The Bible IS The Word of God! No doubt about it!

reply to post by Esoteric Teacher


I don't know why you are so angry, you need to calm down to have an intelligent correspondence.
Anyway, I'll just reply to some of your accusations since the rest of your post are nonsensical.

You said:

2.Its total circulation. you are liar! Total circulation? i never read it, thus: No total circulation.
now you are zero for two, and you have committed a sin, you lied.

Teacher, is your argument and rebuttal so weak that all you can do is resort to accusation and name calling? And you call yourself a “teacher”. All you need to do is Google and do a little bit of research and you will have the proof.

But in any case, calling me a liar makes your case very weak. Do you really want to stand on that argument? If you do then are you also prepared and have the guts to call following institutions/people LIARS?

Do you believe Teacher, that The World Book Encyclopedia lied when they said this?

The Bible is the most widely read book in history. . . . More copies have been distributed of the Bible than of any other book. The Bible has also been translated more times, and into more languages, than any other book.”

So as to make sure that you don't accuse me again of making this up, here's the location.

The World Book Encyclopedia, 1994, Vol. 2, p. 279.

What about these people who produced this publication:

Scriptures of the World, edited by Liana Lupas and Erroll F. Rhodes, 1993, p. 5.”

Did they lie too when they claimed that:

The Bible is also the most widely translated book in history. The complete Bible or portions of it have been translated into more than 2,100 languages and dialects. Over 90 percent of the human family have access to at least part of the Bible in their own language.

What about this website:

www.ipl.org...


Did they lie too when the said this?

The Top 10 Bestselling Books of All Time:

The Bible

"No one really knows how many copies of the Bible have been printed, sold, or distributed. The Bible Society’s attempt to calculate the number printed between 1816 and 1975 produced the figure of 2,458,000,000. A more recent survey, for the years up to 1992, put it closer to 6,000,000,000 in more than 2,000 languages and dialects. Whatever the precise figure, the Bible is by far the bestselling book of all time."

There's more but I think these three witnesses should suffice to prove the FACT!

Will you call them liars too?

I'll await your answer.

Btw, in case you didn't know the The World Book Encyclopedia is a highly respected source of information in the world unless you say otherwise.

So Teacher please share your knowledge with the students, were waiting.

Thanks,
edmc^2




[edit on 25-5-2010 by edmc^2]

reply to post by edmc^2


I certainly won't deny your sources by any means and I will be more than happy to be rational here but you have to understand that my questions and inquiries will be very simplistic in nature because frankly there isn't the need to be complex to respond to your claims. I will do my best to stay respectful because it isn't my desire to argue you, just question a few things.

1.Its antiquity.

Very true. This book is terribly old but that doesn't validate its truth at all. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is much older. This is what I read being an Egyptian-based Wiccan but does the date of the book make it true? Does the fact the BOOD is older make it more reliable than the bible?


2.Its total circulation.

The Koran and many other books have sold hundreds of millions but you don’t regard these as true. Quantity does not equal validity. American Idol is a hugely watched show but that doesn’t make it good.

3.The number of languages into which it has been translated.

Again this doesn’t make it true.

4.Its surpassing greatness as a literary masterpiece.
5.And its overwhelming importance to all mankind.

Neither do these above.

Independent of all other books:

1.It imitates no other.

Very true. This book is terribly old but that doesn't validate its truth at all. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is much older. This is what I read being an Egyptian-based Wiccan but does the date of the book make it true? Does the fact the BOOD is older make it more reliable than the bible?

2.It stands on its own merits, giving credit to its unique Author.

Again we have no verified proof that this is indeed the word of your god. Not to mention the many authors and twists.

3.The Bible is also distinguished as having survived more violent controversy than any other book, hated as it is by many enemies.

Ok my greatest comeback to this is the Christians who loathe and hate Harry Potter. It struck massive controversy in many Christians hearts but we know that HP isn’t true. So this is another claim not based on fact. The witches of old, the Jews, the pagans. All of these people were hated for their beliefs. Does the huge controversy there make them all true? ((PS I am not using this as a means to hate Christians because the Christians persecuted them…just making a point))

The problem here OP is that truth is a concrete. We can verify that 2+2=4 simply by adding quantities of items and seeing the results before us. What you’ve done here is taken abstract concepts and claims and tried to make them concrete. It just doesn’t work that way.

