So, speaking about this topic is difficult because I cannot rely on scripture.

What you have now from me is only my personal speculation and whatever knowledge God sees fit with which to imbue me. So! The legitimacy of the Bible seems best to me to address from two different standpoints: Those that believe the Bible is written by God but do not believe all of it is true and those that are not convinced at all that the text holds any divine authority.

It's difficult to address such a varied group all at once though; surely there are those who claim to be Christians that believe and disbelieve things completely at odds with one another. I will proceed under the assumption that all who claim that the Bible is inspired by God believe that God is a loving God. If you do not believe this, please do not consider yourself addressed. In fact, let me change the name of the group I address to: "people who believe some of the Bible is inspired by God and believe that God is a loving God."
Another point upon which my argument hinges is the existence of free will. Although I don't think anyone can contest this because religion is a choice. If God earnestly desires the best for us but has given us free will, how then can God communicate what is best for us to us? Can a God that makes a bunch of people and never speaks to them again, allowing them the ability to harm one another be called loving? If you answered yes, I have no answer for you.
But this is a simple answer; God has given us the Bible. The Bible IS God speaking to us and letting us know what is best for us on the most personal of levels and yet it does not intrude on personal freedom. If the Bible were written in the sky in full view of everyone every three days would anyone be able to deny that God exists? This would violate the free will God has given us; the ability to believe or disbelieve in Him. So God relies on this medium to communicate with us, which is the Bible; inspired by God, written by man.
Now, if God truly loves us do you think that God would allow the primary medium through which He communicates with us to be corrupted? Would not that be the same as not speaking to us at all? For no one would be able to decipher which words were from God and which were from men! Instead, God has given us a complete and accurate letter, addressed to all mankind regardless of race, sex, and occupation.
Some will say that I am wrong because there are many different translations of the Bible in which many passages are completely different in meaning than other versions. I will not say that man is incapable of creating a book that only uses parts of what God has said to us and parts that God has not. This leads me into my reply to those other group I mentioned before.

Rather than simply believe what who-knows-who-wrote waaaaay back from who-knows-how-long-ago or to try and identify all the points in time at which the document in question could have been corrupted and whether or not it was corrupted; let’s just see if it applies today.
I’ve heard the statement made before “It takes just as much faith to believe in science as it does in God.” I agree with this statement in the capacity that we’re talking about personal perception. For instance; a man once convinced me that he believed that the moon landing never occurred. He told me that the footage that returned from that trip was staged in a Hollywood set and there was nothing I could tell him to dissuade him.
It was probably most likely due to the fact that I know nothing about rocket propulsion and computational formulas for space flight and orbits, not to mention the durability and other properties of different materials that comprise space vessels. But the point is that despite the fact that an enormous amount of the world shares the view I take on this historic event it does not for that reason make it convincing. After all, just because a large amount of people disagreed with Christopher Columbus when he staked his life on the idea that the world was round did not, for that reason, make the Earth anything other than round.
To make an educated decision on the legitimacy of the claim that this historical event did in fact occur I would have to learn much about the theories that pertain to the likelyhood of the ability of the United States to put a man in space during that time period. That means I’d literally have to become a rocket-scientist in order to make an educated decision.

One of the few things I do recognize is this: I’m too stupid to be a rocket scientist. However, deciphering and testing the principles laid out in the Bible are as simple as testing out the theory of gravity. There are people in the world that are not Christians that acknowledge the good of some Christian tenets such as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. This also addresses the method of communication God uses with people that are never exposed to the Bible; they are a law unto themselves when they recognize the good for which man was designed. Actually employing the principles and interpreting the results are incredibly hard though.
I have no control group, I cannot create situations that require my input and record the different reactions based on how I act. Not to mention timing the long-term results or sorting out which action to which they were attributed! Sometimes even recognizing the result in itself is difficult because it’s usually introspective.
Even when I do find something that seems solid evidence to me, other people will interpret it differently. It is my belief that there is no event that will prove beyond all doubt that the Bible is true. For this reason, science and Christianity are forever separated; scientific theories may be proven (To the vast majority of people, anyway. > >).
This DOES NOT MEAN that Christianity and science are at odds, nor incompatible. After all, I believe one could not exist without the other. But that’s another topic in itself.
In summary though, test what is written in the Bible to see whether or not it applies in your own life if you want to prove it true or false; pointing out the fact that there is room for error is pretty pointless; that's not in dispute.

Please, tell me what you think!16 Comments