Exactly how far-fetched does a religious story have to be for religionists to doubt it?

Question

Is a story about a man killing 1,000 other men with a donkey's jawbone reasonable?

Is a story about a city of people turning to salt for being gay reasonable?

I just had to ask.

Do you think Microbiology sucks?

Answer 1

well at this point id have to say extremely far fetched

right now we have talking shrubbery, talking donkeys, magically controlling water, magical demons who want to do bad things to you for absolutely no reason, magical men in the clouds who concern themselves with wether you touch yourself at night....its pretty far fetched....but apparently we need to go even more far fetched for them to get skeptical.

from an educational standpoint....thats really a BAD thing.

Answer 2

Why do you ask the same question twice?

I believe every word of the bible. Am I crazy? Some people would think so. Here's the kicker. As time marches on, more and more of what's in the bible is being proved correct, much through archeological digs. That accounts for names and places in the bible and in some cases, actions, like all those great battles.

So where's the myth? If all these things are being proven as historical fact, is it that difficult to believe other things to be true also. I agree, that story of Samson is pretty wild, but is it unbelievable?

Da Vinci made drawings of aircraft and submarines in the 15th and 16th centuries. Would you have believed man could fly or travel under water if you had lived back then? Not rational based on what was known at the time.

So you may say it's not rational for Samson to slay 1,000 men. But only because of what we don't yet know.

No one thought it possible for Israel to defeat an overwhelming surprise attack by her Arab neighbors in 1967. In six days the war was over. Israel was victorious. I've read accounts of Arab soldiers being driven back by the sheer terror of seeing riders on horseback swinging fiery swords. An Israeli secret weapon? Or God intervening to save His people using His own army?

There are countless stories in the bible of the Israelites being surrounded by vast armies ready to wipe them of the face of the earth. How did they prepare for battle? They got down on their knees and prayed for God to save them. And in each case, they're enemies destroyed each other. The battle was God's, not theirs. Maybe God did the same for Samson. I don't know.

Why do I believe all this? Personal choice. I want to believe that someone is in control of this whole messed up world. No man or group of men is or ever was. Is this rational thought? In my book, yes. I'm putting all my chips on God to some day right all the wrongs and in the process save me from the wretched world.

BTW, Sodom and Gomorrah were not turned to salt. That was Lot's wife. Those cites were hit with fire and brimstone. Pretty serious. So how would you handle a city full of men who wanted nothing better than to pile drive the next stranger who walked though the gates?

Answer 3

lol it doesn't work like that man - it's a teeter-totter between rationality and faith. The less likely or rational something is, the more faith it takes in order to believe it, so the the harder people will believe it jsut to prove their faith. The principle of believing the unseen means the more unlikely something would appear to be, the more important it becomes to believe in it. So the more far-fetched the story, the more likely people of faith are to believe it to be not only true, but miraculous evidence of the existence of their deity. If something's logical, there's no faith needed to believe in it, and so it becomes viewed with a certain mundane suspicion.

It's the unwinnable argument :o)

Answer 4

The scientifically-verified and experimentally-supported theory of evolution - regarded as the foundation of all modern biology and medicine by over 99% of scientists worldwide - is apparently on the wrong side of credulity for people who will believe that a perfect god can accidentally leave a talking snake in his best project, wrecking the whole thing. Go figure.

Answer 5

Where on earth do you derive the story of the city of people turni9ng to salt for being gay?

Answer 6

For people of faith,those could be a test. For people of no faith, a stumbling block. read about the doctrine of election.

Answer 7

Your just too intelligent for the rest of us. We cant even begin to answer on your level.

Answer 8

There is no story so ludicrous that some fool won't believe it.

If you get enough fools believing the same nonsense, you call it a religion.

Isn't that sad?

Answer 9

If its ok, Im just gonna watch everyone tell you what we believe instead. It's more fun :)

Answer 10

Apparently it can be anything and they will buy it. By the way... micro can be tough but hang in there, particle physics is fun!