Foxy, Your answer does you proud... Obviously you aren't a John 3:16 christian, I apologise. I do not try to tear down others.

My bluntness is a bit like Jesus' when he allegedly talked to the Pharisees. His annoyance showed as does mine.

By rattling a few cages people start to think - there is no sweet way to challenge indoctrination, bigotry and unintelligent belief.

I question the crazy laws of Moses. because if God is the most intelligent being ever, he could never have come up with the unintelligent laws I have quoted!

Pericles, No I don't tell porkies. Remember your porky?

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=2530&page=0#57541

Christians shouldn't drop their spirituality they just need to get outside the book! Jesus achieved this when he changed ideas in Matthew 5 through 10. He stepped outside the OT.

Runner - Who wrote the books of the Bible? The Bible isn't a book - It's men's hand picked collection of ancient books.

mjpb - Neither! I am suggesting the Bible is wrong and using alleged scripture to do it! If it is wrong, churches are preaching untruths, in turn, they sin.

RObert - Your methodology is sound. Read criticisms and their replies and assess each on it's merit.

Mikk - I don't like the term "Godbotherers". I do think people should answer the questions.

Pericles - If a Christian loses their faith through what I am saying they had little faith to begin with. If they learn from what I am saying then they are using their intellect to grow.

Another biblical falsehood to consider John 15:16, 16:23-24. If all prayers are answered... why don't people with amputated legs who pray have their legs grow back? Why don't starving people who pray get fed?

Does your God really intercede or do you give people false hope?

Jesus allegedly said Matthew 17:20 "...If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Is your faith in God greater than a mustard seed?

You can read anything into what the bible says.

If it is god's word, god is schitzophrenic.

Dear Democritus,

You were wondering if God was schzophrenic?

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Sorry, you left yourself open for that one,
I simply couldn't resist... :)

Hey Runner the question wasnt whether I beleived the bible to be true but whether you believe that it is true. You still havent answered. Neither has anybody else. hmmm

Dear mikk,

I'll keep it simple for you - because you
obviously want a "yes" or "no" answer.

"Yes" its true to those who believe in it.
"No" it's not to those who don't.

There you go!

What is all this Christian-baiting achieving? At least in Rome it boosted morale and - in theory, at least - patriotism. I have beliefs and they work for me. I don't read every passage of the Bible and examine its meaning out of context. I do, however, use the Bible as a whole as a bit of a guide. Overall, its message is positive. It says to love one another. It says that salvation and happiness awaits those who behave properly. It gives guidelines for how to behave properly.

Now, I am aware that the Bible's guidelines aren't the only ones. They may not even be the best, but that is a value judgment and each person is entitled to his own opinion on that matter. Certainly if you stop reading at Deuteronomy, there would be a lot of demand for death. At the end of the day, you cannot get a picture of the whole by examining its parts. Like almost all ancient texts, it contains many doozies which do not stand up to modern scrutiny. Just the other day, in another thread, someone listed Plato as one of many greater thinkers than Jesus. The same Plato postulated that women came into being as the second generation of morally, physically and socially degenerate men. Does that one suggestion mean that we should cast Plato aside altogether?

To answer Mikk's question, I have no idea whether or not the Bible was originally infallible. Certainly the many stages of translation and the centuries of writing and rewriting at the hands of very human monks would have destroyed that infallibility. The physical makeup of the Bible is a human construct and humans are fallible. Thus the Bible is, perhaps, the best humans could put together with the resources at hand.