Do you believe in God?

[denlin 12]

Where have i implied that they were linked?

 

Since you were the one who introduced the Irish topic,maybe you should read this.

 

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Chronology/timelinenorthernireland.htm

 

There is nothing that says the troubles between Catholics and Protestants killing each other started before the usurping of James II which is the religion bit I was alluding to. The rest sounds like land grabbing

[Snowbird 10]

I know I did I was being rhetorical .. or allegorical or some such, however in that case then there's a lot of things in the bible that didn't happen.

 

I wonder which ones they are ?

 

Apply the formula used to arrive at the last decision-- Is it sensible that a wise and good divine being would do such a thing-- yes or no?

[Snowbird 10]

But nobody wrote about him at the time. Everything that was written about him was written decades - and hundreds of years after his claimed existence.

 

 

 

Nobody really knows what he said because a great deal of it has been invented. Take "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" story as an example. It was basically a nice sounding tale that was added to the bible during the 5th century. The bible is brimming with similar additions and interpolations. It was also put together by people with agendas and personal biases; some of which were fashioned against Jews and those who don't believe.

 

It's simply not a book that can be trusted. That aside, and according to the tales attributed to him, he hardly turned away from violence and retribution. Not only did he take a whip to people in the temple, he also threatened people with retribution for not wanting to hear his words. I won't even mention what he did to that poor fig tree...

 

And if you take the Infancy Gospel of Thomas into account, you've got Jesus killing two children and an adult - and whole new bunch of crazy miracles that are just as unbelievable as the miracles that were put in the Bible.

 

Absolutely! I always said that since men were responsible for the bible and picked and chose what went into it, it can't be taken as the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth !!

I don't remember where it says he took a whip to people in the temple--and what is this Infancy gospe? Source please? I know he did get angry at the people misusing the place of worship - but the priests were not happy with him coming along and telling them their job and that half the things they had been telling people was wrong-- woudln't this be one of the things they said to discredit him?

As for the fig tree - I don't belive that either. He could spread loaves and fishes between a multitude, survive in the dessert and perform miracles-- he could have made the fig bear fruit and eat-- killing it maKes no sense at all. More likely the thing was dead anyway and one of his followers had the hissy fit about it because master didn't come up with the goods on that occasion!

[janie48 98]

I wasn't intending to patronise. I just wanted it explaining to me. I might be wrong, I can't read everything. My apologies.

 

Apology not requred, i know you weren't being patronising on that occasion

 

I got a bit carried away for a time,when i was doing Irish family research on my fathers side of the family,taking a bit of interest in the history of Ireland.Something good came out of it though,i got to meet some nice Irish cousins.

[janie48 98]

I don't know enough about it to have an opinion on this, but reasoning like this is not very convincing.....

 

 

 

Being fond of talking about something does not count as evidence for anything!

 

Contrary to what some people might wish to believe.The Irish do actually have history books, does that surprise you?

[Ryedo40 10]

I don't remember where it says he took a whip to people in the temple--and what is this Infancy gospe? Source please?

 

John 2:14-15 for the whip. Try here for the Infancy Gospel - or do a search on Google.

 

As for the fig tree - I don't belive that either. More likely the thing was dead anyway and one of his followers had the hissy fit about it because master didn't come up with the goods on that occasion!

 

No. If you read the story, it's not an attempt of one of his followers to show Jesus in a bad light. What the story is trying to do is glorify Jesus and add weight to him being the son of a god by endowing him supernatural powers. It's more likely the story is fiction(like much of the bible).

Edited May 10, 2012 by Ryedo40
wrong word

[janie48 98]

There is nothing that says the troubles between Catholics and Protestants killing each other started before the usurping of James II which is the religion bit I was alluding to. The rest sounds like land grabbing

 

The point i was making is that history plays a part in shaping events to come,and the land grabbing and greed of the ruling powers contributed to a chain of events that resulted in future Ulster conficts.

 

At least the Queen went to Ireland last year to settle a few misunderstandings,and didn't get such a bad reception,all things considered.

Edited May 10, 2012 by janie48

[PaliRichard 10]

Snowbird

 

I'd be interested to hear your response to my posts #1719 and #1722.

[PaliRichard 10]

But we don't believe the bible and the scientific explanation of refraction causing rainbows definitely has more creedence:hihi:

 

Indeed it does. I'm just trying to establish which bits of the Bible another poster accepts as they seem a bit vague on which parts are genuine.

 

I have gathered so far (I think) that they believe the flood was punishment by God and that thete is evidence for a flood and that Jesus was a real figure.

 

What I'm trying to ascertain is wether they think the flood was localized or world wide (and if localized how can it punish mankind) and wether they think Jesus was divine or just a man.

 

I would also like to know which other bits of the Bible they accept/reject and why.

 

The points made by the poster thus far have alas been at best vague and at worst selective in what they claim the Bible tells us about Its true meaning.

[esme 10]

Apply the formula used to arrive at the last decision-- Is it sensible that a wise and good divine being would do such a thing-- yes or no?

It's not really sensible that a wise, good and divine being would create the universe at all since it's major function seems to be to cause suffering in a large proportion of the vanishingly small percentage of it that is us.

 

However, cherry picking bits of the bible and applying this filter does remove a lot I agree.

 

On the other hand it depends on your personal point of view as to which bits are wise and which bits are good.

 

So two people applying that filter can come up with wildly different versions of what can be attributed to a god and what can be attributed to a man.

[RootsBooster 24]

Contrary to what some people might wish to believe.The Irish do actually have history books, does that surprise you?

 

No, should it?

[janie48 98]

No, should it?

 

Sorry i didn't mean to sound rude,its just that when i saw your post....I just thought...

There goes Roots....evidence! evidence!