why didn't you do your homework? Why do yo keep telling us that your God is incredibly incompetent, and you probably do not realize it but you just did that again.

Quirinius is not some mysterious unknown figure. His history is rather well documented. We know where he was and when. The author of Luke may have been a good geographer, but he was a terrible historian. All of the claims of him being a good historian by apologists are based upon his geography claims, not upon his historical claims.

In the future you should ask people for evidence. Saying that you do not believe them is just you admitting that you are wrong.

 

[Subduction Zone]

It would help, if they would be good reasons.

People gave you good reasons. Why do you believe that God is a liar?

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

It would help, if they would be good reasons.

And since you are responding to me, which of my reasons so far have you found not to be good ones?

I mean, if you are going to call somebody for their faults, it would at least be charitable of you to explain those faults.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Person of your said intelligence should be able to do better than what you just posted.

A person of any intelligence perhaps should entertain the thought that because a mere 2-3% of sightings cannot be explained currently, such shouldn't therefore constitute proof that aliens exist here on Earth or have visited but that explanations might eventually be forthcoming as to why these occur, just as explanations have been provided for the others..

 

[SDavis]

A person of any intelligence perhaps should entertain the thought that because a mere 2-3% of sightings cannot be explained currently, such shouldn't therefore constitute proof that aliens exist here on Earth or have visited but that explanations might eventually be forthcoming as to why these occur, just as explanations have been provided for the others..

If you're referring to me and my intelligence - I know.
And there are more highly educated / intelligent people, I have listed some I believe on this thread, if not I can - from three United States presidents, to military personnel, to airplane pilots, and I haven't even listed the civilians. Are you questioning their intelligence or just mine?

 

[SDavis]

I laugh at people that make poor arguments and then run away. I will gracefully accept that you have nothing.

Run away, is that an attempt at luring me or an attempt at sarcasm.

Actually I'm not making an argument - I'm making a statement - you argue if you disagree with it or disagree with any links I've listed, if you actually took time to listen or read depending on what I posted. I'm not even interested enough to go back and see.
Nor do I have to argue, not when there are three American presidents - ranking military personnel - Air Force pilots - not to mention the civilians - not to mention the governments around the world including what the United States who started in 1947 after the Roswell incident, investigating something you refer to as flying ducks.
Well if it looks like a duck acts like a duck quacks like a duck then it's a duck and the same thing applies to UFOs or UAP'S.
Please notify and say to them ad you say me - no you will not - they would ignore you anyway.

If I didn't say it, I said now, and if I did say it, I say it again _ when you read the Bible which was written thousands of years ago by ancient people and their dealings with angelic beings / with the entity we call God - none whom of which are from Earth. All doing supernatural feats (meaning not natural for men) some of the same things they did in the Bible _ they're doing now. Different time different names.

Heck go back to the Sumerians and the Egyptians and the wars between the gods that they wrote about. The gods were in flying crafts, flying around in the air, going into mountains, going into oceans, and that war, what they used according to the descriptions written by the Ancient Sumerians was like modern day atomic weapons and the aftermath there of. Written in the 14 Tablets of Enki.

Zechariah 14:12 the Bible speaks of flesh, eyeballs, tongues, being consumed away before the body can hit the ground atomic weapons written 4000 years ago...... You do know what nuclear bombs will do to a body as well as the results of nuclear fallout.

There will always be people who refute - so it is _ as it is their right to do so. Argue, poke fun, yes sarcastic as you think you can .

 

[Audie]

If you're referring to me and my intelligence - I know.
And there are more highly educated / intelligent people, I have listed some I believe on this thread, if not I can - from three United States presidents, to military personnel, to airplane pilots, and I haven't even listed the civilians. Are you questioning their intelligence or just mine?

Brains plus no data doesn't add up to much.

 

[Audie]

Run away, is that an attempt at luring me or an attempt at sarcasm.

Actually I'm not making an argument - I'm making a statement - you argue if you disagree with it or disagree with any links I've listed, if you actually took time to listen or read depending on what I posted. I'm not even interested enough to go back and see.
Nor do I have to argue, not when there are three American presidents - ranking military personnel - Air Force pilots - not to mention the civilians - not to mention the governments around the world including what the United States who started in 1947 after the Roswell incident, investigating something you refer to as flying ducks.
Well if it looks like a duck acts like a duck quacks like a duck then it's a duck and the same thing applies to UFOs or UAP'S.
Please notify and say to them ad you say me - no you will not - they would ignore you anyway.

If I didn't say it, I said now, and if I did say it, I say it again _ when you read the Bible which was written thousands of years ago by ancient people and their dealings with angelic beings / with the entity we call God - none whom of which are from Earth. All doing supernatural feats (meaning not natural for men) some of the same things they did in the Bible _ they're doing now. Different time different names.