It’s the same as me saying I love my wife.

You tell me to prove I love my wife.

How can I? I can show all the most amazing displays of affection you can fathom but in the end, the possibility does exist that it was all for show, at least in the observers mind. You cannot use an abstract to validate the concrete.

-Kyo

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
1) There are far older written records than the Bible.

The book of Job is older.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
3) That's because of the Great Commission, Christians are meant to spread the Gospel, this explains both circulation and the translation. Also the number of translations actually works against it being the word of God because there are ALWAYS things lost in translation.

Not true. A fragment of the book of John was found and it's the same thing that we have today.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
4) I'll agree that from a mythological standpoint it is a fascinating literary work but this does nothing to prove it is the Word of God.

Prophecies prove it. Jesus spoke about alot of the Old Testament people.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
Here's five reasons why it cannot be the Word of God

1) Its filled with self-contradictions
- God is meant to be loving and merciful but slaughters the first born of Egypt, drowns everyone including all children in a horrific flood, has the Israelites decimate Jericho including the children, etc. And the greatest moral paradox of all a loving God's decision to not only create a realm of eternal torment but to send his beloved creations there for offenses as simple as lying, being a coward, or being a magician (Revelation 21:8) FOREVER.

God is a God of justice. People send themselves to Hell not God.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
2) It is historically inaccurate
- There is no basis in fact for most of these myths, while some of the places might be based in fact this does not mean the supernatural elements of the myth are true. In the same way I might watch a movie where Godzilla attacks Tokyo, Tokyo is a real place but am I to believe Godzilla actually exists based on that fact?

Not true.
"It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference"
(Shelly, p. 103).

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
3) It offers a very poor moral code
- Those that work on the Sabbath are to be put to death. Suffer not a witch to live. Women who aren't virgins when they get married should be STONED to DEATH. A supposedly "good" God ordering people to wipe out entire civilizations and leave NONE alive. Animal sacrifice that involves SPRINKLING BLOOD on an ALTAR. The taking of virgin sex slaves and much much more.

Those were God's laws. As for wiping out entire civilizations, those were giants who were pure evil.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
4) The Creation account has been proven Wrong
- A perfect God would make no mistakes in the writing or inspiring of his book yet we KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Creation account is all wrong. The evidence we've found is irrefutable, if there is a God he used natural processes, not magic, to create life and to cause life to become diverse gradually, not in only a week.

What evidence?

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
5) It was used as a tool of the Romans and later European powers
- The Romans hijacked Christ's religion and used it to uphold their own tyrannical power. Later on this religion of "peace" was used to uphold tyrant kings and justify torture and genocide in the name of converting people to Christ. If this was God's book surely he could have protested to it being used this way either that or it would be so perfect as to be UNUSABLE as a tool of evil.

There are over 16 ancient "non-Christian" sources for Christ.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
In conclusion:
The Bible's moral teachings are disturbing, disgusting and woefully inadequate for modern man. It further paints a disturbingly bipolar image of God making God seem equal parts evil tyrant and merciful father. In some passages God is the forgiver of all and will forsake no one and in others he is dolling out punishment that does not fit the crime or slaughtering children as in Egypt.
The Bible therefore is the flawed work of man.

God has been misrepresented by those who don't know Him.
John 8:41-44

Originally posted by texastig
Prophecies prove it.

Prophecies prove something alright. Personally for me this is one of the most unconvincing aspects of the so-called "bible proofs". The so-called prophecies (of any religion) are so vague that almost any set of circumstances and the interpretations of the prophesies themselves can be manipulated to fit the "prediction" which itself evolves into memes or type II replicators that take on lives of their own. An example of such a meme is "He is coming soon", the falsehood of which is self-evident. The same dynamic is at work in the evolution of harebrained conspiracy theories. These sorts of imaginings appeal only to the undereducated and persons predisposed to delusional thinking.

reply to post by KyoZero

“The problem here OP is that truth is a concrete. We can verify that 2+2=4 simply by adding quantities of items and seeing the results before us. What you’ve done here is taken abstract concepts and claims and tried to make them concrete. It just doesn’t work that way.

It’s the same as me saying I love my wife.

You tell me to prove I love my wife.

