Well, to be honest, it also takes a lot of faith NOT to believe in God or the Bible.
That's something I agree with.
I find it difficult to accept that something, such as a Big Bang, came out of Nothing. But, at the same time, I find it equally as difficult to accept that God has always been there. How did HE come out of nothing?
The problem is that you are thinking of God in physical terms. Our senses do not deal with the spiritual (generally--some psychics claim otherwise). God did NOT pop into physical existence. He has an eternal spiritual existence, outside of the physical realm He created. What He created is something completely other than Himself. God is a spiritual "person", and has always existed even in the way that we could imagine that honesty or justice could somehow exist, without depending upon the existence of men. It takes a Mind to hold such concepts, not an impersonal force. ...and eternity is a hard concept to grasp.
Is the Koran inspired of God?
In defence of the bible I would say it is a great piece of literary work -- even better than the complete works of Shakespeare. However so is the Koran.
Having read it... I think it is, in the final analysis, on the same level of inspiration as the GB. Would anyone say that the WT is inspired???
Yet there is a lot of truth and insight in many religious teachings, just like you can find in Shakespeare... so was Shakespeare inspired? In some ways, I think, but not in a religious sense. I can glean a lot of useful things out of various writings and points of views without trying to get all egalitarian about them...
I don't care what anyone says, you cannot PROVE any religion. Christians prove things based on the Bible, if you don't believe the Bible they have no proof.
I think of theological arguments as a bit like the Kennedy assassination theories. Most people who look into the assassination, who study it hard, come up strongly on one side or the other of the issue. (I have a hard time deciding about the conspiracy theory, myself!) There are hard-thinking people on both sides. And some in the middle. ...This board has a disproportionate number of atheists, I think, but I have not been swayed by their contentions (Hi Ian! ).
The content of the Bible has been recognized by Jews (OT)and Christians (OT, NT) as directed/inspired by God, and I completely agree with that general assessment. There are plenty of solid scholars and researchers who disagree with the theories claiming otherwise.
But, one thing I personally have in addition to whatever theological argument is the proof of my own private experiences of Christ's presence. It is the thing that has overtaken all else that had made me a Christian before. That is, I first believed in God for basic reasons--need to see causes, for example; I first believed in Christ because of understanding that spiritual concepts truly existed (like love and forgiveness). But the anchor in my faith today is that Christ "showed up" in a decisive manner to me, and I can never forget or deny it.
When John saw Jesus in Revelation, he fell down--he was completely overwhelmed with a greater Reality breaking in upon the physical realm. Elijah also collapsed at the sight of the likeness of the glory of God. It is not a simple, fuzzy experience which we can all relate to, because you cannot relate to it unless you've had it. I think the Christians on this board who have ever experienced that awesome presence of Christ will all quickly agree that the full reality of that provides the best proof of all. Words really fail it. It makes sex seem like a one-dimensional, fleeting joy in comparison.
(I will even go so far as to say that many searching hearts would honestly prefer having that experience over a conclusive theological argument, to test that reality themselves. And they should choose it, if they could, believe me. Yet I don't know God's methods or timing. He's not a bellhop.)
Anywaaaaay, that experience dovetails for many Christians with how we understand God as we read the Bible, so naturally we recognize God's fingerprints all over in the Bible. Whatever you want to call that.
It's also why Christians can be so irritatingly stubborn.
bebu
