Ignorance and the Bible

Because I have read the Bible and know that Paul was NOT a direct witness of Jesus?

And further: why can't you debate a point without somehow making the other side skeevy, agenda-driven, militant atheists like Stalin?

You are pathologically incapable of debate. You should really consider dropping off JPP. This is not your lane.
Paul had a direct connection on the road to Damascus through the Holy Spirit.
 
And this again....


Are you able to address someone's point without the non-stop personal attacks?
Still can't explain why you selectively use a hyper-strict historical reliability standard for Christian authors, but not for other authors of antiquity?

I've done the hard work of investing significant time over a period of years to learn about religion.

I am presenting historical and theological information that's causing atheists to frantically Google.

If you really invested a chunk of your life learning a subject, you shouldn't have to bounce back and forth from this page, and a web page with Google search open on it. Unless it's to check spelling or dates, or to reference a subject matter expert.
 
Thank you for at least confessing you google as well.
Correct , I don't remember dates or how to spell names all the time. But nothing you have posted on this thread ever made me go to a Google search engine. Your depth of knowledge is too shallow to necessitate me Googling.


Now, the other interesting fact is that I might be the only poster on this thread actually acknowledging the validity of views other than my own:
I cannot categorically rule (atheism) out.
It's very possible (the New Testament authors) were anonymous.

I have yet to see an atheist make a clear statement that atheism might be wrong, or openly state that it's very possible the early church bishops knew exactly who wrote the gospels
 
Correct , I don't remember dates or how to spell names all the time. But nothing you have posted on this thread ever made me go to a Google search engine. Your depth of knowledge is too shallow to necessitate me Googling.

So hopefully you'll stop blasting other posters for "googling".


 
The two genealogies of Jesus are a stark reminder that even by the NT there's some "confusion" about the actual narrative.
The "confusion" is simply your lack of understanding.
Does Joseph need to be connected somehow to David? If so why does it matter since Joseph wasn't in any way involved in Jesus' birth?
Yes. It matters because Joseph was Jesus' "legal father" and Jesus was prophesied to be a "descendent of David and Abraham". This particular genealogy traces Jesus' legal line from Joseph back to David and back to Abraham to prove to a Jewish audience that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.
But more importantly why are there two DIFFERENT genealogies?
Because there's two separate reasons for the two separate genealogies. The first reason I've already explained. The second genealogy, instead of the legal line, traces Jesus' biological line from Mary all the way back to Adam.

1) legal line (Matthew was writing to the Jews)
2) biological line (Luke was writing to the Gentiles)
 
I have yet to see an atheist make a clear statement that atheism might be wrong,
You won't even recognize atheism for what it is. How can a lack of belief somehow be wrong? I am an atheist. I have no theistic belief to be mistaken. Ergo, atheism cannot be wrong any more than the null statement can, and atheism cannot be "militant" ... yet you insist that others don't even know their own lack of beliefs, i.e. that you omnipotently declare they hold beliefs. You refuse to acknowledge the atheism of others.

or openly state that it's very possible the early church bishops knew exactly who wrote the gospels
Is that all? It is possible the early church bishops knew exactly who wrote the gospels, and it is fairly certain that someone knew exactly who wrote the gospels.

Is there anything else?
 
For me my transition to atheism came after years of self-reflection but definitely when I set out to read the Bible from cover to cover I came to realize that the primary source document had some theological "issues" (not even to mention the historical hit-or-miss aspect or the scientifically bankrupt aspect, but those were easy enough to dismiss as "allegorical" or "metaphorical")

The difference between approaching the Bible as just another bunch of old scrolls cobbled together and approaching it as the key document of all humanity is down to whether someone told you it was the critical document of all humanity. There is nothing within it that indicates deeper insight that couldn't be garnered through non-supernatural means. There's every aspect of human-fingerprints all over it. A vituperative god who acts like a human in one part of the document and then is all-loving and beyond understanding in another, flawed history, made-up just-so stories to explain otherwise normal things, fantasy stories and some good advice mixed in with bad advice.
yes.

there's nothing supernatural about morality.
 
Justify as you need.
I've never had to consult Google over anything you wrote here.

You read my posts and frequently keep a Google search engine open to verify and augment the information you read on my posts.

Frantic Googling and knee-jerk reacting to other people's posts is a poor way to be adequately informed, and it doesn't motivate you to see the forest through the trees.

You actually have to do the hard work of reading books, taking classes, watching podcasts - and not just from other atheists. That's confirmation bias. You have to be willing to impartially listen to legitimate Christian, Jewish, Buddhist scholars, in addition to atheists.
 
Ergot in the rye bread? I doubt it was schizophrenia since he seemed normal for the times in other respects.

That's the thing. There's so many ways for the human brain to be convinced of an illusion. People have experiences all the time that don't comport with reality. Hallucinogens, brain damage, etc.

When faced with a mystical vision there's always two options:

1. True mystical supernatural experience
2. Impact of a chemical or stressor on the brain

Since no one has provided convincing evidence of something "supernatural" (those claims tend to fail) it leaves #2 as the most likely option.
 
I've never had to consult Google over anything you wrote here.

Look, Cy, I don't want to hear about your "Googling habits". I know you google just like everyone else here. But you also use books. Which I do too. I've got my bookshelf here loaded up with books I've read over the years. Quite a few by Ehrman, but also Sturgis, Krueger, Harris, Martin, Shermer, Freidman, etc. And I've got 2 copies of the Bible.

So let's stop playing like you are superior to anyone on here. I know it is important to you that you are better than everyone else but you simply aren't.

So drop this line of personal attack. Try for a change to debate the point and not the person

 
Ergot in the rye bread? I doubt it was schizophrenia since he seemed normal for the times in other respects.
Paul and all the apostles had the same hallucination?

I've always wanted to get beyond the simplistic explanations that all those people were hallucinating, mentally ill, and/or lying. That is not a very strong explanation. Romans and Galatians do not seem like the works of an insane person.

You and I have discussed the possibility Jesus survived the crucifixion. I suppose it's remotely possible he met up with Paul three years later outside Damascus.
 
I've never had to consult Google over anything you wrote here.

You read my posts and frequently keep a Google search engine open to verify and augment the information you read on my posts.

Frantic Googling and knee-jerk reacting to other people's posts is a poor way to be adequately informed, and it doesn't motivate you to see the forest through the trees.

You actually have to do the hard work of reading books, taking classes, watching podcasts - and not just from other atheists. That's confirmation bias. You have to be willing to impartially listen to legitimate Christian, Jewish, Buddhist scholars, in addition to atheists.
Frantic Googling by people who want to appear smart seems familiar. LOL
 
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