How do you know the Bible is from God?

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I don't really get this. A lot of seemingly intelligent people believe what the Bible says, but why? Have they truly been shown that the Bible is supernaturally inspired? Or do they simply choose to believe what can't be shown to be true?

Can't speak for others - won't.


Of course all of us believe what can't be shown to be true - we have been through this.

But on the specific point of the Bible - the individual texts, the canon, the textual tradition, the recensions, and beyond that the translations and the exegetical traditions - what a skeptical Christian scholar can say is, there is much material in there which gives what we may characterize as a prose hologram - an image of God and his ways which is consistent with other accounts and messages.

Theory and conceptualization tends to put onto the scriptures things that are not supported from inside the scriptures. I myself tend not to go there.

Ok, let's see some examples then.



So that's your answer? How does such a vague answer help skeptics understand why exactly you believe? What are we missing that you yourself see that makes you believe?

They believe. That's all that matters to them. I've found that challenging such faith is pointless - it leads only to frustration and a deeper entrenchment on both sides.

Even asking for evidence to support their claims is wasted effort, as there is no such evidence that does not find its roots embedded in faith, which is inherently the belief in unprovable things. Better for critical minds to focus their attention on more practical fields of research, such as gravity control, sustained nuclear fusion, and regeneration of missing organs and lost body parts.

Sometimes, "miracles" happen gradually. Many people eventually lose religious faith. It just needs time and other determining factors (such as posts that make believers gradually rethink their views on certain matters to do with their faith).

As a Catholic, the Bible is not the central component of my faith (though it is certainly very important). I didn't approach the Bible under the assumption is was true and work from there. I agreed that it was mostly true because it was an accurate representation of what I had found to be true through spiritual experience.

Can that "spiritual experience" be objectively and empirically verified by other parties. Or is it something private to your consciousness?

ruveyn

I have gone over this - guess you missed that class? Let us just start with the most basic and obvious. Prove you exis - or prove I exist, I don't care. If you do not exist - if I do not exist - then all the rest of the world, which rests on our existing in order to poerceive it, let alone have this discussion, falls apart. But the assumption that either of us exists, while it is consistent with my impressions, cannot be proven.

I could get more detailed if I knew what you believe, but it all comes down to that eventually.



Of course it does not help skeptics understand. Similar testimony coming from others did not help me - and I will back my skepticism quotient against yours any day, I was and am a keptic from birth.

I have elsewhere outlined the events which brough the pile of evidence to the tipping point - but why? If you are indeed a skeptic, a fellow follower of Thomas styled the Doubter by those who think they disparage him, though it is a supreme compliment, then devidence I have seen will not convince you.

If you keep your eyes and ears open, you will get closer to Truth, and that is what counts.

I was granted the singular favor of meeting several Christians who were very obviously possessed of knowledge and were very real. Not one of them tried to "convince" me, though some given their background "should" have.

My role likewise is not to convince, just to say - one skeptic to another - there is something to be found that can be found.

Because they envoke the name of the almighty. anytime you do that people go crazy, and dont really think at all. they follow

That. How can you know anything to be true? How do you know that this site was made by Alex Plank? How do you know this post was written by me? You really can't know anything for sure. You just choose what to believe. Good luck!

You are so totally wrong. If you examined your own inventory of beliefs you would discover what faith really is, as opposed to its misunderstanding to those whos lives are unexamined.

Who are "they" here?

There are, yes, atheists who "go crazy if you mention God.

And yes, there are many - many theists, many atheists, who follow the Judas goat rather than think what the guy with the zapper is there for.

But your reference is not clear, and I do not think you can validly generalize whichever "they" you mean. There are - thank God - actual thinkers who do not kneejerk into salaams or jeers among bothy atheists and theists.

Yes, but I dont see alot of athiest churches springing up out of nowhere. For instance, i was on the indian reservation yesterday and there was a church like every 5 miles.

What do you think there doing in there? getting all crazy about some invisible guy, they havent a clue about. making people worry about unessesary things that have hardly any value at all

No it is not really empirical, but I don't think that is a barrier to my believing it. As you know I find empiricism useful and highly valuable but I think its pretty obvious that proving something to others and accepting something yourself; are totally separate matters.

Quite so.

Knowledge is the belief in provable things like gravity, orbital mechanics, and electromagnetism. For example, I have knowledge that the Earth completes one revolution every 365.256363 mean solar days, or 1 sidereal year. This can be proven, therefor it must be knowledge.

Faith is the belief in unprovable things like gods, ghosts, and psychic ability. For example, some people believe that the death of Jesus of Nazareth saves them from an eternity of separation from God. This can not be proven, therefor it must be faith.