Heck go back to the Sumerians and the Egyptians and the wars between the gods that they wrote about. The gods were in flying crafts, flying around in the air, going into mountains, going into oceans, and that war, what they used according to the descriptions written by the Ancient Sumerians was like modern day atomic weapons and the aftermath there of. Written in the 14 Tablets of Enki.

Zechariah 14:12 the Bible speaks of flesh, eyeballs, tongues, being consumed away before the body can hit the ground atomic weapons written 4000 years ago...... You do know what nuclear bombs will do to a body as well as the results of nuclear fallout.

There will always be people who refute - so it is _ as it is their right to do so. Argue, poke fun, yes sarcastic as you think you can .

No less a notable than Christopher Columbus
reported sighting mermaids.

Who needs sarcasm when dealing with that
kind of testimony- as-fact?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Run away, is that an attempt at luring me or an attempt at sarcasm.

Actually I'm not making an argument - I'm making a statement - you argue if you disagree with it or disagree with any links I've listed, if you actually took time to listen or read depending on what I posted. I'm not even interested enough to go back and see.
Nor do I have to argue, not when there are three American presidents - ranking military personnel - Air Force pilots - not to mention the civilians - not to mention the governments around the world including what the United States who started in 1947 after the Roswell incident, investigating something you refer to as flying ducks.
Well if it looks like a duck acts like a duck quacks like a duck then it's a duck and the same thing applies to UFOs or UAP'S.
Please notify and say to them ad you say me - no you will not - they would ignore you anyway.

If I didn't say it, I said now, and if I did say it, I say it again _ when you read the Bible which was written thousands of years ago by ancient people and their dealings with angelic beings / with the entity we call God - none whom of which are from Earth. All doing supernatural feats (meaning not natural for men) some of the same things they did in the Bible _ they're doing now. Different time different names.

Heck go back to the Sumerians and the Egyptians and the wars between the gods that they wrote about. The gods were in flying crafts, flying around in the air, going into mountains, going into oceans, and that war, what they used according to the descriptions written by the Ancient Sumerians was like modern day atomic weapons and the aftermath there of. Written in the 14 Tablets of Enki.

Zechariah 14:12 the Bible speaks of flesh, eyeballs, tongues, being consumed away before the body can hit the ground atomic weapons written 4000 years ago...... You do know what nuclear bombs will do to a body as well as the results of nuclear fallout.

There will always be people who refute - so it is _ as it is their right to do so. Argue, poke fun, yes sarcastic as you think you can .

UFO's tell you what they are. They are just Unidentified. Most of them do get identified, none have been identified as aliens. You are trying to use an argument from ignorance. That is a logical fallacy. That we do not know what some of them are does not mean that they are aliens.

Which of the many examples that you posted were actual "aliens"? I can give example after example of UFO's that have been later explained. That does not mean that all of them are automatically natural events, but they do appear to be that way. I am very very sure that you cannot find one. So why should any rational person believe that they are aliens?

 

[We Never Know]

UFO's tell you what they are. They are just Unidentified. Most of them do get identified, none have been identified as aliens. You are trying to use an argument from ignorance. That is a logical fallacy. That we do not know what some of them are does not mean that they are aliens.

Which of the many examples that you posted were actual "aliens"? I can give example after example of UFO's that have been later explained. That does not mean that all of them are automatically natural events, but they do appear to be that way. I am very very sure that you cannot find one. So why should any rational person believe that they are aliens?

"That we do not know what some of them are does not mean that they are aliens."

Does it mean that they are not aliens?

 

[Subduction Zone]

"That we do not know what some of them are does not mean that they are aliens."

Does it mean that they are not aliens?

No. You are making as bad of an assumption as he did. Are yo trying to get me to say something that I did not say?

Here is another way of looking at it. Just because every UFO that has been later identified has not been an alien that does not increase the odds that the next one is more likely to be an alien. If anything it indicates the opposite. I never said that aliens have been proved impossible, but anyone that can reason can see how they are extremely unlikely.

 

[We Never Know]

No.

That's all you had to say.

 

[SDavis]

Brains plus no data doesn't add up to much.

Telling off on your self????

 

[SDavis]

No less a notable than Christopher Columbus
reported sighting mermaids.

Who needs sarcasm when dealing with that
kind of testimony- as-fact?

Big difference between Christopher Columbus and the highly educated people of today besides what Columbus saw was manatees - well known - back then they didn't know what manatees were. Try again

 

[SDavis]

UFO's tell you what they are. They are just Unidentified. Most of them do get identified, none have been identified as aliens. You are trying to use an argument from ignorance. That is a logical fallacy. That we do not know what some of them are does not mean that they are aliens.

Which of the many examples that you posted were actual "aliens"? I can give example after example of UFO's that have been later explained. That does not mean that all of them are automatically natural events, but they do appear to be that way. I am very very sure that you cannot find one. So why should any rational person believe that they are aliens?

