Skeptic's Annotated Bible the ultimate christian challenge

Originally posted by octotom
reply to post by tinfoilman

 

Yeah, I knew that there were inconsistencies with the whole Horus = Jesus thing, but, I wasn't sure exactly what they were. Thanks for sharing this though. I'll reference it in the future.

I was focusing, in my post, on the broader idea of similarities between the two, giving a reason as to why similarities exist, without concentrating on the details, which I wasn't familiar with.

Look up Keith Thompson/Keith Truth on youtube. He has done some incredibly amazing research on this topic.

My favourite: New age infiltration of the truth movement.

Honestly, the second a skeptic mentions SAB to refute Christianity, at that moment I tune them out and stop taking them seriously.

SAB is one of the worst acts of scholarship I have ever seen and they display a gross lack of reading comprehension. JP Holding once had the entire site debunked in a project on his apologetics site but the information he was refuting was so absurd, he moved it over to his sister site that has a cartoon-theme for the uber ridiculous.

This is the kind of stuff SAB does:

1). Their lack of understanding of apocalyptic literary styles is appalling with their breakdown of Revelation. EXAMPLE. Revelation was written in something called 'apoplectic literature' which uses heavy imagery. SAB seems to be totally ignorant of this. The repeat this tactic in several books that are literary in style like Psalms and Proverbs.

2). Total inability to comprehend theology and meaning. EXAMPLE. SAB claims 'There is nothing good about Paul. Romans 7:18.' When all that passage is really saying is that even the best of us is still sinful and we cannot save ourselves.

3). They claim there are problems that don't even exist. EXAMPLE. Jesus ascended after 40 days. Nowhere in their supposed contradictions does it say he descended in less. It just shows after how many days certain other events took place- not the ascension.

4). A lot of their issues boils down what is called 'argument by outrage.' These can be found under their 'Absurdities' classifications and most of them really aren't even that strange. Like people experiencing death or burying excrement for sanitary purposes, etc.

5). SAB displays an utter ignorance of the Hebrew and Greek original languages. EXAMPLE. SAB points out the fact bats are not birds when the original Hebrew word simply means 'flying creature.' They do this all throughout their site.

The examples are endless and they have hundreds of errors and misunderstandings on their site. So, no. SAB is a joke. The material on their site has been refuted all throughout the web.

People see what they want. Rather than approaching something with an open mind and truly taking the time to do the research themselves, they find something that corresponds with their preconceived notion and use that to support the stance they've already taken.

We all do it to a degree. Thinking is hard and cognitive dissonance drives some behavior. There's plenty of evidence to support the negative of almost anything you're looking to bash.

Spiritual things are discerned spiritually. You can't read any spiritual text with a carnal state of mind and have it make much sense.

I'm much more concerned with a "believer's" misinterpretation and resultant outrageous conclusions than I am about someone who thinks it's all hooey. In my opinion, those who espouse belief and are way wrong do more damage than people who dismiss it all out of hand.

2 things i would like to contribute:

1. honesty

if you point to contradictions in religion, do it to for science and all the rest,
you end point : you do not know anything except there is something

from there you work with logic,

logic: seeing what is not true
observation: seeing whatever happend but not knowing

2. All religions talk the same thing, it only looks different

God is one, because of oneness, he forgives himself
Jesus said he became one with god, glorification,
it means he became one with truth, and truth knows itself
if you search salvation with jesus, but you ignore
that he was one, then you ignore jesus :-)
it means that you are talking to god, one or truth
they are the same names
so this makes scepticism a believers branch,
they ARE believers, they search truth, because of pain,
they carry cross.

SIN is IGNORANCE = choice not to be one (with truth = god = jesus = us )

reply to post by AshleyD


Along the line of the absurdities that they classify, the first time I stumbled upon the SAB, I realized that they go to the Bible with the presupposition that there is no God and they don't even, seemingly, leave the door open for an omnipotent being to exist. Therefore, anything miraculous, or that goes against science, is absurd, which means the Bible must be wrong. Many things, like the Earth coming before the sun, can be rectified when you admit that God could do that, if he exists. Which doesn't happen because, they don't want to acknowledge that it is possible, because then, their world-view may fall apart. Even further, many "problems" could be solved if they were to take scripture as a whole, rather than verse by verse, and think through it, and correlate it. I remember in my hermenutics/homeletics classes in college, we were always told to correlate scripture with scripture because, then it often makes more sense.

Know what I mean?

[edit on 8/21/2009 by octotom]

reply to post by octotom


Yes, exactly. I understand exactly what you mean. For example, all of Jesus' miracles are classified in their list of 'absurdities.' So it's exactly as you say. They start off with their own presuppositions that no supernatural power exists therefore anything supernatural-based is absurd, therefore the Bible is false.

It's circular reasoning. No supernatural activity exists because supernatural activity does not exist.

When looking around a little bit on the SAB's website, I came across this page where the author of the SAB has put the links up to other websites of Christians answering the issues brought up by the SAB. Some of the links may be worth checking out for those looking for answers.

Originally posted by dalan.
reply to post by tinfoilman

 

Actually I think that Rich23 wasn't trying to just bash Christianity, but point out facts. Religion does nothing but cause war, grief, fear, sadness, repression and so on.

What causes war,grief, fear,sadness,repression and so on...Is a
world dominated by the devil.Until Jesus returns,the devil is out
to destroy the entire world.He rages and roars like a lion seeking
whom he may devour.He wants to kill you,your children,your family,
your community,your nation...

When you accept Christ as your saviour,you will know true peace.

One of these days,you christian- bashing,secular,atheists will know the
truth.I just hope you learn the truth before it's too late.
JESUS IS COMING SOON!!
Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord.