Why trust anything the Bible says?

ChristopherHays said:

When you depend on this savior to interact in reality like I did, you’ll be disappointed. That’s my experience not just my opinion.

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So you've stopped depending?

Because of faith, I suppose. That's really what it comes down to. For some people, faith is enough. For others....not so much. It's understandable. Christianity isn't for everyone no more so than any other belief system is.

ChristopherHays said:

Former Christian and recent Atheist here. I used to read and trust everything in the Bible until about a year ago. If I try to look at it now from an unbiased view (which is harder than it sounds) I don’t see the appeal. What is it exactly that appeals to Christians? What makes them think any of it is true? Have they ever tried to look at the ‘evidence’ from an unbiased perspective?

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Our beliefs can only tell us we know without any room to learn anything new.

Is the moon made of cheese? Or is there a man who lives there?

Only believers say they know.

ChristopherHays said:

Former Christian and recent Atheist here. I used to read and trust everything in the Bible until about a year ago. If I try to look at it now from an unbiased view (which is harder than it sounds) I don’t see the appeal. What is it exactly that appeals to Christians? What makes them think any of it is true? Have they ever tried to look at the ‘evidence’ from an unbiased perspective?

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i know what you are saying. Youve exchanged your Christian glasses for atheist ones.
Dont be fooled by so called "commonsense".
I think a truly authentic Christian can see things in a more imaginative way.
Do I believe in salvation history? Yes I do. Every verse and word of the Bible? No.
Be careful abandoning God altogether. will come a time you need Him anyway.

ChristopherHays said:

I’ve never encountered Jesus. Even when I prayed daily and considered myself a Christian. I had no experiences that couldn’t be better explained without the supernatural.

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I guess I expected that reply...

This is the rub...

Christianity is a relationship with someone you have met.

With that foundation scripture comes alive because you know the author.

Oscarr said:

The Bible is God's sole communication to mankind. If we didn't have the Bible, we would know anything about God, His plan of salvation, how He developed it through the millennia, and that Jesus Christ came to the world to show what God is really like, what He did on the cross for mankind, and how people can get through the narrow gate to eternal life. Without the Bible we wouldn't even know that there is eternal life available to us.

We would end up living lives based on cause and effect with no hope after death - that death will be end of everything and nothing beyond. Religion would be based on superstition, ritual, ceremony, human sacrifices, worshiping bits of wood and stone, and other unknown gods.

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God only communicates only through the Bible? what about human beings? even animals can show Gods love.
God is in all things. Read theologian Karl Rahner.

ChristopherHays said:

Yup.

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This may be a good thing, because whoever/whatever you were depending on may have been a false image. I say this because the Messiah I know comes with power and with a sure Encounter (as @Carl Emerson says). After the depending on our own ideas about god, we are ripe for the deepening...when we stop our own depending and are gifted with His saving faith.

Abba Yah please Breathe deeply into every aspect of our beings: intellect, will, emotions, imagination, etc..and raise us up in Yahshua ha Mashiach. Amen.

ChristopherHays said:

If the Bible was just like every other false religion, you would expect it to look exactly like it does. With errors, inconsistencies, and imperfections... I feel like you’re trying really hard to believe that Christianity is real even when you know it’s flawed. Why hold on to it so desperately? What makes it appealing?

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I submit this sort of thinking may have more to do with your fundamentalist upbringing. Fundamentalists love clean, simple, logical answers, even at the risk of what may be true.

But life just isn't like that.

Here's another thought. You may have just exchanged one sort of fundamentalism for another.

I find the nuanced approach of the Bible - the fact that it doesn't provide clean, simple answers, as hugely appealing and more in tune with life. The Bible requires you to wrestle with it, to dig deep. That is extremely more rewarding and more interesting.

ChristopherHays said:

“Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.” -Proverbs 14:15

I’m very familiar with the Bible. I just don’t believe everything I’m told. I prefer evidence and reasoning to be on my side.

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I prefer God to be on my side and myself to be on His. I trust that you've read the verse that says the fool believes in his heart that there is no God. Everything that you need to know about God has been revealed through the creation. Believe or disbelieve. Your choice. I've believed for 48 years and I am far more convinced now than when I first started the journey.

When my son was a toddler, he was fascinated by the lights in the house. I would pick him up and the would flick the switch on and off. He knew nothing about electricity, wiring rules, power generation or how a light globe works. He knew how to use the switch. You don't need to understand everything or very much at all. You need to find the "switch". Your dependence on your intellect is your enemy, not your friend. It will send you to hell.

I have an electrical/electronics background. It makes no difference that I understand more than my son did. I used the same switch, the same way and yes, the light came on.