How can I? I can show all the most amazing displays of affection you can fathom but in the end, the possibility does exist that it was all for show, at least in the observers mind. You cannot use an abstract to validate the concrete.”

I’m not quite sure what you are referring as an un-observable abstract but I think it’s similar to what Lilitu was asking – empirical evidence. Although I’m not sure if she is referring to empirical evidence related to psychology.

But in any case here’s what I know based on experience and observation (if you don’t mind) which confirms that the Bible is indeed the word of God.

Here’s where you see the difference between those who practice true Christianity and those who claim to be Christians.

Since you mentioned love, let’s take one of the outstanding qualities of God – Love (agape – principled love).

Although abstract it is observable in a most amazing way. When applied faithfully w/o any reservation the observable results are more than amazing and one might even call it a miracle.

Consider this please:

There’s a command in the Bible that no man-made command can surpass. Search the annals, history books or any other book that ever exist none can match it. Only thing they can do is copy it.

Here’s that command: Jesus summarized it beautifully this way: The Law of Love.

Matthew 22:37-40: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets.”

The Golden Rule:

All things, therefore, that YOU want men to do to YOU, YOU also must likewise do to them; this, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean. (Matthew 7:12)

Here are just a few of examples of what resulted when Bible principles were applied and are in ones heart:

A young woman in North America had to fight very hard to change. A victim of child-hood sexual abuse, she grew up in a violent family and eventually turned to drugs. Drugs were expensive, though, so she sold herself as a prostitute to pay for the habit. She also ha-rassed and robbed tourists and ended up spending more time in prisons and poolrooms than she did at home.

“When Jehovah’s Witnesses met her, she had—after several abortions—become the mother of an illegitimate child. Nevertheless, she liked what she heard from the Bible and began to study it. Soon she was building a relationship with God and making adjustments in her life.

A hard fight lay ahead, however, because the old personality was deeply ingrained. On one occasion, she took offense at some well-meant counsel, quit studying the Bible, and went back to her unclean ways. But she could not forget the Bible truth that had been implanted in her, and she admits: “Every now and then I had feelings of guilt, and the words of 2 Peter 2:22 raced through my mind: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit and the washed sow to the mire.’”

Eventually, this knowledge motivated her to make another determined effort. She says: “I began opening the door to Jehovah and praying often for help.” This time, the new perso-nality became more firmly implanted, although she still had to struggle hard. Once, in a mo-ment of weakness, she relapsed into drunkenness and immorality. This time, though, her reaction showed that she was truly changing. She was disgusted with herself and says: “I did a lot of praying and studying.” Eventually, God’s Word exerted power in her life to such an extent that she became an active Christian, living a clean, honorable life. For several years now, she has been a totally different person from the abused, drug-addicted, wild-living individual that she used to be.”

Do you agree that love changed that woman’s life in an observable way even though the source was abstract (as you say)?

I’m sure other religions have similar examples but in the following, so far I can’t find something similar in scope. Such as the ones experienced by true Christians in the Nazi concentration camps during wwII.

How did they survived and not succumb to the badness around them? Many of them confessed that foremost of all, their love for their God and fellow man (good and bad) helped them to cope and overcome all of the badness and wickedness. One old lady said this – if you can’t take it, take it with love. One gentleman said this: if I start hating them, what good will that do to me? I will only be hurting myself more – thus he applied the law of love. For these true Christians “vengeance is mine says God” (Heb 10:30).
In her book Forgive—But Do Not Forget, author Sylvia Salvesen said of women Witnesses who were her fellow inmates in a Nazi concentration camp:

“Those two, Käthe and Margarethe, and many others, helped me a lot, not only by their faith but in practical matters. They procured for us the first clean rags we had for our sores . . . In short we found ourselves amongst people who wished us well, and who showed their friendly feelings by their actions.”

In her book Imprisoned for Their Faith—Jehovah’s Witnesses in Auschwitz Concentration Camp, researcher Teresa Wontor-Cichy of the State Museum wrote:

“The stance of this little group positively influenced other prisoners, and their daily, determined resistance strengthened others in the conviction that under all conditions people can stay faithful to the principles they adhere to.”

No other book in the world such as the Bible have much power in changing lives for the better even in dire circumstances.

