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Why don't Christians see the Bible as myth?
Christians see the Greek and Roman myths as myths.
They see the Norse myths as myths.
They see Egyptian myths as myths.
The Bible is full of stories of people being made of dust; people being made of parts of other people; an impossible world-wide flood; a woman turning to, of all things, salt; a woman with a virgin birth; a man who walks on water; giants, monsters, unrealistic tales with moral lessons.
All of these stories have very similar parallels in other groups of myths, most older than the Hebrew and Christian myths.
Like other myths they serve to explain things the science of the day couldn't
Like other myths, they contain stories designed solely to give a group a clear identity and self concept to separate them from other groups and justify feelings of superiority.
Like other myths they contain heroes, monsters and villains with larger-then-life deeds and even super-powers.
Like other myths they contain representations of the world that don't exist, they are unrealistic and unashamedly so.
Like other myths their origins were poorly documented, with no corroborating evidence, and already old enough when written down that evidence AGAINST them was tough to track down.
Like other myths, they are skimpy on detail, just hitting the high points the storytellers wanted.
Like other myths, they are blatantly contradictory and wildly inconsistent.
Like other myths, their ability to correctly prophecy ends in the distant past
Like other myths, there are hints of a grander world that is no more, where people lived hundreds of years, giants walked the Earth, the gods spoke to man, and miracles were commonplace.
Like other myths, they cannot be reconciled to modern scientific knowledge.
And finally, they get angry and offended when the similarities between their myths and other myths are pointed out to them. They claim disrespect and offense... then tell the Native American that the god-spirits they still worship today are nothing but superstitious myth.
What more do you need? The Bible is a collection of myths, all targeted to certain audiences for specific purposes, filled with fantastic claims that cannot be literal, and sprinkled with enough actual history to give the myth some credibility (the best lies contain the most truth, and people believe)...
Note: During my time as a Seeker, before I turned away from all religions, I read the entire Bible, every single word, and some parts, like Genesis, Exodus, and Revelation, I have read hundreds of times. I have read most of the Apocrypha. How many Christians can say the same? How many of you have read the Eddas, Bullfinch's Mythology, and Homer, just to compare to your bible? How many have read the Koran? I have. It's even sillier, but that's a different topic. The Gitas I have read in part. I have studied the Wiccan Rede for 20 years, a single line that says volumes. Ignorance is not my issue. Logic is. The Bible contains none, just the same myths and propaganda as the other religions (except possibly Zen, which isn't actually a religion, like Christianity).
To the who said I must prove that Jesus WASN'T resurrected, I say, prove that my G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather wasn't resurrected, and I will follow your god. You are trying to bait me with b
33 Answers
- 9 years agoFavourite answer
The bible tells us to not steal or kill... So what if everyone kept those two commandments ? Here are the results: You wouldn't need ANY keys. Your car or your money would never be stolen. When you lost you wallet it would get returned to you with all your money still there. There would be no murder and you would be safe anywhere. There would be no more war and millions of lives would be saved. Now what's wrong with that myth ! It has real power to make things better if only people would respond.
Source(s): http://www.ucg.org/ - 9 years ago
No one claims that those Norse or Roman myths are true.
Jews and Christians tell us that the Bible is actually factual.
Everytime the Bible speaks about the ancient world, archologists have eventually proven the Bible to be correct.
For example, Acts 27 says that a Roman ship, carrying the Apostle Paul to Rome for trial, threw four anchors overboard and then cut them loose.
Bob Cornuke has actually found those four anchors.
Coins have been found in Israel with the name of King David written on them.
About 800 years BC, the same prophet which told us that Jesus would be born to a Virgin told us that the earth is a circle. Note that ancient Hebrew does not have any words which describe 3-D objects such as cone or sphere. See Isaiah 40:22
Unlike those myths, the Bible is objectively true. Many non Christans including Atheists have tried to write an objective book proving the Bible false and ended up becoming Christians in the process, since their object research convinced them that the Bible is true.
Would you like their names? Would you like the names of their books?
I have read the Bible and all 16 books in the Apocrypha and I have a college degree in Math and Logic. I've also read Homer.
The statements you have made prove to me that you really don't know what is logical and what is not.
