Barriers to belief

Originally posted by FMF
I believed that it was divinely inspired and therefore true and therefore compelling.

Of course I know you believed it was divinely inspired. But why did you believe it was divinely inspired? Surely there was a reason?

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
Of course I know you believed it was divinely inspired. But why did you believe it was divinely inspired? Surely there was a reason?

The Bible makes the claim - about itself - that it is divinely inspired. I took this to be true. I believed it. I found it compelling.

Originally posted by FMF
The Bible makes the claim - about itself - that it is divinely inspired. I took this to be true. I believed it. I found it compelling.

So when you were a Christian and someone asked you why you found the Bible compelling, you would say because it claims stuff about itself? If you say so.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
So when you were a Christian and someone asked you why you found the Bible compelling, you would say because it claims stuff about itself? If you say so.

I used to believe - like all Christians do - that the Bible was divinely inspired. You have claimed it is divinely inspired too. The Christians around me agreed. Non-Christians didn't.

Originally posted by FMF
I used to believe - like all Christians do - that the Bible was divinely inspired. You have claimed it is divinely inspired too. The Christians around me agreed. Non-Christians didn't.

But you didn't believe there was a reason why it was divinely inspired, you only believed it because other Christians did and not for any other particular reason?

-Removed-

Of course he claims to have had faith, but I would like to know what his faith was based upon? Reason, or simply blind faith with no reason, blindly following the crowd. 1 Peter 1:15 says "Always be prepared to articulate a defense to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

What is the reason for the hope you have Dive, if you don't mind me asking? What do you hope to achieve by calling someone a dick? 😉

Originally posted by FMF
I used to believe - like all Christians do - that the Bible was divinely inspired. You have claimed it is divinely inspired too. The Christians around me agreed. Non-Christians didn't.

By inspired do you mean God's words written by man? Or inspired by God with man's imperfection mixed in?

-Removed-

As I started reading your post I thought you were talking to me.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
But you didn't believe there was a reason why it was divinely inspired, you only believed it because other Christians did and not for any other particular reason?

I used to sincerely believe that the Bible was God speaking directly to me through true historical stories of his relationship with his chosen people, recorded by those people to whom he had revealed Himself, and that the New Testament clearly showed us that He sent his son to die for us and save the world. I used to derive great comfort and fellowship from the fact that other Christians also "knew" this to be "true" and acted upon it. It was both a communal thing and a highly personal thing. The "evidence" that all this was true and real seemed to me to be on every page of the Bible and seemed to be substantiated by every waking moment, every event and every interaction. It was all a very genuine and all encompassing sense of certainty and constant confirmation. If you cannot relate to or empathize with any of this then maybe your Christian faith manifests itself or feels different for you, but it doesn't really matter to me now whether you can or can't.

-Removed-

you are what you post, we both are.
😀

Originally posted by FMF
I used to sincerely believe that the Bible was God speaking directly to me through true historical stories of his relationship with his chosen people, recorded by those people to whom he had revealed Himself, and that the New Testament clearly showed us that He sent his son to die for us and save the world. I used to derive great comfort and fellowship from the ...[text shortened]... elf or feels different for you, but it doesn't really matter to me now whether you can or can't.

I can totally relate and empathize with you. Sadly I think some Christians eventually loose their faith because they the are told just to accept that the Bible is divinely inspired, and they are not allowed to question why that is the case. And they are told to accept everything by blind faith with no logical reasons given to strengthen their faith. I don't deny that some people are happy to accept things no questions asked, but that doesn't work for me.

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
I can totally relate and empathize with you.

I don't believe you. Nothing I said in the post you were replying to was hardly any different from stuff I've said to you in numerous posts over the last few months. It's just the same stuff. Deliberately so. I wanted to see what you'd say. Now, you say you "can totally relate"? And yet throughout 2016 you just ignored it, pretended I hadn't said anything... and asked the same questions over and over and over again in some kind of piss-take ritual that you think passes for discourse. And now here you are, presumably bored with this particular strand of trolling, and you suddenly come out with "I can totally relate and empathize with you". You strike me as being totally bogus. 😉