To quote what Mahatma Ghandi said to Lord Irwin

““When your country and mine shall get together on the teachings laid down by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, we shall have solved the problems not only of our countries but those of the whole world.”

cont..

Would that be an observable abstract if all nations applied it?
Lastly the greatest example of this abstract called love is God himself:

Here’s the often quoted verse: John 3:16

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life”.

Imagine seeing your son suffer a very painful death in the hands of wicked people. Can you watch them beat your son mercilessly over and over again, spit at him, slap him and finally nail him to death? For what? Can you hold your anger if that were you?

Yes God was able to hold his anger because of this abstract thing called love. What about Jesus, he was willing to give his life and suffer a humiliating painful death. Be accused of and die for something he did not do. How was he able to do it?

Here’s his word:

“No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends. You are my friends if you do what I am commanding you.”—Joh 15:13, 14:30-31.

So these are just but a few of tangible proofs of what the Bible can do to someone’s life, a tangible example of the greatest display of love. Is there such a book that matches it? Indeed the Bible can attest to that many times over in very practical ways.

Lastly, notice this scripture:

For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart. 13 And there is not a creation that is not manifest to his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have an accounting.” (Heb 3:12,13).

Side note: the law is also abstract but we can observe its results because we are go-verned by it. Break this law and you will suffer the consequence – whether be it traffic law or the law of gravity. And that is a concrete truth.

I do not argue that the abstracts do happen. The story of the woman with the Jehovah's Witnesses is no doubt true and I believe she found love from the bible. This I have no qualms about. I am also sure you have tons of stories but the point is it still doesn't prove it is the word of God. What it DOES prove is that the word in the book itself is powerful for many.

I should however clarify my position. Abstract is the wrong word so I do apologize for that.

What I am getting at is that the connections you are making aren't exactly concrete.

That story you told, while lovely, doesn't prove that it is the word of God. There are many books that inspire but it doesn't make them divine.

It's tough to explain because I thought I had made it clear...obviously I did not.

All of those things you mentioned are not undeniable concrete proof. Yes the concepts like its antiquity ARE concrete but...

ok I got it...

Tell me exactly HOW it's antiquity proves it to be God's word. Lemme start with that.

Like I said I am sure the scripture has helped millions upon millions but it still doesn't prove that scripture is from God.

Because if that IS the case then the Book of the Dead was written by the gods and they are real too.

-Kyo

[edit on 25-5-2010 by KyoZero]

Some people cried during Avatar and found a new love for mother earth...omgomgomg, it's like mother earth speaking to us through a movie, letting us experience love!!

^^^ See how insane this sounds?? Just as insane as believing the bible is the word of a god. It was written by men, as a means to control the masses through religion. Just like the Qran, and every other religious scripture asking people to worship something/someone.

Stop being like sheep and start being RATIONAL and LOGICAL again

Originally posted by Lilitu
Prophecies prove something alright. Personally for me this is one of the most unconvincing aspects of the so-called "bible proofs". The so-called prophecies (of any religion) are so vague that almost any set of circumstances and the interpretations of the prophesies themselves can be manipulated to fit the "prediction" which itself evolves into memes or type II replicators that take on lives of their own. An example of such a meme is "He is coming soon", the falsehood of which is self-evident. The same dynamic is at work in the evolution of harebrained conspiracy theories. These sorts of imaginings appeal only to the undereducated and persons predisposed to delusional thinking.

How can you explain that one man [Jesus] fulfilled prophecy in the Bible?
Jesus fulfilled more than 324 individual prophecies that the Prophets wrote concerning Him.
The science of probability attempts to determine the chance that a given event will occur. The value and accuracy of the science of probability has been well established beyond doubt - for example, insurance rates are fixed according to statistical probabilities.
Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmont College and Peter Stoner have calculated the probability of one man fulfilling the major prophecies made concerning the Messiah. The estimates were worked out by twelve different classes representing some 600 university students.
The students carefully weighed all the factors, discussed each prophecy at length, and examined the various circumstances which might indicate that men had conspired together to fulfill a particular prophecy. They made their estimates conservative enough so that there was finally unanimous agreement even among the most skeptical students.
However Professor Stoner then took their estimates and made them even more conservative. He also encouraged other skeptics or scientists to make their own estimates to see if his conclusions were more than fair. Finally, he submitted his figures for review to a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation. Upon examination, they verified that his calculations were dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. (Peter Stoner, Science Speaks, Chicago: Moody Press, 1969, 4).

