Bart has a real talent for weaving his textual criticism into a good story. He doesn’t just show you the misspelling of the Greek word or the differences between two manuscripts, he tells you the story of how those manuscripts were found and how they almost ended up as fire starter out in some remote monastery somewhere, then he comes back and gives you some technical information. That way he keeps the learning interesting.
Science and the Q’uran, would be fascinating.Perhaps they could start off with the Prophet’s flying horse.
Patrick D wrote: "Before making a claim about the bible as the word of God, the claimant needs first to prove the existence of god. Slight problem there; as metaphysical questions tend to be, the existence of god is an unfalsifiable claim. IE God cannot be argued into or out of existence."In PGardner's defense, I think what he was attempting to do was prove that science does validate the Bible, and therefore if the Bible is accurate, then God does exist. You could also argue whether that itself was a valid argument, but for most of us he never even managed to get past the first premise, i.e., that science validates the Bible.
Ok. Probably no harder than any other method of proving the existence of God… I suspect such a validating the claim via science would have almost certainly been proved during the enlightenment.
I guess it’s possible some anonymous Christian apologist on a minor internet forum could accomplish the task . One can always hope.
I’ll be thrilled if God turns out to be real. Not even worried if he’s the Christian God, as I’ve satisfied myself that the notion of an eternal hell was invented by the early church. A means or obtaining power and control over its appropriately named followers; flock of sheep.
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A relevant joke, true story. Recounted to me by my mother;
At age 4, I was at kindergarten.
Finger painting. Little Patrick was working away, furrowed brow.
Teacher: Patrick, you’re very busy, what are you painting?
Patrick: I’m painting a picture of God.
Teacher; Patrick, no one knows what God looks like
Patrick: They will in a minute.
I would like to commission 4 yr old Patrick to do a painting of Muhammed. The painting of Muhammed would then be reproduced in giant form on the wailing wall. This would represent an outreach of peace from the Jews to the Muslims, and Muhammed could be depicted as drinking a Pepsi, so that there would be sponsor money for doing the large painting.
Can you imagine? peace in the middle east
Jared, no need to thank me for the idea.
Great idea! Can you make that a Bud instead of Pepsi?
Budweiser? Really? Don’t they have real beer where you live?
Do you know why American beer is compared with making love in a canoe?
Because it’s f----g close to water
I’m not going to argue with an Aussie about beer, except to say that f—ing close to water has never been a bad thing in my experience.
"But more and more, I’m hearing an answer to the “what if you’re wrong” question..."Pascal's Wager is the stupidest justification for anything ever put to paper.
Some people seem to think that pretending you believe is good enough- don’t sweat actually believing, just say you do and the god you pretend to believe in will be happy to invite you into heaven (or at least let you stay on earth after Jesus comes back, if you’re a JW.)
The saddest part is when I answer by saying that any moral god would see how I lived my life and how I think, reason and decide what’s right and wrong, and they respond by saying that their “loving” god is still sending me to hell simply because I don’t believe in their god. It really saddens me to see otherwise good people literally throw away their moral compass and blindly accept as righteous, the most hideous fate imaginable for a fellow human.
I fu&!^& hate religion for lots of reasons, but the fact it takes good people and turns them into monsters is right near the top of the list.
The bible is a science book?
Bible and Quran say God created heavens and earth. Bible further says God created this universe about 6000 years back out of nothing. Science says the Universe is formed billions of years back and is still expanding. Hindu Vedas say God has not created this Universe but this Universe is a manifestation out of God. i.e., whole Universe is a part of God. Further, Scientific estimation of Universe formation date and Vedic estimation of Universe manifestation date nearly match. Vedas further say the Universe finally merges with God from whom it has come out. Jainism believes in God but does not believe in creator God. According to Jainism, this Universe is neither created by Anyone nor sustained by Anyone nor destroyed by Anyone but is self existent and runs on its own accord based on its own cosmic laws.
Prasa - a bunch of claims without any science
Umm, what?
Could you perhaps make a point?
For interest; the bible does not say the earth is 6000 years old. That idiotic claim was made by some dopey English bishop in the nineteenth century.It’s only some of smaller evangelicals christian sects which believe that.
Perhaps go away and do some reading.
Yes, Patrick. Bible does not say earth was created about 6000 years back. I said that because most Christians in India say so. They say 6000 years is estimated based on chronologies mentioned in the Bible. Archbishop James Ussher of 17th century estimated.
Prasadaro - what do you prescribe to here regarding the universe
Science validates the Bible, which is God’s word
Then, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was ‘’
written by physical / math formulas:
a)
b)
c)
. . . . .
Who says there must of been a beginning?
My viewpoint.
The bible is a book of science.
The bible is about morals and ethics.
The science of moral philosophy is referred to as morality.
People who you may know who cover the science of the bible are Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Steven Pinker, and Edward O. Wilson. On this site Lausten would be the person that covers the science of the bible.
The science of morals and ethics does not have to be built on true facts. It can be based upon principles to teach morals and ethics.
The question here is - Does God’s principles validate the science of morality?