Hi David..well I do enjoy a lively discussion :)

1/ THE PROBLEM OF SCRIPTURES.
You mentioned a lot of other scriptures. They are all different, and have different purposes, and not all claim to be revelation from God. It's not on your list but the Sikh scriptures are nothing more than the musings and reflections of Guru's..and are not claimed to be anything more.
The book of Mormon needs to be assessed from a number of angles, including the rediculous claim that the Native American Indians are the biological descendants of the Hebrews, which DNA studies clearly refute.

So.. when I say 'why do you dismiss the Christian scriptures' ...what I really mean is 'The message' and the event framework it relies on.

Regarding the Exodus
... a true scientific approach would reserve judgement on such things pending further information. Why ? Simply because the track record of the Old and New testaments in the area of being true when scientists/Archeologists said "NO" is well established. The existence of the Hittites is an example which comes immediately to mind.
SCIENCE said "There were never any such people...the Bible is wrong"
THEN..science in distinctly muted tones said "Ok..they did exist we found evidence for them"

2/ THE PROBLEM OF PIGS.
You say 'the alleged Jesus' whereas not many reputable scholars these days would use the word 'alleged'... in the light of all the evidence, this has to now be declared a 'dogmatic' statement.

You speak of a Jesus who 'believed in demonic spirits' yet you fail to explain how the multitude of pigs suddenly decided to become lemmings and commit mass suicide....
You can dispute the report if you like :) but the simple fact is there are too many incidents to do this.

BOTTOM LINE. The Christian scriptures are unique (and yes, there are minor textual issues)and more importantly, make claims and declarations about our eternal destiny. We would be wise to consider them carefully.

BOAZ_David,

I have neither the time nor the patience to play; ‘let’s answer selectively and in an obfuscatory manner.’

There have been three distinct studies, by many scholars, surrounding the New Testament since the 1700th century. There is no consensus that the events described in the NT are an accurate reporting of history. The problem they have, and this is what a reasonably accurate portrayal of history requires, is there is lack of cross-reference reports from sources other than biblical.

“BOTTOM LINE. The Christian scriptures are unique (and yes, there are minor textual issues)and more importantly, make claims and declarations about our eternal destiny. We would be wise to consider them carefully.”

Herein lays a common religious factor for some…fear and or reward!

The real bottom line is that billions of other people “believe” they have the true knowledge of existence, the same as do you. Fine, believe it, but Atheists simply suggest that such subjectivity must not be imposed by way of indoctrination of children. And for it to be kept out of politics if it is against the informed wished of the population. (Or in other words, if it is in opposition to empirical evidence) Read previous posts where I have outlined a few examples.

If you have evidence that the consensus of scholars have missed, I suggest you present it now for our enlightenment. I said consensus, which disallows individual assessment by maverick partisans. Please remember, you cannot prove scripture with scripture. If you attempt this method, then it will demonstrate beyond doubt, you are just another close-minded proselytizer.

David

There is NO evidence from either side of the debate...

We have a book full of old writings who people believe (think) is the inerrant word of God, but can't prove it, that leads them to the conclusion that their is a God. Amazing!

Then suddenly some jump from there being a God with Jesus the son of God to Jesus IS God - God, Jesus and the holy spirit all one entity - the Trinity. Jesus allegedly called himself "the son of man" and if you believe the Trinity prayed to himself in the Lords prayer - Our Father (me) who art in heaven (not here) hallowed be thy (my) name, Thy (my) Kingdom come (oops he was on Earth), Thy (my) will be done on Earth as it is in heaven etc. etc.

On the cross he allegedly said to either God or Himself depending on your belief Father (or me) forgive them for they know not what they do!

I agree with the athiest argument that we are indoctrinating our children with this stuff.

But science does the same thing - they teach that the Universe was created by "the Big Bang" resulting from a singularity. What caused the alleged singularity... Um no-one knows.. Has anyone seen a singularity? - Um no. Like God it is theoretical!

So in many ways the criticism of one is exactly the same as the criticism of the other except for one key area.

