Is this a blatant cop-out response?

Question

When a questioner asked about obvious contradictions in the Bible, one Christian wrote, "They're not contradictions. It takes the Spirit of God to reveal His message to you."

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but are you people saying that the premise for understanding the Bible is the reception of the Holy Spirit? So anyone who questions the validity of the Bible is either lying, or doesn't understand it? Doesn't that seem like a blatant cop-out answer?

This wasn't a one time thing. I see this response from Christians all the time. They're basically setting the situation up so that criticizing the Bible is impossible.

Answer 1

Fundies get a secret decoder ring as part of the "born again" process. It helps them "get" all those troublesome parts of the bible that seem like bullshyt.

Answer 2

"Stop, you're both right! It's two philosophies in one!" The thing is, you can't really understand or appreciate, say, Japanese Noh theater without a great deal of sympathy for the Japanese culture. The fact that it's archaic and obtuse and filled with unlikely sybolism and larger-than-life characters does not mean that it isn't the highest art, nor does it mean that the message it was designed to carry is wrong or obsolete.

Much of the Christians' concerns are found in the story as told in The Bible about the life of Jesus himself. To my mind, that part seems to be a quite reasonable accounting of events that actually happened. Historical evidence from other sources also points to this.

It's true that some parts of the New Testament, or especially the Old might be considered 'mythology'. But consider this definition which is in the preface of the great novel "The White Hotel", by D.M. Thomas. In speaking about one of the subjects he treats, psychiatry (which can be almost as controversial) he says: "I mean in no way to denigrate the great modern myth of psychiatry. By myth, I mean a popular explanation of a great truth."

So, following D.M. Thomas's reasoning, which isn't to hard to do, the essential word becomes "truth". That is something which often -- perhaps more often than not -- is understood intuitively or at least inductively rather than deductively. Look how much of the greatest real science started with an "Aha!" that seemed at first farfetched. Look around you. The world is obviously flat, isn't it? Gravity always goes "down", doesn't it? So the basic idea of Christianity as I understand it, that is, the birth, life, death and sacrifice, and resurrection of God descended to earth through his desire to reclaim Man from sin -- seen in the terms of real openmindedness, it is (once I divorce myself from linear thinking) -- something that may well have occurred. Suppose, for instance, that God PLANNED the Passion at the same moment he gave Man free will? After all, "I Am The Alpha, and The Omega".

I think a newer way of thinking this is what Jesus meant when he said that one should approach the kingdom of heaven with the mind of a child, and is also the real meaning of the parable of the camel who can't get through the eye of a needle: whose chances are compared to those of a rich man trying to get into heaven. Why would Jesus despise those who had inherited wealth any more than those who had inherited disease? I think he meant "rich in ideas", rather than rich in money.

The point is, the Christian philosphy accepts the power and dominion of God over all things (including time) -- and postulates the only type of God which could be given that name: one which is infinite and therefore will always be beyond our understanding, at least mentally. But the heart and even more, the soul, can understand and experience things that we might sense as little as we do our own conception or death. While Christians can be off base in their interpretation of the faith in which they believe, that doesn't mean their belief is false, any more than someone crashes an airplane through bad judgment means that the airplane is faulty.

So the Bible cannot, then be fully "understood" unless one has first been endowed with a conscience graced by "The Spirit of God". Nothing wrong with that, as far as I see it. We've all got a lot to learn. It's the ones that think they've got all the answers, whatever their faith or beliefs, that make life difficult for everyone else.

Answer 3

Hey, it's a smart way to go if what you believe in takes so much faith (and what I'd call delusions). It's like in middle school when a little kid wants to prove that he has the best pencil. He says "Anyone who has a blue pencil is cool," and if he's persuasive enough, the poor kid in the back with a red pencil is a 'loser'. Having 'coolness' is the same to Christians as having 'the message of the Bible', and they like to make it impossible to do that without a certain thing like a 'blue pencil' or the 'spirit of god'. It makes things intangible and therefore very hard to refute. When someone decides you're not cool, man, you aren't cool, and there isn't much you can do about it. If the "Spirit of God" doesn't talk to you, man, you just can't understand that big book of secrets.

I find a lot of things to be similarly juvenile about Christianity, actually.

Answer 4

I have yet to see a real contradiction in scripture, and I have asked repeatedly for this information. Whenever someone tries to convince me that "there are contradictions in the Bible", and I ask "where?" they usually come up with mis-matched verses taken out of context, and call that a "contradiction". I call THAT a cop-out.

The Bible is NOT hard to understand. It is just LONG. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, either.

Are some things easier to understand when one is a Christian? YES. Just like it is easier to study the stars when one has a telescope and a map, it is easier to study the Bible when you have faith in Christ. However, it is not an absolute necessity. Faith in Christ can come through study of the scriptures, as one honestly reads and considers the topic before them.

Answer 5

it is an interrogation technique used with the help of police to get information out of suspects. 2 law enforcement officers could be contemporary, one "good" and one "undesirable". The undesirable one will generally initiate the interrogation, and get offended and pissed off on the suspect (bash the table and so forth) and hurricane out of the room in disgust, Then the coolest cop will take over and say some thing like "Sorry approximately him, he's having a foul day" or some thing haha. the coolest cop will then proceed in having a delightful ideas-set to the interrogation. the assumption in the back of it relatively is that it creates a assessment between the two law enforcement officers. The undesirable cop leaves this type of undesirable effect that the suspect will sense he/she will open up the the coolest guy, the undesirable guy makes the coolest guy look plenty extra helpful in reality. i've got in no way considered it paintings surely, yet I watched lots of cop shows. desire this allows!

Answer 6

Just wait until you get them contradicting the Bible. A fundie will do the most amazing mental gymnastics trying to explain how being in direct contradiction to the bible is actually following it literally.

Answer 7

Its easy to look at a particular verse and twist it to mean one thing or another. What i have learned in understanding the Word of God is that its important to read and comprehend what is before it and after it, sometimes you need to go back to previous chapters, sometimes previous books, sometimes the Old testament. There are verses in Revelation that have can be interpreted by going back to Genesis.
Even if i found a contradiction, that doesn't mean that my belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior will change. All i need to do to brighten my day is read Jesus' words (usually in red print), they're easy to understand and they are the true teachings of our Lord.

Answer 8

It is not a Cop-Out.
You have to be Born-Again to UnderStand Deeper Things in the Bible.

But, if your Not Saved, you will Still be Able to UnderStand Enough to Get Saved!!!

The Word of GOD will Make the Simple--Wise!!

Answer 9

"Fundies get a secret decoder ring as part of the "born again" process. It helps them "get" all those troublesome parts of the bible that seem like bullshyt."
-Laptop Jesus, Reanimated

and it's called a frontal lobotomy.

Answer 10

yes its a cop out-do you know what a drinking question is-that is a drinking answer-careful as it is used quite often and can make for a long night on the internet---smile and enjoy the night