Taken
01-06-02, 02:41 PM
It saddens me that Christians turn a blind eye to fact just because it goes against what they are told to NEVER under any circumstance question...the KJV.
Why would it bother us to know that God was NOT the narrator of chaos and unreasonability? There is a natural order to things and the way the universe and we operate. And why wouldn’t there be? Why must God be smoke and mirrors, mystical and magical, unbelievable and improvable? Why would any great power of such supreme intelligence not be the author of a very meticulous and perfectly detailed mechanism? The authenticity of the Bible and accounts of God is no longer a reasonable assessment of the proof, but a fight to be “right” at all costs.
We know that though divinely inspired to write the accounts of mans history and Gods work, the texts were in fact written by men. Men who have just as much trouble describing the unknown and comprehending what was incomprehensible to them as we do and ALL men do. The POINT of the texts and teaching is completely lost in an overwhelming need to nit pick the finite details. The “stories” are not all first hand accounts but retelling of passed down knowledge. We see historically from unbiblical sources, that the areas of the texts that were in fact written by men who actually lived thru and saw them are found to be very accurate portrayals of what historically can be backed up. While other “stories” that were not first hand accounts tend to leave a lot of variance in names, dates, places...but the thing that really matters is Did it in fact take place”?
Using the great flood as an example or even the Exodus.....
We see the Exodus over time being backed up as far more accurate than originally thought...and why wouldn’t it be...it was a first hand account as far as we can tell. The fact that Pharaoh was not historically thought to have thousands of horses and hundreds of chariots has recently been proven by an archeological dig that exhumed stables that are by far nothing short of rare for their time in their capacity to hold so many horses. Why are Christians bothered to think that a volcano and an enormous explosion unlike any other noted would have been Gods tool in creating the plagues and parting of the sea? Did God not make volcanoes? Currents? Wind? The only question now becomes HOW did Moses know these things were going to happen before they did? Was he a geologist or even a meteorologist? Or did he in fact have direct access to the source of such knowledge, the hand, if you will, that controlled such events?
The flood was not a first hand account, it is however historically told of in so many ancient texts and cultures in very similar terms that we can asses something definatly took place. Does it matter if the man on the boat was named Moses or Bob? Stories handed down that many years would change. The real question is since we know the flood happened, and we have much evidence of the Ark and its passengers existing...How did this man foreknow the coming of the flood in time to make the boat that would save him? Did he have the Doppler radar...Or did he also have direct access to the source of that knowledge and the hand that caused such things to happen.
It is the insistence to put God in a box that makes Him small enough for our minds to fathom and deal with that causes these problems. God has never been known to claim to be a man-like deity sitting somewhere in space. He thru the men inspired to write about Him and in accounts of others who have spoke of Him is in fact a Force, an Energy, a Power...the Breath of Life...Existence itself..I Am that I AM. It is by His force and energy that we have breath...that the earth is held in the sky, that the moon pulls the tide. He truly is everywhere and in everything. Why must He be a magician with a magic wand for us? Why is it we make Him so UNbelievable and impossible? How does it benefit us?
We have men standing on a mountain looking at the Altar of Moses....accurate in perfect detail to Moses description of so many ages ago. It can be dated to be ancient...but because it is not THE Mountain some earlier guy decided was THE Mountain....we now deny it as evidence. Get that; Christians denying actual evidence of what Moses said just because they don’t want to admit the first guy sent out to look may have been mistaken. Or the man who wrote it or translated it may have not had all his ancient geographical ducks in a row.
So many things in the Bible make sense based on what our technological advances have now shown us. Jesus healed people and said we also had the ability to do so. Medical advances are going deep in to the fact that the human mind does in fact have some unexplainable (spiritual) control over the body. Placebo medicine. The fact that a preemie laid on its mothers chest...if the mother is told that the baby’s body temp is getting too low the MOTHERS body temp remarkably begins to rise on its own. Pain management thru hypnosis. Monks proved ages ago they can in fact, at will, raise their temperatures...and lower them. We can prove we have these abilities...but like Jesus and those monks...being able to fully and easily access them when ever we desire takes...Discipline, Meditation, and Practice. We must regress in to our selves and learn to contact and control that center of us many of us know as our spirit. Many, many doctors have seen remarkable and unexplainable recoveries where none should have occured due to the power of people praying for a person. Is it all just too reasonable for us? Do we Christians crave sci-fi?
No, we don’t want proof...we want smoke and mirrors...we want a God who is as unreal as possible. A true belief in God would leave one no room to fear of being investigated...by the very definition of being REAL He would be un-disprovable. The only reason to turn a blind eye to discovery or be resistant to scrutiny is if we do in fact believe God to not be real. What is it we are supposedly trying to hide? Not God...He isn’t being hid....it is our inability to use a little common sense and rationale we are hiding. Our inability to admit He is beyond our grasp of comprehension. We SHOULD take awe in that and marvel at the wonders but instead we just want to be RIGHT! We don’t want anyone or anything shaking the foundations of our man made ideas even though we stand in the face of unbelievers and swear we are unshakeable. Why walk around turning your eyes from everything and everyone who questions God...LOOK UP and Behold His glory.