Science doesn't preach "hellfire and damnation" and therefore is far less damaging to the psychological well being of humans. PLUS science is more open to self correction - to question is acceptable - yet to Christians to question is presented as a sin.

Go figure an all powerful God creates a questioning mind and says don't use it! He's a tricky little fellow - he also creates the tree of knowledge and says don't eat it's fruit.

Now if you have a near death experience you will know how much you don't know!

Boaz, I just love the way you grab half an idea and dress it up as some kind of deep truth.

Because you never quite get it right, do you?

>>I guess I also 'lived' the dilemna of a 60s song "If that's all there is... then bring out the boooze and lets party on" something like that.... the 60s were a time of abandonment of values, and while some people just changed course and went in any old direction which suited them<<

The bit you got right was that the song "Is that all there is?" is a Lieber/Stoller song first recorded by Peggy Lee in 1969.

http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?id=9115

However, the lyrics of the song were lifted from a short story written in 1896 by Thomas Mann, called "Disillusionment" - Colin Wilson summarized it best in his book "The Craft of the Novel" as follows:

"The narrator is sitting in St Mark's Square in Venice when he falls into a conversation with a fellow countryman. The man asks, "Do you know what disillusionment is? Not a miscarriage in small unimportant matters, but the great and general disappointment which everything, all of life, has in store?" He tells how, as a small boy, the house caught fire; yet as they watched it burn down he was thinking, "So this is a house on fire? Is that all?" And ever since then, life has been a series of disappointments; all the great experiences have left him with the feeling: "Is that all?" Only when he saw the sea for the first time, he says, did he feel a sudden tremendous craving for freedom, for a sea without a horizon... And one day, death will come, and he expects it to be the last great disappointment. "Is this all?"

So much for illustrating "the 60s were a time of abandonment of values" eh?

Mann wrote "Disillusionment" when he was twenty. Sounds like perfectly normal youth-through-the-ages angst to me.

But I guess I should know by now, if there is a stick with a wrong end, you'll find it.

David Nicholls said
"The Christian Scriptures are not inerrant as claimed. They say nothing about science; in fact, the alleged Jesus did not refute the Eve & Adam story or the Exodus fable. Scientific fact does not accept these stories."

The OT Scriptures were written records of history for the Nation of Israel. The Adam and Eve story is allagory demonstrating man was made in the divine image of God.

I've read scientic reports done on the exodus possibilities that coincides with the volcanic eruption that buried an island off the coast of Greece under the sea. The crossing of the Reed Sea was a Tsunami in his report, and the volcanic ash is what bogged the Egyptian chariots.

D N quoite, "There are many parts of Christian scriptures demonstrating they were written by people".

All scripture was written by people - so What? According to you because they are written by people they are unreliable? Luke endeavours to identify he sourced his writings from reliable witnesses. Luke 1: 1 - 4 and Acts 1: 1 - 3.
Cont:

D N quote, "The alleged Jesus believed in demons and caste them out of humans, killing 2,000 pigs in the process. (The Gadarene swine Matthew 8: 28 – 33 also in Mark and Luke)"

The fact is Jesus was human and in his time dealing with matters of character and relationships that could be grasped by the common people. God is primarily revealed in holiness of character, purity of attitudes, motive, wisdom and actions.

A careful exposition of unification of the Gospel text identifies that Jesus did not believe in demons. He was a monotheist that is the reason for his action of casting out demons. The influence of non Hebrew culture had permiated the minds of that time and gave demons existence. The Gaderene himself believed he was posessed (note he gives his name Legon) identified by the polytheistic culture of the Gadarenes.

Because these people were uneducated casting out demonstrated that they were now free. It was a physical demon-stration to convince they were free of the posession by demons.

Monotheism is the belief that there is only one true spirit and all other spirits are only the rebellious spirit of man. There are no demons as unseen beings these only exist the immagination of polytheistic superstitious minds.

The man actually requested of Jesus that he drive the pigs over the cliff, demonstrating for the man that he was now self empowered above his opressors - the owners of the pigs. Jesus did not drive the pigs over the cliff