Muslim's hold the same beliefs about their book and religion. Had you been born in the middle east you would believe in the divinity of Allah and the teachings of Mohammad.
Yes a point to seriously consider. One argument is, “There are so many religions, and they contradict each other, so they can't all be right. Actually, they are all wrong.” Something I had to question as I grew up. But the Bible's contents are unique (qualitatively different to all other religions) and compelling I reckon.
Regarding the scientific validity of the bible, had it remained silent on such matters and confined itself to spiritual matters I could understand your comment. But it contains so many factual errors and misinterpretations of the natural world how can anyone believe the author was the creator of the universe. It should have been very easy to dictate a factually correct account of the creation that would accord with subsequent scientific investigation.
Factual errors... do you mean:
“The Bible says pi = 3.”
“The Bible groups bats with birds, and that shows its ignorance of basic anatomy.”
“The Bible says insects have 4 legs.”
“The Bible says heaven is held up by pillars.”
None of which are legitimate complaints.
Perhaps we 21st century humans will go down in history as being a bunch of primitive savages, because our literature speaks of the beauty of a sunset, which will show how we ignorantly thought the sun revolved around the earth. If we had any scientific knowledge at all, our literature ought to be speaking instead of the beauty of the earth's rotation bringing our location on the earth's surface to the point of tangent with the sun's rays, and the resultant selective atmospheric absorption and scattering of optical wavelengths. (let the reader understand)
It borrows so much from other religions and its directives are often immoral to our standards. I cannot understand how you reconcile this to get to your current belief position.
Hmm, in 25 words or less? The Bible says “don't divorce” and “stay faithful to your spouse for life”. My experience is that these principles are part of a winning formula for real contentment, and it seems that society is suffering significantly for thinking these moral principles are obsolete.
Regarding your evidence against evolution I don't think I can progress this discussion. Your argument appears to be (1) because there is a small gap in one aspect of the evidence then it's all wrong, therefore... god really did it. (2) because one minute bit of evidence appears to contradict some other minute bit of evidence then it's all wrong and therefore...god did it. Nature is a puzzle that science is solving. Science is a process. It's often wrong, but eventually it gets it right. Faith is a denial of human intelligence. I have no need for faith or belief in invisible magical father figures.
Fair enough. My opinion is that the gaps are not small and the contradictory evidence is not minute. New fossils are apparently being discovered all the time, all over the world. Surely, according to evolution, we should be discovering every imaginable form of intermediates (well, a lot anyway) on the spectrum between reptiles and birds, wherever some ancient localised mudslide blesses us with a snapshot of life at that time and place. Ah faith... faith says that eventually these intermediates will be found.
Yes a point to seriously consider. One argument is, “There are so many religions, and they contradict each other, so they can't all be right. Actually, they are all wrong.” Something I had to question as I grew up. But the Bible's contents are unique (qualitatively different to all other religions) and compelling I reckon.
Factual errors... do you mean:
None of which are legitimate complaints.
Perhaps we 21st century humans will go down in history as being a bunch of primitive savages, because our literature speaks of the beauty of a sunset, which will show how we ignorantly thought the sun revolved around the earth. If we had any scientific knowledge at all, our literature ought to be speaking instead of the beauty of the earth's rotation bringing our location on the earth's surface to the point of tangent with the sun's rays, and the resultant selective atmospheric absorption and scattering of optical wavelengths. (let the reader understand)
Hmm, in 25 words or less? The Bible says “don't divorce” and “stay faithful to your spouse for life”. My experience is that these principles are part of a winning formula for real contentment, and it seems that society is suffering significantly for thinking these moral principles are obsolete.
Fair enough. My opinion is that the gaps are not small and the contradictory evidence is not minute. New fossils are apparently being discovered all the time, all over the world. Surely, according to evolution, we should be discovering every imaginable form of intermediates (well, a lot anyway) on the spectrum between reptiles and birds, wherever some ancient localised mudslide blesses us with a snapshot of life at that time and place. Ah faith... faith says that eventually these intermediates will be found.