tanya

How much proof do you require? I can open any book of the bible and find mythical statements, sometimes multiple fantasies within the same verse.

History, unlike mythology, does not accord imaginary constructs a station on the stage with genuine, observable entities.

Chili

That is like 30,000 dogs fighting over a bone and the spectator runs away with it.

sotto voce

Why talk about it? Do it.

Steve Weiss

It is one thing to study the folkways and mores of ethnic or religious groupings or tribes and yet a very different matter to establish the truth of these traditions. In most cases these stories cannot be and never will be verified as they are lost in the clouds of time. People may cling to these ethnic identifiers for security purposes, but that does not make them true.

Steve Weiss

The proof of a truth claim falls 100% on the person who asserts the truth. Without necessary and sufficient noncontradictory evidence, the truth claims falls away as if it were never asserted. There is no necessity to disprove any truth claim or to rebut a fallacious claim. A case not made is void and should be ignored.

Chili

It speaks to all ages, whether coming, going, singing, dancing even if spoken without emphasis, as we listen with our ears and hear with our mind (and don't forget to rattle the silver plate to freely give that we might receive as golden).

sotto voce

Very good!

'there is little to recommend the Bible as accurate history'

So prove it.

Steve Weiss

Were the Hebrews slaves unto Pharaoh before the Exodus? There is no record of such anywhere outside the OT, and the OT is not self-verifying, and neither is any other book. Did Samson kill 1000 Phillistines with the jawbone of an ass? No. That is not possible, and so are most of the fantastic stories of the Bible. There was no David and Goliath event, no plagues, no splitting of the Jordan River and the Red Sea, and no 24 hour pause in the rotation of the earth on its axis. This is all fiction made to puff up the importance of a small, nomadic tribe. That people still give such stories credence is shocking.

Steve Weiss

The supporters of Abrahamic religion assert that the Bible is an accurate account of real events. That is an assertion that requires proof. Lacking proof that is both necessary and sufficient as well as noncontradictory, the claim fails. All that observes have to do is evaluate the claim and pass judgement as to whether truth standards have been achieved. When these standards have not been met the claim is dismissed as being empty.

sotto voce

Not in this thread.

The OP gives the opinion that the Bible is fiction. There has yet to be read, after many posts, any evidence that any of it is fiction, except that which is not intended to be understood as fact.

Is this thread serious, or frivolous?