Often when faced with contradictions in the Bible, Bible literalists will inevitably claim "We do not understand God's ways" Aside from a complete inability to prove this claim true (or false for that matter) which makes it a fallacy, what else can be said about such a comment. Take for example those that claim " A Biblical Mandate to do something about abortion" http://www.abort73.com/end_abortion/a_biblical_mandate_to_do_something_about_abortion/ The word Abortion is not mentioned in the Bible but in Numbers 11 "God" proscribes abortion for a woman who is pregnant and the Father is not the husband (or the husband questions this). Then we have a law by God stating that children are not to be punished for the sins of the parents. A few chapters later we have God ordering the slaughter of children and babies for the sin's of the parents. Facing such contradiction the literalist will inevitably exclaim "Humans do not understand the ways of God" OK .. lets run with that. If humans do not understand the ways of God from what is written in the Bible, then how can someone claim that God is against abortion ? Either we understand Gods ways or we do not !? If we do not understand God's ways from the Bible, then what is the point of reading the book in hopes of getting into God's good books ?
When in confusion or misunderstanding, pray for guidance. God answers prayers, just not in the way you think. Most of the time he answers them in life situations, one must be aware of God at all times to pick up on these. Personally, in the situation you have described here, you are using both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the old, yes God would either send angels down or He Himself to punish man for their sins. After Jesus, He no longer interferes. Again personally, I would imagine myself with God in heaven, in doing this, I do not see God or His Kingdom performing abortion's. That is how I would get the answer from God, on this certain situation, to apply here on earth. However, God is also very logical. If it is only logical to proceed with the abortion, I'm sure He would understand. To do it just because you don't want the child, will most likely anger Him. For it was the actions the woman took, that led to the child. If you play you pay, you cannot reap the rewards without the consequences, obviously that's only logical. I do realize to non believers that this sounds crazy. But then again to most non believers, we sound crazy anyways.
Seems to me that any understanding no matter how flawed is better than no understanding at all. I do not claim that any religion completely understands God's nature. But they are at least a starting point.
I agree with your assertion that God is likely logical. This is one of the main reasons I do not think the Bible is (at least not all of it) inspired by God or has anything to do with God. Going with the " God is logical" line of thinking. It is a fact that most zygotes do not make it. 70% of zygotes do not implant and of the. Those that make it that far do not make it (as many as 50%) to birth. If God figured that the zygote was such a big deal would it not be logical to have made the reproduction process a little more efficient ? With respect to your OT/NT claims in relation to God, they just to not make any sense. You start out claiming that God will answer prayers and finish with saying God does not interfere anymore = God does not answer prayers. At the end of the day, we do not know for sure whether or not there exists a God, heaven or hell, never mind knowing what any of the aforementioned is like.
I disagree. Sometimes it is good to claim "I don't know". This however, does not mean we should not try to understand. The problem with having a "flawed" or potentially flawed understanding is when people start to accept these various hypothesis as True or Fact. History is full of horror, human atrocity and killing in the name of God on the basis such belief.
Agreed the ongoing search for truth is a good thing. Then you are saying that since science and math are flawed, all research in them must stop. Science has been shown to have fundamental flaws in the past (cf Galen, Gaia centric theory, phlogiston, etc.) Math has demonstrable flaws at this time: the fact that 0.999 . . . =1 is a flaw in our numbering system. Both math and science have failed to come up witha resolution between classic and quantum physics. And so on. History is full of horror. God is often the excuse. But God was never the excuse for the Holocaust, the liquidation of the kulaks, the Armenian genocide, The massacre at Katyn wood or the Bataan death march. God is often the excuse for much baser motives: the Crusades and Inquisition had economic motives. IMO the motives were the true reason while religion provided the excuse.
Those who claim to understand God cannot provide irrefutable proof that God even exists thus the claims are at best based upon ancidotal evidence. This is why there are so many different interpretations of God rather than one universal view.
There are no contradictions in the bible, only contradictions in our interpretation of it. I have challenged everyone here multiple times to show me one contradiction I could not explain and no one has ever been able to do so. You are welcome to try if you wish but please do not insult me by copying and pasting a supposed list of them from some trash website. Do your own research and ask me about a contradiction you think you have found.
You started off well. Pointing out contradictions in the bible and how they can be interpreted for both sides of any argument. Then you went down a winding road which led you to use the bible to prove a point. Something I expect you would not allow a deeply religious person to do. Be careful when fighting the monster you don't become the monster.
I'm getting the feeling the question is more why we give credence to the Bible regardless of its content. I'm sure there are complete works of fiction which also do not contain contradictions (internally or with the real world) which we still don't believe in (I would name an example, but if I chose one specifically, someone could probably find a contradiction in that particular work). Why is the question "are there contradictions in the Bible?" and not, for instance "are there contradictions in the Vedas or the Qur'an?"? Why isn't the question "what are we justified believing in?" and how do Christianity or other religions fit into that?
God answers prayer through life situations. You have to always be aware of God to see them. It's not that he's interfering, one must know of God. If one does not, than they can't see the prayer being answered. "Those with eyes, let them see, those with ears, let them hear". Here Jesus is talking about the evil and good in this world. Those of faith, let them see, those of faith, let them hear. Jesus speaks in parables for a reason. To understand God's word, one must be of faith, that is why he uses parables. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot in the Bible one could understand without faith. In the areas that is hard to understand even with faith, one will not understand without faith. When it comes to the existence of God, I can assure you, He is there. There is no way to prove it, and why should there be? If God came down to prove his existence, people would only accept Him through fear, rather than love. God wants a relationship with everyone of us. He loves us unconditionally, and has a mansion for everyone of us in his Kingdom. Just so long as your name is written in the Lamb's book of Life. It does not take long for satan to deceive people into believing Jesus never existed. During Jesus time I'm sure many people was amazed, seen and felt the existence of God. Especially if they was with or around Jesus. Could you imagine an entire town that knows you are paralyzed and have been for years. And then literally watch Jesus heal him. A lot of people dropped everything the owned just to walk with Jesus, and hear God's word. I can promise you God exists, and created everything. God is also 100% justice, and during judgment, He will weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds. Without Jesus, all of us would be out weighed by our bad deeds. And would not enter the Kingdom. Jesus did this even for the people that killed him, so long as they repent and turn from their sins. How Divine is this? Does not the word or message in the Bible, prove God's existence. What better platform to go by than the Bible, when it comes to Love, Justice, and forgiveness for those who seek it. Or for that matter, a society, or kingdom.