No most of them don't. I'm not none of the governments worldwide looking for them. I am not any of the presidents or military personnel, or doctors, or lawyers, professors, looking for them, made statements concerning them.

And we all know that unidentified flying objects mean it's not from Earth, it means if it was anything from Earth it could be identified - oh please.

 

[We Never Know]

No most of them don't. I'm not none of the governments worldwide looking for them. I am not any of the presidents or military personnel, or doctors, or lawyers, professors, looking for them, made statements concerning them.

And we all know that unidentified flying objects mean it's not from Earth, it means if it was anything from Earth it could be identified - oh please.

"we all know that unidentified flying objects mean it's not from Earth"

We?? Who are the "we" you are referring to?

 

[leroy]

What are your best reasons for believing in the Bible as the literal word of God, if that's your thing? Heck, just give me reasons they don't even have to be good.

But I'm coming to the conclusion/opinion that there isn't really a "good" reason to believe in the Bible as the literal word of God.

I feel like I've just about fully shaken off my Christian convictions and beliefs. I've been an apostate for over a year now I'm pretty sure. The first few months I still had my doubts about my decision to reject Christianity. Just, it was ingrained into my head from birth pretty much that Jesus is literally God. All my family told me that and brought me to church where I was told that too.

Growing up, I dived into Christian apologetics in an attempt to reinforce my faith. I let apologetics convince me as a teenager of the soundness and literalness of the Bible. But apologetics is weak. It doesn't provide a solid reason for saying that the Bible is literally from God.

I realize now that it was two things that developed and fed my Christian convictions and beliefs.
1. Authority figures who I trusted told me the Bible was from God. This is not a good reason.
2. It was a comfort to believe that I have in my hand the literal word of the god of the literal universe. And it tells me how to live my life and that everything will be okay in the end. Very comforting, but not a valid reason to believe imo.

Those are the two reasons I identified why I used to believe so much and dearly. I now understand that I had no good reason to believe in the Bible, and I feel like I haven't a modicum of Christian faith or conviction in me anymore. Which is what I was going for, I'm no longer thinking there's a slight chance ima burn in hell for my apostasy.

So, do I have it right? There is no good reason to believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

What are your best reasons for believing in the Bible as the literal word of God, if that's your thing? Heck, just give me reasons they don't even have to be good.

There are good historical reasons to conclude that Jesus thought that the scriptures had divine authority

There are good historical reasons to think that what Jesus called “the scriptures” correspond to what we now know as “the bible” (old testament )

There are good historical reasons to think that Jesus Resurrected, which would imply that he is likely to know if a text has authority.

Once you conclude that the text has divine authority …concluding that the bible is the word of God it is not a big leap of faith

But I'm coming to the conclusion/opinion that there isn't really a "good" reason to believe in the Bible as the literal word of God.

Well we are talking about historical claims so obviously we cant be 100% sure of anything, but these historical claims are likely to be true.


But granted if you judge these historical claims with super high and ridiculous "flat earth – type" skepticism, you can deny any of these 3 historical claims

 

[SkepticThinker]

Run away, is that an attempt at luring me or an attempt at sarcasm.

Actually I'm not making an argument - I'm making a statement - you argue if you disagree with it or disagree with any links I've listed, if you actually took time to listen or read depending on what I posted. I'm not even interested enough to go back and see.
Nor do I have to argue, not when there are three American presidents - ranking military personnel - Air Force pilots - not to mention the civilians - not to mention the governments around the world including what the United States who started in 1947 after the Roswell incident, investigating something you refer to as flying ducks.
Well if it looks like a duck acts like a duck quacks like a duck then it's a duck and the same thing applies to UFOs or UAP'S.
Please notify and say to them ad you say me - no you will not - they would ignore you anyway.

If I didn't say it, I said now, and if I did say it, I say it again _ when you read the Bible which was written thousands of years ago by ancient people and their dealings with angelic beings / with the entity we call God - none whom of which are from Earth. All doing supernatural feats (meaning not natural for men) some of the same things they did in the Bible _ they're doing now. Different time different names.

Heck go back to the Sumerians and the Egyptians and the wars between the gods that they wrote about. The gods were in flying crafts, flying around in the air, going into mountains, going into oceans, and that war, what they used according to the descriptions written by the Ancient Sumerians was like modern day atomic weapons and the aftermath there of. Written in the 14 Tablets of Enki.

Zechariah 14:12 the Bible speaks of flesh, eyeballs, tongues, being consumed away before the body can hit the ground atomic weapons written 4000 years ago...... You do know what nuclear bombs will do to a body as well as the results of nuclear fallout.

There will always be people who refute - so it is _ as it is their right to do so. Argue, poke fun, yes sarcastic as you think you can .

You seem to be conflating "UFOs" with "aliens."