How do you explain the world wanting a one world currency foretold in the Bible?
Rev 13:17
"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

[edit on 5/26/2010 by texastig]

Originally posted by edmc^2
reply to post by Esoteric Teacher

 

I don't know why you are so angry, you need to calm down to have an intelligent correspondence.

that is part of my problem, i admit. i'm not so much angry as i am curious as to why you are denying yourself your own full potential, or something is interfering with you knowing that potential. although i may know some of the obstacles in your way, as you may know some obstacles in my way, our goals are the same, truthy truisms, and less social deceptions.

Anyway, I'll just reply to some of your accusations since the rest of your post are nonsensical.

which statements made are nonsensical?

You said:

2.Its total circulation. you are liar! Total circulation? i never read it, thus: No total circulation.
now you are zero for two, and you have committed a sin, you lied.

Teacher, is your argument and rebuttal so weak that all you can do is resort to accusation and name calling?

if the shoe fits. you are the one who stated as fact the bibles "TOTAL CIRCULATION". This statement you make presumes that there is not even one soul on earth (or anywhere else in the universe) that has not heard of the bible.

perhaps you should re-examine the meanings/definitions of "total" and "circulation" before you tell others that it is an indisputable fact that everyone has heard of the bible.

And you call yourself a “teacher”. All you need to do is Google and do a little bit of research and you will have the proof.

all i need? you presume to know what i need? You presume to know what everyone else should accept as absolute fact, when your presented facts contain flawed logic.

flawed logic you choose to label as: "nonsensical". which, by all means is your right

teacher to me means someone who shares information, be it speculative or merely what is or can be possible. All that humanity knows to be scientific fact, was first percieved as science fiction.

But in any case, calling me a liar makes your case very weak.

no, your lying makes your case weak. failing to effectivley rebuttal or admit you lied also weakens your case. my case is between me and my god. your place is not inbetween god and i. Yet, your arguements and thread here seem to indicate you feel you have such authority. i wish to engage that which gives you that authority.

Do you really want to stand on that argument?

arguement or debate? some truisms aren't rooted or seeded by compitition. this is a conversation. and yes, i know where i stand, and i know a sturdy foundation.

If you do then are you also prepared and have the guts to call following institutions/people LIARS?

if it walks like a duck ....
if it talks like a duck ....
then why isn't it a duck?

perhaps calling you a liar was wrong, but you did lie when you stated as fact that the bible has been totally circulated.

Do you believe Teacher, that The World Book Encyclopedia lied when they said this?

The Bible is the most widely read book in history. . . . More copies have been distributed of the Bible than of any other book. The Bible has also been translated more times, and into more languages, than any other book.”

no, i think you lied when you decided to interpret the above statement to mean that the bible has been totally circulated, when it has not been.

So as to make sure that you don't accuse me again of making this up, here's the location.

you made it up. nowhere is the claim made by the sources you offered that the bible has been circulated totally. back up your claims, or admit you have provided false information. after this we can have a more fruitfull conversation, i think. friends and family should correct eachother when they are wrong, not perpetuate a lie in order to protect their feelings. let people live with enough lies, and they may lose the very feelings they were trying to protect. sort of like that chinese finger puzzle thing. wouldn't you agree?

Did they lie too when they claimed that:

The Bible is also the most widely translated book in history. The complete Bible or portions of it have been translated into more than 2,100 languages and dialects. Over 90 percent of the human family have access to at least part of the Bible in their own language.

90% of the human family has heard of the bible.
this statement is inconsistant with your statement of total circulation.
thus, a lie. not intentional perhaps, but a statement made that is not supportable, nor accurate.

Did they lie too when the said this?

The Top 10 Bestselling Books of All Time:

The Bible

"No one really knows how many copies of the Bible have been printed, sold, or distributed. The Bible Society’s attempt to calculate the number printed between 1816 and 1975 produced the figure of 2,458,000,000. A more recent survey, for the years up to 1992, put it closer to 6,000,000,000 in more than 2,000 languages and dialects. Whatever the precise figure, the Bible is by far the bestselling book of all time."

i have no intentions of disputing the fact that there may be 6,000,000,000 bibles on planet earth.

i guess i am more prepared to acknowledge and recognize the fact that the earth's current human population is approximately 6,800,000,000.

