From: utzoo!utcsrgv!donald Newsgroups: net.religion Title: biblical contradictions Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.1134 Posted: Tue Mar 1 22:39:20 1983 Received: Tue Mar 1 22:46:58 1983 Concerning Brian Nixon's alleged differences between the Bible and other books: - fulfilled prophecies First of all, the New Testament was written AFTER the Old Testament. Moreover, all the allegedly fulfilled prophecies that I've examined depend on VERY (VERY!) liberal interpretations of scripture. Of course, if you're a "Late Great Planet Earth" fan, there's no hope for you... CHALLENGE 1: provide me with a specific example and we'll go at it. - the availability of Biblical manuscripts Ahem. The Hindu Vedas, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita are just as "available". So are Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. I see you've been reading Josh McDowell (of triple-L fame). - independent historical and archaeological records of Biblical events So what? Mohammed really existed too! So does London and the British Empire; the Indian Mutiny really happened too. Thus, 2000 years hence, archeologists will conclude that Sherlock Holmes really existed. CHALLENGE 2: provide me with a significant Biblical event (e.g. Tower of Babel, Flooding of the Earth (whole world, dammit), Creation of the Species, Resurrection of Christ) that has been independently documented. - the testimony of changed lives. Look at any major street in any major city and you'll see weirdly-dressed people banging tambourines and singing "Hare Krishna, Hare Krisha,..." Then there are moonies, scientologists, etc. Belief does not a truth make. What is the substantiation of miracles recorded in the Bible? In many cases, miracles are recorded as being witnessed by several people. These witnesses could be questioned and/or disproved when they recorded the events. This written evidence is available in the Bible. Like heck. The key point is "miracles AS RECORDED". Moreover, in many cases (e.g. the feeding of theby Jesus) the "witnesses" most definitely did not do the recording. As for the Bible being used as the written evidence, this "reasoning" is so clearly circular I wonder how anyone could try to argue with it. My G*D, do you believe that the Greek gods existed because of the Iliad and the Odyssey? What is the scientific basis for miracles? A miracle is by definition something that is inherently inexplicable by science, i.e. a violation of natural law. Otherwise, lightning bolts would be miracles if we didn't know anything about electricity or the weather. What is your criterion for deciding if something is truly a "miracle"? Certainly not something inexplicable by current scientific theories! CHALLENGE 3: provide a believable interpretation of the two accounts of Judas' death. Flamingly, Don Chan