-Jay-

Nonsense. It's key. Specifically, knowing the context and history relevant to the authorship of the Biblical books is key.

The substantive part of my post was this, though:

Please address Johnny's points.

regards,

NinJay

arnoldo

Ok, I will address his points. The God of the Bible does not exist because
1. There is hunger/disease/evil in the world. If God is powerful why doesn't he just zap all of the bad stuff away?
2. God doesn't have any need to speak to his people through the written text. Why doesn't God just communicate to everybody on the planet telephatically?
3. People believe in God strictly due to sociological reasons. If a person was born in a Hindu/Muslim/Buddhist culture the chances are they would be adherents of that religion. Thus the God of the Bible is bogus.
4. Might doesn't make right.
5. The bible contains 100% disputable prophecies thus the God of the Bible doesn't exist.
6. Israel is a self-fulfilled prophecy
7. Who cares is the bible is 100% pure. The New York times has copies which are 100% accurate. You still can't claim the bible is 100% inspired.
8. God doesn't exist because humans came from the animals.
9. If God would make a prediction, like a hurricane or earthquake would happen on such or such date, then that God would be real.
etc,etc,etc

arnoldo

Right, thanks for the commentary

Johnny Skeptic

For now, we can discuss one issue at a time. Regarding "If God would make a prediction, like a hurricane or earthquake would happen on such or such date, then that God would be real," more accurately, that "being" would be real since he might not be a God. Still, if a being did make such a prediction, in my opinion, it would be plausible that he is the one true God. In addition, that would be a lot better evidence than we have now that at least one being in the universe is able to predict the future.

If a being inspired the Bible, whether or not he is a God, the Bible writers misrepresented what he is like. The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion, and yet the Bible contains 100% disputable prophecies. A God could easily make 100% indisputable prophecies, such as a prediction regarding when and where a natural disaster would occur, month, day, and year. No loving, rational God or other being would ever make one disputable prophecy, let alone 100% disputable prophecies.

Timetospend

Not being able to sleep, I read through this rather silly thread! Unfortunately, I could not cease from making this post when I got to this statement.

First, anything can be disputed. Therefore, the criteria that you are using have a built-in failure for God. For example, how would you answer these questions: Are you still on drugs when you make your posts? If no, when did you stop?

Second, all your questions have in them an inherent assumption that God does not exist (such as the above questions inherently assume that you post when on drugs). They do not prove that he doe not exist. Another assumption is simply that he is the God of the Bible and that he has given you adequate proof of his existence that you have decided to ignore.

Third, if he is the God of the Bible, he “can” do all the things that you question and still be good, whether any of us can fully explain it. Asking questions and disputing is easy when one only brings an already prepared, unchanging opinion to the table. Unfortunately, such antics do not prove much. All they do is to cause endless debates of differing opinions where all parties can keep posting until they grow entirely weary of the never-ending folly.

Johnny Skeptic

Let me clarify my position: If Jesus had accurately predicted when and where some natural disasters would occur, month, day, and year, very few people who have disputed that he could predict the future. If Jesus had done that, it is reasonable to assume that more people would have become Christians. Historically, many people have accepted all kinds of outlandish religions based upon a lot less convincing evidence than that. In addition, Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce attracted a lot of followers based upon a lot less convincing evidence than that.

No kidding. Did you assume that I believe that the God of the Bible exists?

If I am on drugs, I bought them from you.

Of course not, but please prove that the God of Deism is not the one true God.

Is it your position that God is not able to provide additional evidence that would convince more people to love and accept him, or that he is not willing to do so?

I agree. The Bible says that God is perfect, and a perfect God by definition could not do anything that is wrong. However, if a being inspired the Bible, it is up to you to reasonably prove that he created the universe, and that he is perfect.