Source(s): 46+ years following a Jewish Carpenter & studying His Book! I am the real Pastor Art, not the clone. - SalishLv 79 years ago
......the higher power my people recognize is that which is internal and connected to all else....our "messengers" were people who were able to articulate these understandings and define the way our people should ideally relate to one another. I used to think this was in the more literal sense, like how "messengers" in aramaic religions are portrayed (as god-appointed masters of humanity) but I have come to understand that the intelligent of my ancestors were less superstitious and far more spiritual than those of aramaic religions. By default, they were atheists as the higher power in our language is not a human-like dictator/creator, but an understanding of the natural laws of the universe and our interconnectedness as humans and creatures of the universe...there were no "gods" or "spirits to worship" in my culture, and those that are recognized now were introduced by non-natives. Our messenger, dukwibuth, was a philosopher more so than a religious organizer. He introduced our people to more enlightened ways of thinking/interacting and was greatly respected. If he existed at all, (and if you understood the ebb and flow of my peoples' story telling, you would understand how/why such a person might never have existed, but is still such a prominent figure in our history/stories). It could very well be, that like coyote or raven, dukwibuth is a cultural character used in stories as needed to teach a lesson or relay a concept, instead of being understood as being an actual person or thing. Hard to explain that one....but other natives will get what I am saying.
To sum it all up, Christians or those of any thought-suppressing society do not dwell deeply on their own beliefs (doing so usually results in atheism. Don't believe me? Read the bible to yourself, out loud...), therefore they do not do the same for others. Instead of facing their mythology for what it is, it is far less challenging to blindly accept it and disregard all others.
Source(s): Native - anthony hLv 79 years ago
because unlike yourself and some others, we have not been deceived or seduced by satan into spiritual death about it. So then, have you read the mazarah? the dead sea scrolls or the hebrew manuscripts, have you learned the original tongues like most of us so that we can translate the word correctly like Hebrew, Chaldee, Aramaic, Greek.
Well, the worst thing in the world is an educated fool, he deceives himself that his brain out works and out does God. He will die in His ignorance and His soul will go to hell.
We don't need to convince you to follow God, you need to recognize that it is your freewill, your choice and your lack of salvation. All the knowledge in the world can't give you that eternal life you do not have.
Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all else will be added unto you. Where is your list of impressive degrees? bring a little more to the table than a bsn so that all that knowledge is not in vain or an adverse reaction to so much reading yet not getting it at all. Myths have nothing to do with facts and truth. The Holy Bible is truth and it is fact, tell us of one failed prophecy in the word of God. There are also witnesses who did testify to incidents in the bible and the history of it evidences itself.
Your myth and it's culture is imaginery and cannot say the same. You have given no hard evidence that the bible is untrue, only your opinion and you know what about that, everyone has one.
Your rant is compromises it's own credibility and your basis for it. At the end of the day, it still remains your issue and your problem that you do not believe, it is of no consequence to anyone who does. I suggest you learn the original tongues and go deeper into the word of God and not remain superficial for in that lies your spiritual death.
If a man wants wisdom, let him ask God for it. So says the scripture, so if you want to be knowledgeable, don't be chickened, go ahead, ask God to reveal truth to you, He will. Can you handle that?
for your last statement, don't follow God, for us, follow Him for you.
Call on the name of Jesus and be saved this day. Demons are with you and they are destroying you, Knowledge is power and can be powerful when it aligns itself with truth, you missed that and deceptions and falsehoods have taken away your sight, and blinded you to truth, but only God has the power of life and death. choose.
- Anonymous9 years ago
Immanuel Kant, the German writer and philosopher was right when he said “Man must be disciplined, for he is by nature raw and wild.” And in his book, Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes described man as cruel, greedy, and selfish, and if not caged, they would fight, rob, and trouble each other. Therefore, an intelligent person knows that man can do anything to serve his personal interests. Man is a potential anything. God’s scripture can be a victim of man’s corruption. Like any other valuable commodity, scripture can be counterfeited. Unless there is divine intervention, man can corrupt the Holy Scripture for reasons best known to this greedy man.
Hence we should not rush to claim the Bible is the word of God without investigating it. “Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books” Maimonides cautioned long time ago, “for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen.”
