Disagree

Post #134,073 by ben_tilly 1/7/04 10:46:02 AM Reply	Disagree You claim that for God to let The Bible has mistakes condemns most people to Hell. But that isn't necessarily so. What if God only cares about mistakes that actually might condemn people to Hell? Had The Bible been scientifically accurate about things that could only confuse in 200 AD, would that have made it more or less effective? That said, it is true that most Christians believe that most of the world is going to Hell. Whether this squares with your impression of God is a well-known debate on the problem of evil. How you resolve that depends entirely on your impression of God. Since there seem to be as many of those as there are believers, and I don't subscribe to any of those, it is senseless for me to have a position on that. I just wanted to point out that perfect accuracy in religious texts might not matter that much to a Deity. See the Baha'i faith for an example of a religion that claims that. More specifically they say that most religious texts are distorted in various ways to make them more effective at reaching people of that time and place and limited understanding. Cheers, Ben "good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not" - [link\|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html\|Stefano Mazzocchi]
Post #134,084 by Nightowl 1/7/04 11:44:38 AM Reply	That's true But that isn't necessarily so. What if God only cares about mistakes that actually might condemn people to Hell? Had The Bible been scientifically accurate about things that could only confuse in 200 AD, would that have made it more or less effective? Because it wouldn't matter so much how the world came about, in living one's Christian life, as it would to follow say, the 10 Commandments, or other things God would have you to do. The way things happened isn't part of how to live. Nightowl >8# "It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences." Harry S. Truman "Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude." Timothy Bentley
Post #134,147 by JayMehaffey 1/7/04 8:04:24 PM Reply	Re: Disagree But that isn't necessarily so. What if God only cares about mistakes that actually might condemn people to Hell? Had The Bible been scientifically accurate about things that could only confuse in 200 AD, would that have made it more or less effective? That was actually the point of my second paragraph. That it is possible to have concepts of god that don't fall into the problem of evil, but that such religions are no longer Christianity in any meaningfull sense of the word. The problem of evil is largly a Christian problem because the Christian faiths are among the few ones that postulate a god that is all powerful, all knowing, perfectly good and yet for some reason only gives certain people a chance to avoid eternal torment. Jay
Post #134,440 by Ashton 1/9/04 1:58:20 AM Reply	It's most likely pointless In Murica, the prevailing form of religiosity is carried out within our Murican language, somewhat like English. There really aren't any common words which can assist in 'signifying' some of the problems with talking about er, "that which we are incapable of Grokking to Fullness". Further - there is precious little general Interest in such matters: these matters are settled permanently via early inculcation. Period. For most. (My experience, anyway) Arguing Dogma with a dogmatist.. must be a lot like trying to describe ephemeral levels of sublimely timeless musical compositions - in a school for the hearing impaired. Further, as with geography - the average Murican is bone-ignorant of the rich tapestry of metaphysical thought in the world -- ancient or modern. (And often - even about the one chosen by default, by others) QED? Norman's 'take' - in my experience - IS umm The Norm. We believe, most of us, that which we Like; those in dire need of a 'personal god' - will invent one, no matter What. And the idea that there could be Evidence of such [either. way.] -- swears at all efforts 'mankind' has ever made, to build a language capable-even, of truthful admission: of one's incapacity to deal with certain 'issues', at all. But then, these foribuses sometimes seem, occasionally, to come close to certain 'intimations', so .. WTF! Beats arguing Who was the Best fussball Coach ever, no? Ashton uh, never mind, I guess

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