Again, your statement of total circulation is debunked by your own presentations here.

6,000,000,000 bibles. (4 of them in my house)
6,800,000,000, people.

this does not equate to total circulation

There's more but I think these three witnesses should suffice to prove the FACT!

Will you call them liars too?

I'll await your answer.

from their perspectives they didn't lie.
but they didn't make the claim you have made concerning total circulation

Btw, in case you didn't know the The World Book Encyclopedia is a highly respected source of information in the world unless you say otherwise.

thanks for the advice.

So Teacher please share your knowledge with the students, were waiting.

Thanks,
edmc^2

Waiting does not equate to being prepared to accept some realizations that reality may exceed our imagination.


god is what happend when you exceed the sum of your parts.

god is what occurs when the elementary instincts of fight or flight no longer produce vialble options, yet one finds themselves in a situation where something must be done.

god is neither confined nor defined by any label, name, OR BOOK!



[edit on 26-5-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

reply to post by Esoteric Teacher


First off Teacher, my apologies if I was a bit rough in my last reply to you. Not my intention to offend you nor downplay your opinion – just that name calling does not play well with me. So again my apologies.

Now, you said:

if the shoe fits. you are the one who stated as fact the bibles "TOTAL CIRCULATION". This statement you make presumes that there is not even one soul on earth (or anywhere else in the universe) that has not heard of the bible.

perhaps you should re-examine the meanings/definitions of "total" and "circulation" before you tell others that it is an indisputable fact that everyone has heard of the bible

perhaps calling you a liar was wrong, but you did lie when you stated as fact that the bible has been totally circulated.

I believe you missed the point of my statement “Its Total Circulation” - it simply means total QUANTITY distributed not as you put it “that the bible has been totally circulated”.

KyoZero understood this statement too – as quantity.

Based on the facts presented by “The World Book Encyclopedia“ and the other sources – it confirms that the Bible is the most widely distributed book in the world and that no other book in the world can match its circulation.

It is what to expected of a book with divine backing! That everyone have access to it wherever you are in the world. Is there any other book that can match it?

Thus if you still insist that:

no, i think you lied when you decided to interpret the above statement to mean that the bible has been totally circulated, when it has not been.

Then I can't help you since “Its Total Circulation” simply means Total Quantity Circulated/Distributed, clear as the daylight.

Btw, I'm glad that you have not just one but four in your house. I hope you read it daily as I do.

It's a treasure of knowledge, up to date even tells future events (one of my next post).

Side note:
Dictionary definition of the words “Total” and “Circulation”:

Total:
n.
1.An amount obtained by addition; a sum.
2.A whole quantity; an entirety.
adj.
1.Of, relating to, or constituting the whole; entire. See synonyms at whole.
2.Complete; utter; absolute: total concentration; a total effort; a total fool.

v., -taled, or -talled, -tal·ing, or -tal·ling, -tals, or -tals.

v.tr.
1.To determine the total of; add up.
2.To equal a total of; amount to.
3.To wreck completely; demolish: survived the crash but totaled the car.
v.intr.
To add up; amount: It totals to three dollars.

Circulation:

1.Movement in a circle or circuit, especially the movement of blood through bodily vessels as a result of the heart's pumping action.
2.
a.Movement or passage through a system of vessels, as of water through pipes; flow.
b.Free movement or passage.
3.The passing of something, such as money or news, from place to place or person to person.
4.
a.The condition of being passed about and widely known; distribution.
b.Dissemination of printed material, especially copies of newspapers or magazines, among readers.
c.The number of copies of a publication sold or distributed.

Thanks,
edmc^2

I'd like to ask a question...

If the Bible is truly the Word of God, which religion best reflects the ethos of that word? Clearly, I do not mean the simply classification such as "Christianity" since there are so many flavours of Christianity that it is easy to lose count.

All of the flavours are different in subtle, but very important, respects. Since they are all based on the Bible, the hypothesised Word of God, they may all be wrong in one or of their fundamental tenets of understanding of that Word.

