What is the difference between believing...?

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What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
The Bible is not hearsay…it is the inspired living Word of God - Divine. UFO’s are secondhand experience.

The Bible can be part of a person’s eternal salvation…UFO’s part of great party chatter.
 
It’s all the difference between human faith and divine faith, I suppose.
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
It is analogous to the difference between a perception and a hallucination.
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
Who’s to say that UFO abductions don’t happen? 🤷
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
A UFO abduction story is different from the Bible because the Bible has multiple lines of evidence to back it up and UFO stories usually don’t. The Bible has reliable historical books that are used by archeologists to locate ancient artifacts and cities; it has verifiable prophecies that indicate that its source is more than human; it has moral teachings that are still verifiable today through the theological sciences and the discipline of natural law theology, and when you compare it to the various moral systems of its time (child-sacrifice, polygamy, polytheism, etc.), the Bible stands far above them for not approving of any immoral practice. It’s more than human in several other ways too.

UFO stories are typically just stories. But if they had the kind of evidence that the Bible has…if the abductee said he had information from the aliens that he couldn’t otherwise know and it was true…or he took back advanced technology or something…then it would be somewhat analogous to the Bible’s lines of evidence.
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
Your question is fallacious because the Bible and UFO abduction accounts are quite different. Biblical stories were synthesized either alone or by a compilation of many oral accounts, not unlike the Illiad or other ancient works. There is historical and archaeological evidence that corroborates these syntheses–i.e. Semite pottery in the Sinai desert traced to Hebrews, accounts of Israeli kings by other historians, and so forth. Of course, this only applies to the historical books. Law books and prophetic books do not need scientific evidence because they do not make scientific assertions.
 
Out of the thousands of UFO reported abductions I can’t recall anyone wearing a blessed article having succumbed to one. Just sayin.
 
Ditto on martyrs, historical witness widespread, miracles continuing to this day in Christ’s name, fulfillment of prophecies, etc… A UFO abduction account, true or not, does not have the same strength.
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
Well for starters we need to understand the fundamental difference in the society that produced the Bible and “modern” society.

In the first, oral tradition was a hugely important part of their life, they would tell and retell their stories as a way to pass time as well as their heritage down to new generations. (They did NOT have: TV, Radio, Internet).

It would be really difficult to fully comprehend their way of life compared to ours.

Their senses were more acutely tuned to their enviroment (Survival was hinged on that)
Very little room for error.
Survival of the tribe was also dependent on the group’s cohesion, loyalty and a host of other factors.
I have much more confidence for the people that handed down the Bible rather than modern people whose minds are filled with all manner of trash watching TV all the time.
Some reports of UFO are intriguing no doubt and perhaps there is something there who knows. Hopefully medical science will advance enough for us to either prove or disprove these report soon enough.
 
The Bible has inspired uncounted millions to perform heroically in doing God’s work.

UFO stories never inspired anybody to do anything,
except write a lousy book or produce a screwball television program like “In Search Of Ancient Astronauts”.
 
“Hearsay” is a gossip, rumor. In the case of the disciples, it was not “hearsay”, since they personally knew Jesus and were witnesses to the miracles. Their testimony would not be “hearsay”. It would only be “hearsay” if they testified that they heard about Jesus’ miracles (but were not present or did not witness them).

Secondly, even if something is true that we witness, how many would be willing to state be willing to be tortured and die for it? That the disciples, who witnessed Christ’s miracles, were willing to be tortured and die for their beliefs gives a certain strength to them. That all of the disciples gave witness to Jesus is compelling. Even Judas gave testimony in his own way, but admitting he handed over an innocent man and going out and hanging himself.

Now, had it been one witness, we could maybe dismiss that. However, there were all the disciples and thousands of people who witnessed the miracles, apart from the disciples.

Now, you may say there are many others of faith who had martyrs. Yes, they did. However, one difference with Catholicism is that those who were martyrs witnessed first hand the miracles. With, say, Mohammad, he had private revelation, and there were no witnesses. So, it’s a bit different.

As to the Bible, when evidence comes forward be it historical, archeological, etc., it supports the Bible. So, if it says there was a census, there was. If it said …so and so was king, he was. If it says Pontius Pilate was there, he was.

Now, with UFOs, I am not aware of witnesses of it being willing to undergo torture and death to witness to their claims.

Further, I am not aware of archeological or historical and other data which would back any of these UFO claims.

Something seemed to be very convincing to the people around Jesus, that they flocked to him by the thousands. After his death and resurrection, these mostly uneducated people convinced both very educated and not educated alike to the truthfulness of their claims, which has endured 2,000 or so years.

I find all this very compelling.
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
That is only your opinion. Only a personal encounter with God will help. I pray this occurs for you.

Peace,
Ed
 
How many of the stories of the apostles deaths are based on hearsay themselves?

How many apostles died for refusing to recant, per se, as opposed to dying for merely refusing to participate in the official Roman state religion or for preaching that there was only one god or for other reasons not directly related to their beliefs concerning Jesus’s life?
 
cornbread_r2 said:
How many of the stories of the apostles deaths are based on hearsay themselves?

How many apostles died for refusing to recant, per se, as opposed to dying for merely refusing to participate in the official Roman state religion or for preaching that there was only one god or for other reasons not directly related to their beliefs concerning Jesus’s life?
Click to expand...
Historians agree that the apostles fled for their lives for fear of death when Jesus was crucified. Only to later return claiming he had risen and went to their deaths saying so.
 
Steveabrous said:
Historians agree that the apostles fled for their lives for fear of death when Jesus was crucified. Only to later return claiming he had risen and went to their deaths saying so.
Click to expand...
Which historians?
 
Linux said:
What is the difference between believing events described in the bible according to hearsay alone and believing in UFO Abductions according to secondhand experience?

Why accept one and reject the other if the criteria for belief is merely hearsay?
Click to expand...
It is really a question of how believable the stories in both are.

I find the New Testament quite easy to believe.

The Old Testament is however, more difficult to believe than many stories of UFO Abductions.
 
cornbread_r2 said:
Which historians?
Click to expand...
To be honest I am not a scholar with such resources. I am going off of my personal search (for the truth) which led me to watch many shows on the subject from an historical point of view. Such as PBS, the History channel, etc. They would interview scholars and historians and they always unanimously conseeded this point. Even the non believers.

There it is for what it’s worth.
No one to my knowledge ever went to thier death for claiming to be abducted, even after given a chance to recant.

In my opinion this is a strawman.
 
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