Dorfman, what concerns me is that where most of the posts here have been a general debate, your argument, has been aggressive and dismissive of every other persons argument.
Fair enough, you might believe you are right in your arguments for the existance of god, what you have said is facts, are not.........they are your point of view, the only 'fact' that I agree with here, is that the bible is a book, however it is a book written by man, albeit 'led' by the holy spirit when written. Now for those that believe in a triune god, then they may argue that it was indeed written by god. However christianity is the only religion out of the 3 that I mentioned earlier that believes in a triune god.
An argument that could be used against you saying the following
"Are you seriously saying that human beings have been on the earth for a couple million years and this as far as we gotten? Please... Look at the last 100 years and how far we've come..."
In ezekial I think the verse is, that man will become more godlike, they will seek to be like god, and I have only paraphrased here, its not the exact wording. This could be an argument for the development of sciences and medicine over the last 100 years.
I believe a more appropriate theory for the creationist argument is that genesis is not referring to 7 days, as in 24 hrs, but as in 7 periods of times, this can account for evolution as you so strongly deny which is shown in the development of animals over the last few milennia.
I personally don't believe that there is much doubt that Jesus existed, and yes I would agree that the argument is wether Jesus is God, even muslims acknowledge that Jesus existed but is acknowledged as a prophet. In Judaism he is not knowledged as the son of god, they still believe that the coming of christ has still not happened.
Its an interesting comment, 'the historical weight the bible holds' to me, yes all books of all eras hold a certain amount of historical weight. In 500 years time, what documents will hold a historical weight, Harry Potter maybe, or the science or medical journals of today. However, in terms of this, there has been aspects of the bible lost in its translation, and as a biblical scholar I am sure you are aware of this. In many translations, the term 'love' has been used a wide range of hebrew words ranging from full emotional intense love, to friendship. Who made these determinations of what words would supplant what?
I think what comes down to it, and its a point that you worryingly miss out in, but someone touched on earlier is Faith........you have a faith has a christian, that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and that he was the son of God. Through accepting him, sins have been resolved, that is the point of christianity.
Remember the two commandments of Jesus as stated in the bible,
Matt 22:37-40. Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.(NKJ)
These are the two laws which Jesus said, he didn't argue about creation, he didn't even touch on it, what his whole intention was to lay down a new law, a new time, where man had previously been separated from god, they could now commune with him first hand.
As I say I am not a Christian, however I do enjoy reading biblical books, I have studied the words that are written, and I have compared them to other translations, it is all down to interpretation, from reading the New International Version, King James bible, New King James Bible, or even the message, each those have key verses which differ and can be interpreted differently.