In short, after my analysis I came to the conclusion that the Bible is a mixture of both the true word of God and man’s corrupted insertions. Bart D. Ehrman, a leading scholar of the Bible cogently suggests not to accept everything without rational evaluation as he says: “In my opinion, people need to use their intelligence to evaluate what they find to be true and untrue in the Bible.” If you want to factually know know about the authenticity of the Bible, please read Dr. Laurence Brown’s book “MisGoded” or Bart D Erhman’s book “Forged” both found on Amazon.
For proofs and mind-changing arguments about the Bible, see these two short articles: (1) “Right Revelation” and (2) “Blind Faith.” You can find them here:
- XYLv 49 years ago
Why do we believe in the Bible.... because it is true in its history, prophecies etc. but you don't seem to like that fact.
An ex-atheist Lee Strobel wrote a book called The Case for the Real Jesus" Prof. Daniel B. Wallace (wrote the textbook on ancient Greek & Greek translation) in an interview "says "It's disturbing that when it comes to the Christian faith, people don't really want, or know how, to investigate the evidence",
I would say you want to be ignorant and by your irrational rant have issues with being accountable to God and beholding to Jesus for his sacrifice.
Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ - Daniel Wallace
http://rzim.christianbook.com/dethroning-exposing-...
The Case for the real Jesus - Lee Strobel
http://rzim.christianbook.com/the-case-for-the-rea...
In the end another ex-atheist Josh McDowell seems to describe you well, it isn't the evidence it is a moral choice to believe.
Your G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather is in the grave and no one follows him, no one wrote of him, no prophecies fulfilled by his life or death and no lives have been changed by his existance. So I hope you decide to open your mind and actually look at the evidence someday, you will be shocked how much you truly are ignorant of the difference.
Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist. --C. S. Lewis
Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God. -- Tom Stoppard
Sorry to dismiss your rant so easily but my faith isn't based on myth but on my search of what is true, just because you are ignorant or you don't want it to be true doesn't mitigate the fact it is true.
So to use the words of another ex-athiest C.S. Lewis "Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it."
Source(s): Case for Christ & Case for Faith - Lee Strobel http://family.christianbook.com/case-christ-faith-... The New Evidence that requires a Verdict - Josh McDowell http://family.christianbook.com/new-evidence-deman... The Twilight of Atheism by Alister McGrath A former atheist who is now one of Christianity’s foremost scholars http://rzim.christianbook.com/twilight-atheism-fal... - 9 years ago
Graham, would you have sought harder to find "true" Christianity if you had been born in a Muslim/Jewish/Buddhist country?
To the original question, I understand what you mean. To me it is symmetry: all religions have this same view that they are true and the others are all myths; none have produced any evidence to prove that they are true/have more chance of being true than the others. It is impossible for them all to be true in their claim, and there is no reason to beleive any of them over any other, so it seems that they are all equally false, equaly products of human psychology and fear of the unknown.
- ?Lv 79 years ago
[You believe U.S. Presidents Millard Fillmore, Martin Van Buren, & Calvin Coolidge existed: Not because you ever met those men… but because you have blind faith in what you read… along with billions of other people.]
King James Version Bible
Psalms Chapter 2
1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
John Chapter 3
12. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you [of] heavenly things?
Mark Chapter 8
12. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.
Amos Chapter 5
18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light.
[You might also believe that the sons of men were created by random cosmic forces… if you do, could not that same principle apply to the Lord our God?]
[Did not scientists say when they first created the nuclear bomb that no other nation will using it based on the theory of "mutually assured destruction". Have you been watching the news about North Korea and Iran?]
[Did not scientists use to say that asbestos, cigarette smoking, and off-shore drilling was safe?]
John Chapter 5
43. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
44. HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that [cometh] from God only?
[Also the scriptures explains how all tthese beliefs systems across the planet started. Can they say the same of themselves.?]
- Anonymous9 years ago
Sort of like you claiming some knowledge about us when you talk about "the gods and spirits we still worship today." Fact is, unless we are followers of one of the faiths brought here by non Indians, we worship nothing. Then and now, no gods or spirit worship out here in the west. So, carry on with your rambling rant, but try to research your claims better.
Source(s): Calif NDN - Bill BowserLv 59 years ago
First of all, you need to have a rigorous definition of the word, "myth." Check out "The Power of Myth," in which Bill Moyers interviews scholar Joseph Campbell.
