Mythology And You

[The Theist]

That you're painfully ignorant of science? Absolutely, it's blatantly obvious. However, you assume, wrongly, that people here are ignorant of the Bible. At least in my case, that could not be farther from the truth and for most other atheists here, they almost certainly know more about the Bible than you do. You have blind, dogmatic faith in the Bible, you really don't seem to know a damn thing about it, except what you read on apologetics web sites.

[Laughs] Well, now! Hold on there, little britches, you may awaken my monstrous ego. I'm trying to play nice. You may know your science but if you think I don't know my Bible and that you do? Well . . . I am most confident that there is no atheists here, or on the other dozens of forums I have participated on that can even hold a candle to the Jehovah's Witness children I see on the streets, and to me?! Forget about it! Of the thousands of atheists I have talked to on the Internet there has only ever been one . . . 1! That were it not for my amusement at would bore me to tears, and even he couldn't keep up with me.

That is unfortunate and I'd like to change that, but lets be realistic. I never visit apologetics websites unless I'm sent there by atheists, and then reluctantly.

I will grant you that most atheists I have encountered on the Internet are slightly more knowledgeable of the Bible than the theists I have come across (with the exception of the rare JW), but that isn't saying much.

[finder]

however, you assume, wrongly, that people here are ignorant of the bible. At least in my case,...

lol All that is missing is a couple of verses quoted out of context to cement your point
cephus! What a riot!

[arX]

The Bible is far more reliable than science.

The next time you need medical assistance, consult your bible and tell us the results.

[The Theist]

The next time you need medical assistance, consult your bible and tell us the results.

Isn't that a bit immature? The Bible doesn't supply medical assistance. Do I have to abandon my beliefs in order to receive medical assistance? Would it make you feel any better if I said that when it comes to medical assistance, which is a wonderful thing, so must be a part of "science" - when it comes to medical assistance I find it more reliable than the Bible, although within the last 150 years a doctor would go to the morgue directly to the birthing room without washing his hands which caused a great deal of sickness and had they paid attention to the hygiene laws in the Bible that would have been avoided and, I don't know if the pharmaceutical industry, which I used to be a part of, is also a wonderful thing and therefor "science" that kind of worries me because medical professionals really don't have time to learn new things they just have time to provide the drugs the pharmaceutical corporations tell them to provide; glorified drug pushers for the FDA. Schools are given a cut of the action by being rewarded for every child who takes some sort of medication to make them into spaced out zombies, and isn't the pharmaceutical's political influence impressive, even compared to the "Christians!"

[xx_mortekai_xx]

As much as I have an admitted ignorance and disinterest of science I suspect the majority of the atheists, agnostics, and skeptics have of the Bible. You understand, no?

What I expect from those people is an assumption that the Bible isn't very reliable, its myth and it doesn't agree with modern science. A thousand years before science came to a similar conclusion the Bible said the earth was round and hanging upon nothing. Science has changed it's estimation of the age of the universe many times. The Bible, as has been repeatedly pointed out here, is not afforded such liberty.

In other words, if I believe science to be the imperfect conjecture of mankind in his intellectual infancy, and the Bible to be, even only the fallible uninspired translation of Jehovah God's word, why on earth would I think otherwise regarding its reliability?

The bible describes the earth as a circle.:

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. Isaiah 40:22


Also, this:

The root of chûgh (or chug) is mentioned six times in the bible, and it is quite evident from its usage, in context, that it refers to a specific geometrical shape; "A circle as drawn with a compass" or "encompassed".
In Job 26:10 and Prov. 8:27, chûgh is used with choq, intending "to inscribe a circle." This nominal infinitive form also appears in Job 22:14, when signifying "the circle of the heavens"
In Isa. 40:22, where it denotes "the circle of the earth".
Sir. 43:12 uses chûgh as description of the rainbow.
In Isa. 44:13, chûgh appears as mechûghah, which simply means "a compass," in other words the geometrical instrument which you use to can draw circles on a paper.



In contemporary Hebrew cosmology the common belief was that the earth was formed as a plano-concave plate with slightly raised edges covered by high mountains, where the heavens were attached to the earth.

In the second part of the above mentioned verse by Isaiah this becomes quite obvious when god stretched out the heavens over the earth like a canopy - which completely lose all meaning and become utterly absurd if you try to apply the text to an image of a spherical earth. However, it fits perfectly with a flat earth model.
Moreover, Job 28:24, Job 37:3, Job 38:13, Jeremiah 16:19 and Daniel 4:11 all claim that the earth has ends (or edges depending on what version you read) But regardless of translation, a sphere has neither edges, nor ends. But a two-dimensional flat form does.
In Job 11:9 you can read: "Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea" which also become quite incomprehensible if you try to apply the verse to a spherical conception of the world, but again corresponds completely with the idea of a flat earth .

Finally, in Job 38:44 it says:
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?" If the author would have had a spherical shape in mind, the last question in Job should have read "Who stretched a measuring line around it?"

[xx_mortekai_xx]

Isn't that a bit immature? The Bible doesn't supply medical assistance. "

II Kings 20:5: "...Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee..."

Matt 21:22: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Mark 16:18 "they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

[xx_mortekai_xx]

II Kings 20:5: "...Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee..."

Matt 21:22: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Mark 16:18 "they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

Your bible gives you pretty good directions on what you can do if you are sick. Pray.

God will heal you, right? or is that part of the bible wrong?

Edit: meant to edit previous post, hit reply by accident

[The Theist]

Your bible gives you pretty good directions on what you can do if you are sick. Pray.

God will heal you, right? or is that part of the bible wrong?

Edit: meant to edit previous post, hit reply by accident

Do you think that because God healed some people that he will heal anyone who prays to him, and do you think that whatever anyone asks for in prayer, even if it is against the will of God, they will receive?

Mark 16:18 is spurious.

[iolo]

Do you think that because God healed some people that he will heal anyone who prays to him, and do you think that whatever anyone asks for in prayer, even if it is against the will of God, they will receive?

Mark 16:18 is spurious.

Right. I am sure very many have prayed to stay alive on earth forever. We'd be standing on one anothers heads!

[arX]

Isn't that a bit immature? The Bible doesn't supply medical assistance.

You asserted that "The Bible is far more reliable than science." Modern medicine relies almost entirely on science (there's a reason we call it an applied science), and that is but one example of the stupidity of your claim.

[xx_mortekai_xx]

Do you think that because God healed some people that he will heal anyone who prays to him, and do you think that whatever anyone asks for in prayer, even if it is against the will of God, they will receive?

Mark 16:18 is spurious.

Matthew is pretty clear. If you believe, and you pray, it will be done. "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. " Trying to strawman it as if I said anyone who prays will get what they want does nothing to help your position.

And why, exactly, is Mark 16:18 spurious? is it because it is a known forgery?

[xx_mortekai_xx]

Right. I am sure very many have prayed to stay alive on earth forever. We'd be standing on one anothers heads!

yeah, but your example does more to show that the bible is fallacious about its god claims than it does to support the whole bible-as-infallable position.

And it also brings up a question: if there are parts of the bible that arent reliable, how do you tell which ones are and which ones arent?