Why would it bother us to know that God was NOT the narrator of chaos and unreasonability? There is a natural order to things and the way the universe and we operate. And why wouldn’t there be? Why must God be smoke and mirrors, mystical and magical, unbelievable and improvable? Why would any great power of such supreme intelligence not be the author of a very meticulous and perfectly detailed mechanism? The authenticity of the Bible and accounts of God is no longer a reasonable assessment of the proof, but a fight to be “right” at all costs.
We know that though divinely inspired to write the accounts of mans history and Gods work, the texts were in fact written by men. Men who have just as much trouble describing the unknown and comprehending what was incomprehensible to them as we do and ALL men do. The POINT of the texts and teaching is completely lost in an overwhelming need to nit pick the finite details. The “stories” are not all first hand accounts but retelling of passed down knowledge. We see historically from unbiblical sources, that the areas of the texts that were in fact written by men who actually lived thru and saw them are found to be very accurate portrayals of what historically can be backed up. While other “stories” that were not first hand accounts tend to leave a lot of variance in names, dates, places...but the thing that really matters is Did it in fact take place”?
Using the great flood as an example or even the Exodus.....
We see the Exodus over time being backed up as far more accurate than originally thought...and why wouldn’t it be...it was a first hand account as far as we can tell. The fact that Pharaoh was not historically thought to have thousands of horses and hundreds of chariots has recently been proven by an archeological dig that exhumed stables that are by far nothing short of rare for their time in their capacity to hold so many horses. Why are Christians bothered to think that a volcano and an enormous explosion unlike any other noted would have been Gods tool in creating the plagues and parting of the sea? Did God not make volcanoes? Currents? Wind? The only question now becomes HOW did Moses know these things were going to happen before they did? Was he a geologist or even a meteorologist? Or did he in fact have direct access to the source of such knowledge, the hand, if you will, that controlled such events?
The flood was not a first hand account, it is however historically told of in so many ancient texts and cultures in very similar terms that we can asses something definatly took place. Does it matter if the man on the boat was named Moses or Bob? Stories handed down that many years would change. The real question is since we know the flood happened, and we have much evidence of the Ark and its passengers existing...How did this man foreknow the coming of the flood in time to make the boat that would save him? Did he have the Doppler radar...Or did he also have direct access to the source of that knowledge and the hand that caused such things to happen.
It is the insistence to put God in a box that makes Him small enough for our minds to fathom and deal with that causes these problems. God has never been known to claim to be a man-like deity sitting somewhere in space. He thru the men inspired to write about Him and in accounts of others who have spoke of Him is in fact a Force, an Energy, a Power...the Breath of Life...Existence itself..I Am that I AM. It is by His force and energy that we have breath...that the earth is held in the sky, that the moon pulls the tide. He truly is everywhere and in everything. Why must He be a magician with a magic wand for us? Why is it we make Him so UNbelievable and impossible? How does it benefit us?
We have men standing on a mountain looking at the Altar of Moses....accurate in perfect detail to Moses description of so many ages ago. It can be dated to be ancient...but because it is not THE Mountain some earlier guy decided was THE Mountain....we now deny it as evidence. Get that; Christians denying actual evidence of what Moses said just because they don’t want to admit the first guy sent out to look may have been mistaken. Or the man who wrote it or translated it may have not had all his ancient geographical ducks in a row.
So many things in the Bible make sense based on what our technological advances have now shown us. Jesus healed people and said we also had the ability to do so. Medical advances are going deep in to the fact that the human mind does in fact have some unexplainable (spiritual) control over the body. Placebo medicine. The fact that a preemie laid on its mothers chest...if the mother is told that the baby’s body temp is getting too low the MOTHERS body temp remarkably begins to rise on its own. Pain management thru hypnosis. Monks proved ages ago they can in fact, at will, raise their temperatures...and lower them. We can prove we have these abilities...but like Jesus and those monks...being able to fully and easily access them when ever we desire takes...Discipline, Meditation, and Practice. We must regress in to our selves and learn to contact and control that center of us many of us know as our spirit. Many, many doctors have seen remarkable and unexplainable recoveries where none should have occured due to the power of people praying for a person. Is it all just too reasonable for us? Do we Christians crave sci-fi?
No, we don’t want proof...we want smoke and mirrors...we want a God who is as unreal as possible. A true belief in God would leave one no room to fear of being investigated...by the very definition of being REAL He would be un-disprovable. The only reason to turn a blind eye to discovery or be resistant to scrutiny is if we do in fact believe God to not be real. What is it we are supposedly trying to hide? Not God...He isn’t being hid....it is our inability to use a little common sense and rationale we are hiding. Our inability to admit He is beyond our grasp of comprehension. We SHOULD take awe in that and marvel at the wonders but instead we just want to be RIGHT! We don’t want anyone or anything shaking the foundations of our man made ideas even though we stand in the face of unbelievers and swear we are unshakeable. Why walk around turning your eyes from everything and everyone who questions God...LOOK UP and Behold His glory.