Is it the case that the Word is ambiguous and if so, who decides what its meaning is? They cannot all be correct. If that were the case then a religion that took all of those incorrect interpretations and based a whole doctrine on them could also be deemed as following the Word of God since it would be legitimate to interpret the Word as one feels appropriate.

So, which interpretation is correct and why?

Originally posted by SugarCube
I'd like to ask a question...

If the Bible is truly the Word of God, which religion best reflects the ethos of that word? Clearly, I do not mean the simply classification such as "Christianity" since there are so many flavours of Christianity that it is easy to lose count.

All of the flavours are different in subtle, but very important, respects. Since they are all based on the Bible, the hypothesised Word of God, they may all be wrong in one or of their fundamental tenets of understanding of that Word.

Is it the case that the Word is ambiguous and if so, who decides what its meaning is? They cannot all be correct. If that were the case then a religion that took all of those incorrect interpretations and based a whole doctrine on them could also be deemed as following the Word of God since it would be legitimate to interpret the Word as one feels appropriate.

So, which interpretation is correct and why?

All of the protestant denominations hold to the core values of the Bible. They do differ about things that have no salvation issue.

Well,I do know one thing about religion to be a true fact.

The Christian religion and its "missionaries" are/were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of innocent people in the last 2000 years since their "Messiah" walked the earth.

The Mohammedan religion and its "missionaries" are/were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of innocent people since the 1500 years or so since their "Messiah" walked the earth.

The Buddhist religion is the ONLY religion that has spread through out the world PEACEFULLY in the 2500 years that its "Enlightened One" walked the earth.

I don't have a clue as to who is the right or correct person/religion to believe in.

Each person must decide for themselves,logically.

My gut instinct is the ONE who was here on this earth long before the others and is not used as a political tool of men.

[edit on 26-5-2010 by Oneolddude]

[edit on 26-5-2010 by Oneolddude]

Originally posted by Oneolddude
Well,I do know one thing about religion to be a true fact.
The Christian religion and its "missionaries" are/were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of innocent people in the last 2000 years since their "Messiah" walked the earth.

Do you have any sources for that?
Thanks

reply to post by texastig


Timeline

Alot of this done in the name of Christianity. Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Witch hunts

Don't get me wrong, us Pagans and Wiccans are not without our violence too...just sayng you asked for source. These Christian violent movements are well known and even if the Christian leaders condemned the violence (which in a few cases they did) it still occured 'in the name of God'

Not sure how to deny that

-Kyo

No texas, their calling card is the crusades and the inquisition. I myself don't know much about them. But I do know this.

1. The Christian religion is also responsible for the most charity organizations on this planet.

2. The most canonized saints who worked 2000 years of scienitfically tested miracles. Still to this date.

3. And the teachings that go like this.


" Thou shall not kill "

" love your enemies "

so obviously the crusafes were either done by hypocrites, OR, by the preservation of Gods faith.


we don't know what was in people hearts back then towards the Church.


If the poster who said that texas tig said what christ said.


" love your enemies "

And his followers hypocritically denied that, does the posters words become null?

ofcourse not.




And BTW we have had over 40 antipopes in our churches history who saints themselves had to remove after certain heresies.



peace texas tig.

[edit on 26-5-2010 by JesusisTruth]

reply to post by Oneolddude

The Christian religion and its "missionaries" are/were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of innocent people in the last 2000 years since their "Messiah" walked the earth.
The Mohammedan religion and its "missionaries" are/were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of innocent people since the 1500 years or so since their "Messiah" walked the earth.

Considering that the world population did not reach 500 million until 1650CE and that:

By 1 A.D., the world may have held about 300 million people. One estimate of the population of the Roman Empire, from Spain to Asia Minor, in 14 A.D., is 45 million. However, other historians set the figure twice as high, suggesting how imprecise population estimates of early historical periods can be.

www.prb.org...

Don't you think that the term "hundreds of millions" is a tad bit of an exaggeration?

jadfieger beautiful work.

I completely didn't even recognize that point.

Originally posted by KyoZero

Alot of this done in the name of Christianity. Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Witch hunts

I had heard that the crusades were done to stop the muslims from taking over.

As for the Spanish Inquisition, those were catholics. I don't believe that catholics are Christians.

According the book called, "The Light and the Glory", the witch hunts were opposed by the pastors.
I'll type out the actual source for you when I get home.