D
Dario
Guest
Quick question. What is the best response I can give to someone that claims the Bible is just a compilation of fairy tales?
- Status
C
COPLAND_3
Guest
Apostolic Succession is a good start. The Early Church Fathers I think is best and most convincing way to prove it. Jesus chose the 12. Those 12 chose successors, and those successors wrote writings, and they chose successors, and then their successors wrote writings and chose successors, and so on. The proof is there. Here is the 1st 800 years of Christian writings. They are an unbroken chain of witnesses that lead all the way back to Christ. It is very unlikely that those who followed a fairly tale claiming to be Jesus’ 12 apostles would have all but 1 (St. John) have died terrible martyrdoms for the cause, and then have convinced their followers to do the same. People will die for what they believe in but they will not die for what they know to be a fairy tale. litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Early+Church+Fathers+Collection
F
Franciscan
Guest
The first thing that came to my mind is the archeological facts and discoveries that corroborate the stories…
christiananswers.net/q-aiia/aiia-arch1.html
christiananswers.net/q-aiia/aiia-arch1.html
C
COPLAND_3
Guest
Franciscan
Great answer!
Great answer!
L
Lev23
Guest
The survival of Israel today.
F
Franciscan
Guest
Thanks. Thanks also for your work on end times/Revelation . It is helpful.
D
Dario
Guest
Thanks to everyone for their responses. … Can anyone here recommend some books to read regarding the validity of the Bible?
W
wjb67
Guest
I know it comes from an evangelical place…but I liked Lee Strobel’s “Case For Christ”…he took a very methodical investigative look at being a christian and that includes reasonable criticism of the Bible.
I like the “The Bible for Dummies” and “The Politically Incorrect Guide to The Bible” as a starting point…that offers alot of good readings as well as a good overview of the validity of the Bible.
good luck!
T
thistle
Guest
Ask them what their source of evidence is for making such a claim. Why should you be asked to refute an unfounded statement.
P
patg
Guest
The one many parishes use for adult bible classes: And God Said What? An Intoduction to Biblical Literary Forms by Margaret Ralph. It discusses all the literary forms in the bible, what they are and how to recognize them.
T
theAuthor
Guest
Sort of at the other end of the spectrum is Raymond Brown. He is very Catholic, but has written a number of books, including “Critical Meaning of the Bible”, which seem to indicate that many Biblical stories aren’t accurate.
eg Obviously there is not enough water in the whole world to flood the whole world (or we’d be submerged now). So Raymond Browns might examine if the story was a “race memory” of a localised flood passed down over generations. And certainly, he’d examine whether a story was meant to be taken literally, by examining the literary forms used as patg was saying. It is suggested that such stories are more important than waht they can teach us than in their veracity. But I say, “If the walls of Jericho didn’t fall because of a trumpet sound, or Jonah didn’t really live in a fish for three days, how do we know that Jesus fed 5000 with a few fishes and loaves?”
Anyway, Raymond Brown might be good reading for someone who considers themselves too intellectual to believe in fairy tales. He certainly tries to accept modern advances in science.
eg Obviously there is not enough water in the whole world to flood the whole world (or we’d be submerged now). So Raymond Browns might examine if the story was a “race memory” of a localised flood passed down over generations. And certainly, he’d examine whether a story was meant to be taken literally, by examining the literary forms used as patg was saying. It is suggested that such stories are more important than waht they can teach us than in their veracity. But I say, “If the walls of Jericho didn’t fall because of a trumpet sound, or Jonah didn’t really live in a fish for three days, how do we know that Jesus fed 5000 with a few fishes and loaves?”
Anyway, Raymond Brown might be good reading for someone who considers themselves too intellectual to believe in fairy tales. He certainly tries to accept modern advances in science.
A
AgnosTheist
Guest
Nice try, guys. But the skeptic only need to mention noah’s ark where all the animals magically fits in. You will try to say that is not literal. And the skeptic would say its not literal because its fairy tale.
The bible was poorly made, my friends.
The bible was poorly made, my friends.
F
Franciscan
Guest
Are you saying it is completely unreliable historically. Or would you concede that there is historical truth in Scriptures? It doesn’t help to point to just one story.
A
AgnosTheist
Guest
there is some historical truth in it. but all those stories about angels & miracles, no decent historian would argue that its historical.
T
theAuthor
Guest
That skeptic would not have spent times studying the authorship of the Bible. The Bible has two authors - God and man. Think of when Gensis was written (it’s hard to do), and the scientific vocabulary that the people of that time had. Virtually none. Also that it was written long after the fact, by Moses. The point of it is not to be a scientifically accurate account, written in today’s language, with today’s knowledge. It is a teaching story.
Moses I’m sure was not a complete idiot. He gives two different accounts of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 (look it up if you don’t believe me). He’d know he was contradicting himself. So what the author intended, and what the skeptic expects of what he wrote are two very different things.
E
ethelzguy
Guest
Were they referring to the Old Testament, or the entire Bible?
I have often heard discussion as to how “literal” the OT should be taken, but I’ve never heard the NT to be taken anything but literal…excluding Revelation of course.
R
RobbyS
Guest
What is so fabulous about the Bible? There are no mythological creatures, relatively few marvelous events. When one gets to the historical books, they have a religious, sometime legendary tone, but David, for instance, is a very “secular” character. What we have is many tales about the history of a middle-eastern people told from a religious perspective.
S
Seagirt
Guest
VERY GOOD. I would agree with the choice of this book. It is an excellent intro. to literary forms in the Bible. Historical-critical writers like Raymond Brown and Joseph Fitzmyer might also be valuable if you are delving into the historical context in which these books were written. i.e why was the Jonah Story told? Did the Jews really wander for 40 years ? How did the concept of a personal, intimate God ( YHWH ) realize itself with this rather nomadic , bunch of sheepherders and not to Egypt or Babylon or any other civilization of the Ancient Near East? Why did they keep telling these tales for so many generations.? Did they understand that God was the principal author of these texts ? In what fashion. / How and Why ? Good questions. Enjoy your studies.
- Status