ChristopherHays said:

I don’t think this is that complicated. The god of the Bible is either real or not. There is no compromise. What convinced you that he’s real?

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I don't see why, if the Bible is not intended to provide simple answers, that its lack of simple answers should prove that the god of the Bible does not exist.

One does not, for example, say poetry isn't true because it speaks figuratively.

Besides, looking at your posts, it's not really the Bible but a lack of answer to prayer and experience of God that brought you to your conclusion. Just looking at your posts it seems a lot more complicated than the fact that there are some historical contradictions in the Bible. Unless you really believe that emotion and experience played no part in your deconversion?

ChristopherHays said:

thanks for the suggestion

I’m afraid I don’t see the appeal of the Bible if it’s not inerrant though... why would an all powerful god want to give a message to us that’s full of contradictions, errors and inconsistency? If you admit that some parts have errors, how can you trust rest is true?

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Exactly. Either God has given us and forgive the pun, the whole truth and nothing but the truth or... yeah its all a pack of lies. I believe it is inerrant from creation to the cross to the future new heavens and earth. I don't believe God would give us the truth about the death and resurrection of Christ while simultaneously feeding us baloney about the beginnings of the world. The Bible is very plain that creation happened, mankind fell, mankind needed a saviour. In fact it all hangs together from beginning to end, remove creation and you remove the foundation of the Christian faith. It is that important but many people choose to have their heads in the sand over it and try to marry together Christ and evolution. Basic Bible doctrine in the New Testament makes no sense unless Genesis is literal.

I also firmly believe 'evolution theory' and yes that's all I will ever see it as, is mankind's theory at explaining the world when he doesn't want to believe in God or his word. I believe it is a strong delusion.
2 Thessalonians 2:11
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
Matthew 24:24
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
I think evolution can fit under there as well because people just about view anything scientists say about evolution as 'being 'gospel' without question.

When God flooded the world with a wide world flood it was not just water and mud, but the firmament surrounding the world was destroyed, this had kept the world like a greenhouse with long life and long growing periods. See the length of life in Genesis 900+ years. Some animals also grew large because they had the life span to do so, plus some animals continue to grow their whole lives others don't. Dinosaurs are just another one of God creatures. They were always about they just had a name change and an upgrade in 1842 when palaeontologist Richard Owen's coined the term dinosaur, before that time they were referred to as dragons. After the flood they were basically extinct and since lifespans dropped so did their growth rates.

The world that God created was destroyed at the flood leaving the earth at the mercy of space radiation. The other thing that happened during the flood is that volcanoes erupted across the world and created electricity across the earth crust. This is the earth that is being tested today, not the earth as it was created. I believe these changes were enough to give rise to the delusion. Apart from that couldn't God have let the earth sit void for awhile? He could if he had wanted to. I doubt God would have just let it sit void for billions of years, but if it did let it sit for some time this takes nothing away from the creation weak or the events that happened after that.

ewq1938 said:

Is the little g really necessary? This isn't a huge deal but I see this so often from non-Christians...even tho you were one not too long ago...but, why is this done so often? I say Allah when I type the word not allah even though I don't accept Islam.

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Ewq1938?

ChristopherHays said:

When you depend on this savior to interact in reality

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Maybe you were depending on your (or your parents') idea of "this savior" "to interact in [your] reality."

I pray that we all enjoy the gift of faith, as it opens The Way unto His Reality.

Oscarr said:

The Bible is God's sole communication to mankind. If we didn't have the Bible, we would not know anything about God, His plan of salvation, how He developed it through the millennia, and that Jesus Christ came to the world to show what God is really like, what He did on the cross for mankind, and how people can get through the narrow gate to eternal life. Without the Bible we wouldn't even know that there is eternal life available to us.

We would end up living lives based on cause and effect with no hope after death - that death will be end of everything and nothing beyond. Religion would be based on superstition, ritual, ceremony, human sacrifices, worshiping bits of wood and stone, and other unknown gods.

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Without the gospel* the good news of Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection. The Bible isn’t necessary for salvation, Jesus didn’t hand the disciples bibles, he gave them the gospel. The Bible’s came later, as the inspired words of the apostles and early NT authors dispensed wisdom and instruction to the churches.

The good news is God loves the person who started this thread as he loves all of us. My experiences with God, and the illumination of his word in my mind and spirit are Why I believe in scripture.

Godlovesmetwo said:

God only communicates only through the Bible? what about human beings? even animals can show Gods love.
God is in all things. Read theologian Karl Rahner.

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That is pagan Pantheism and not the God of the Bible. That belief belongs to those on the broad road, and not the narrow path to salvation.