[Kyle]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

You certainly know the Bible better than I do Kyle.

I accept that the Bible is full of inconsistencies and shocking passages, and I accept - or rather suspect - that because it is Man who 'writ down God's word' , and Man, who in the form of successive organized religions, has selectively edited the text, re-wrote great tracts of it, and destroyed other huge parts of the original vital testimony, that to blindly and literally believe the Bible in its entirety, is certainly folly.

I'm not a conventional Christian in the accepted sense of the word - I am not devout, don't go to Church, and I live as normal a life as I can.

Two of my three children do not even share my belief that Christ is the Messiah or therefore, that God exists in some form, because I have not imposed my beliefs upon them. I encouraged them to read philosophy and explore various belief systems and religions, for the same reason I impressed upon them the importance of a sound education, and they listened to me but then 'made up their own minds' about God and religion. Thank God (oops) that they also listened to me about education because all three have graduated from uni.

However, in defence of the Bible, or what remains of the original text after Man's chicanery, I would point out just a few of the increasingly more frequent examples where new archaeological discoveries are proving biblical assertions which the scientific world previously dismissed:

1. King David Inscription

Sceptics and Atheists always maintained that King David (of 'Once In Royal David's City' fame) never existed and was 'pure myth'. Until, that is July 1993 when a 'stele' fragment of basalt was unearthed by archaeologists which bore an inscription mentioning 'The House of David'. Two other discoveries cemented King David as a real historical figure with inscriptions mentioning; 'David' 'King of Israel' . These finds have been dated to the 8th or 9th Century BC and were the first non-biblical reference to a biblical figure.

2. The Baruch Bulla

A 'Bulla' is a hardened clay seal impression and hundreds have been discovered in the past 100 years or so, but one stand out bulla which appeared in 1970 contained the name and stamp of the biblical prophet Jeremiah's scribe.

Another bears the inscription "Belonging to Seraiah (ben) Neriah." and Seriah was the "chief chamberlain" in the court of King Zedekiah (Jer 51:59).

3.The Pontius Pilate Inscription

In 1961, a dedicatory stone bearing the an inscription: Tiberieum/[Pon]tius Pilatus/[Praef]ectus Iuda[eae], "Tiberius [the Roman emperor of the period]/Pontius Pilate/Prefect of Judea." was discovered during excavations in Caesarea Maritima.

Pilate was the governor of Roman Judea, under whose governance Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

4. Ossuary of Caiaphas

In the Bible, Caiaphas is the High Priest of The Sanhedrin whom Jesus was brought before for questioning, and in 1990 a tomb was discovered in Jerusalem which contained his ossuary.

(An ossuary is a stone box containing the bones of the deceased.)

5. The Pool at Shiloh

In 2004, the pool where Jesus performed the miracle of restoring a blind man's sight (Gospel of St John) was discovered by archaeologists digging south of the Temple Mount.

As stated, these are but a few of numerous archaeological discoveries which prove the Bible as so much more than a 'fictional book' (as one on here ridiculously claims.) Among these other discoveries are what is generally agreed to be the store cities 'Ramesess' and 'Pithon' of the Biblical Exodus - Store Cities which were hitherto denounced as myth by mainstream academics.

Personally, I absorb the parts of the Bible which I am logically persuaded by, and treat the rest with a degree of scepticism knowing that the hand of Man has been involved.

I am open minded but yet, cannot forget how I was taught 'Science' and 'History' by 'academics' in Grammar School. Part of these teachings dealt with how the coelacanth was as extinct as the Do-Do, and that the native American Indians were savages.

I have my reasons for believing in Jesus as the Christ and therefore God, and it has nothing to do with blind acceptance of 'fairy tales', or 'mumbo jumbo', but entirely to do with years of extensive research and study, cold analysis of the results of that research, and logical interpretation of the evidence and facts concerning Christ.

I believe what I believe, but will not, however, ever denigrate or lambaste any other person for not believing what I do, or for even believing in nothing at all.

To close, my post on the 10 Commandments was in specific answer to Livia's perfectly legitimate and civil query in her post, and was supplemental to my 'Food For Thought' post which prompted Livia's enquiry. It was not a blind acceptance of all biblical text as being 'literally true'.

I am grateful Kyle that you are approaching this complex subject with fairness even though you hold opposing views, because through civil, intelligent debate, we may both learn something.

I understand this is a difficult topic to discuss because at the end of the day I have decided to read the bible only to pick it apart and absorb the (in my opinion) mythology surrounding it.

Personally I will always have difficulty understanding how some parts of the bible can be readily accepted and others thrown away as conjecture when it's all there in a book which the writers have given no indication of which bits are to be taken literally and which have just come from imagination. It's just so ambiguous I can completely understand how there are so many denominations which take whatever meaning they want from the scriptures and use it to further their agenda.

Some like Joseph Smith just completely add extra books and scripture on top of that and before we know it we have huge pockets of America that follow the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

To me, and certainly from what I've seen so far this is just completely jumbled up bad code which means hee haw to me and doesn't give me a clear understanding of what on earth I should be doing. That doesn't sound to me like a Very clever God but that's just my impressions so far.