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Science v religion
Religion v science
Debate between science and faith
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When considering the basis of the Bible, we need to take into account that there’s no other book in history that has been written by more than 40 different authors in a span of 1,500 years, and yet it all consistently tell the same story. In The Bible Among the Myths, Oswalt states, “If the historical basis on which the supposed revelation [the Bible] rested was false, then why should we give any special credence to the ideas resting on that basis” (p. 31). Therefore, in order to respond to this question, we need to tell what liberalism, rationalism, individualism, postmodernism, logic and science is not telling us. The fact is that if the Bible provenance is false, as a consequence, we could not trust the Bible as the “absolute word of God”. However, the Bible have been proven to be a trust wordy book; and validated by archeological scientific experiments and findings. Even more, some secular historical books provide sufficient evidence and credibility to some of the Bible historical events. …show more content…
But when we analyze it face to face with internal, external and spiritual evidence, we realize that it is a book which has sufficient evidence to prove its truthfulness beyond reasonable doubt. Whether through archaeological experiments, whether by prophecies fulfilled, whether by scientific evidence, or whether by internal and external evidence; the reality is that the biblical events suggest to us that everything happened and not the opposite. In this case, the Bible is very clear that since the beginning Satan has tried to deceive us saying, “did God really said that about the truthfulness of the Bible.” To put the story in context, worldly wisdom tells a men rationalism appears to be correct, however, the Bible tells that “in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs
There are many versions to the same story. There are the heroes and the villain’s side, the conquered and the defeated. However, there are some accounts that have been recorded as true to make the people involved to look more superior than they really where in that event. The event that can be looked at is the battle between the Neo-Assyrians and the Jews of Judah. Each side has its own version of what happened. They also both have their own gods participating in the story in some way. So reading both accounts of the event can tell us how the fighting went and may leave us with new questions.
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
William C. Plachers’ article, “Is the Bible True?” explores deeper into the subject of the Bible and if it content it contains is credible information. Through Plachers’ statement, “We need to understand the genre to understand a text. Reading a text literally is not always reading it faithfully,” we are able to reach the idea that the Bible is in fact true, but it all depends on how the individual interprets the text.
In the book “The Art of Biblical Narrative” by Robert Alter, there is one chapter (Chapter 3) titled “Biblical Type-Scenes and the Uses of Convention” (Alter 47). Alter describes several different stories (but similar in some ways) in the Old Testament that can be difficult to interpret in today’s culture. Alter describes how reading any book (more specifically the Bible), requires use of conventions, which he describes as “… an elaborate set of tacit agreements between artist and audience about the ordering of the art work is at all times the enabling context in which the complex communication of art occurs” (Alter 47). In other words, an agreement of how the writing is done; it can be pretty complex as well. He states that there are stories in the Bible that have the same stories of narrative, but there are different characters, they often are told several times in the Bible. Alter uses several of examples, like how patriarch is driven by famine; or where someone is found and is invited to eat with them, or a betrothal (engagement) near a well/body
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This section of a verse from the NRSV started the grand story of the bible. In the beginning the Bible brings two things to focus. The two things that are focused on is the setting and the main characters of the Bible (Professor Smallbones). The Bible opens in Genesis 1 with God creating. God creates light, the earth, the sun, living creatures, and many other things, but most importantly God creates humans. As God is the main character in the grand story he immediately forms a personal relationship with man and woman. God created Adam the first man and Eve the first woman. In the book, The Unfolding Drama of The Bible, Anderson says, “The
There are many more facts that supports the bible, and it is necessary to know this for our defense against these questions.
Even though humans wrote the text, translating it and passing it down from generations to generations, God’s truth is unchanging. Debates of the inerrancy of the bible cannot usurp God as the King of grace. Instead of focusing on the inerrancy of the Bible, individuals who wish to seek a life of faith should focus on the inspiration God is showing them in his word. These revelations should move them into applicable, daily life changing implications from what they have learned. God shows revelations of himself through the Bible, and his character is revealed time and time again throughout scripture. Any faulty facts or discrepancies in grammar or data, should not take away from the value that scripture holds. When we read scripture we bring new meaning of interpretations of the truths God shows us, since new eras and environmental factors will be influential on how we process information. The bible is not just a fact book, telling humans stories of the past, but instead the bible is inspired instructions for how we can deal with spiritual and ethical encounters we
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
To begin, before a person can debate the validity of anything, they must first understand the topic they are debating. So is the case here. A person must first understand the Bible and its origins before they can try and prove or disprove it. The Bible itself is composed of 66 books divided int...
This book report serves both as an overview and an evaluation of Thomas B. Warren’s book, Logic and the Bible. Warren’s writing is an introduction to logic (“the science of correct reasoning”) and its relationship with the Bible. He focuses much of his discussion around the matter of implication/inference, and its importance in dealing with the Bible in a rational, logical way. Warren states the importance of this matter by describing a theological position that claims that no inference/implication of the Bible is binding to man, but is rather human doctrine/opinion. This ideology has a great impact on how one views the Bible, and Warren attempts to tackle this problem in this book.
The contents of the Bible have dealt with controversy in regards to its inerrancy since publication, and will surely continue to. Historians progress to learn more about biblical stories in order to provide evidence for the reliability of information. Many believers today understand that not everything in the Bible has been factually proven. An outstanding topic many scholars pay attention to lies within the four gospels. The three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, replay essentially the same story with minor inconsistencies, while John portrays Jesus in an entirely different way. The differences in each gospel are due to how each gospel entertains different portrayals of the life and understanding of Jesus himself, in order to persuade
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
The historical reliability of the Bible is the first matter that needs to be discussed. There are three criteria that the military historian C. Sanders lists as principles for documentary historical proof: the bibliographical test, internal evidence test, and the external evidence test (McDowell 43). The bibliographical test is the examination of text from the documents that have reached us. The reliability of the copies of the New Testament is tested by the number of manuscripts (MSS) and the time intervals between the time in which the piece of literature was written and our earliest copy. There are more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 10,000 Latin vulgate manuscripts, not to mention the other various translations.
Wisdom is a concept that most people are interested in. As human beings, we want to learn how to receive wisdom, know how it affects us, and what wisdom really is. Humankind has contemplated these questions for countless years and have come up with a variety of answers. However, as an alternative to the ideas of these philosophers, the Bible addresses these questions through books that are defined as wisdom literature, or literature that gives thought to “universal, humanistic, and philosophical standpoints” (Dell 1).
Truth can be defined as “the conformity to reality or actuality” (“Truth”). When taken literally, this definition can only be applied to merely factual statements such as: “the earth is round” or “one plus one equals two.” Another such example of the literal definition of truth can be seen in the philosophical rational truths that are applicable to all pieces of factual information or certain empirical, matter of fact truths. Thus, the truth of the Bible is often sought for in history, so that the Bible can be tied to reality and made into an actuality. However, such thought patterns are likely travel down a twisting road leading to one conclusion:the Bible is not true.