Debate: Billy Carson vs. Christian Wes Huff on Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity

WRT Christianity and Buddhism, I can’t speak to the art, but there are obviously various beliefs and practices within each. Many Christians look down and close their eyes during prayer. Some Buddhists meditate with their eyes closed, but most I have read or listened to meditate with their eyes open - sometimes fixed on a visible object as a point of focus.

 

I’ll just throw in that Biblical meditation is not inward focused, but rather upon enlarging thoughts of God.

 

Glad you're willing to deal with garor-Doh! I put him on ignore bc he is a complete waste of time substantively.

...and now you've outed his sorry ass twice for plagiarizing AI, and trying to pass that shit off as his own.

%@#$&n Loser.

 

that’s a lot of nothing. You just could have stopped after the first couple of sentences where you admit your beliefs are not backed by evidence. That is really my only interest in this discussion. The rest of it is you trying to justify believing in something that is backed up by nothing.

 

So we’re back to no evidence wherein it is bleeding obvious that evidence is person relative.

Cat —> tail.

 

Saying it's "person relative" just reduces it to "opinion". Evidence, in the scientific sense anyway, must stand up to testing, peer review, alternative hypothesis, etc., I'm not talkigna about opinions. I'm talking about stuff like this " … new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory. " Even The Pope knows the difference between knowledge and evidence, vs. opinions.

 

So since not everyone believes in Bible-God the Bible must be reduced to opinion, thus ruling out the possible that some misunderstand it more than others misunderstand it.

 

You are using the word "believe" ... So that shows you are talking about opinions. Also, it's without a doubt "some misunderstand it more than others misunderstand it". Just look at all the good Christian people who embrace Trump. But various people misunderstanding it in different ways doesn't really prove anything one way or the other. Being open to interpretation means it's open to opinions, and less fact and evidence based. Lots of people misunderstand works of fiction, too.

 

This all smacks of opinion, leading to the conclusion that “no evidence” is merely an opinion.

 

That's not what the Pope said ...

 

Jesus and the Apostles were celebrating the Passover at the Last Supper, but Jesus deviated substantially from the Passover tradition in institutioning the Eucharist at the Last Supper (bringing into focus the teachings in John 6:20 et. seq),.

Hence the Eucharist is based on the Last Supper, not the Jewish Passover (though somewhat derivative of it).

...and Christians since the Apotolic era, have held that the Eucharist IS the body and blood of Christ, not symbolic of it. This is reflected in both sides of the great schism, "...the 2 lungs of the Church".

It wasn't until welllllll after the (so called) "Reformation"--1,500 years later--and only in some of the resulting splintered off sects--that the notion of the Eucharist being symbolic was introduced.

So definitely, still, an unorthodox and minority opinion.

 

Watched an online sermon today in which the pastor referenced Joshua 10:12-13 where the Sun stood still. He preemptively quieted skeptics by asking them to be consistent and never to refer to the sun rising. Man after my own heart.

 

Not a great example. Figurative language like "rising" and "setting" sun doesn't make the earth stopping its rotation for a day any more believable, or provide evidence that it ever happened. Sounds like a doomsday event, anyway ...

Per Smithsonian, "At the Equator, the earth’s rotational motion is at its fastest, about a thousand miles an hour. If that motion suddenly stopped, the momentum would send things flying eastward. Moving rocks and oceans would trigger earthquakes and tsunamis. The still-moving atmosphere would scour landscapes."

 

It’s precisely the same thing. It’s call phenomenological language. You’re just keeping the ancient Hebraic scriptures at arm’s length due to your fear of the possible intrusion of evidence.

 

It's not the same thing. The Bible says the Sun stopped moving for about 24 hours, making the day longer so some Army could use the extra daylight to win a war, right? Do you believe that happened?

 

*sighs* it’s hyperbolic language. But why do you strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. It’s not like you believe the Son of God died and rose again.

 

So, the Bible is wrong, this didn’t happen? It’s an easy yes or no…

“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”

 

Was the Bible wrong when it said the Sun was created on the fourth day ?

gnat, camel

 

Weird that you are unable to answer simple yes and no questions about whether or not specific parts of the Bible are true, and just want to change the subject. I can. That time line of the Bible is Absolutely false. We know the stars formed first and earth wasn’t formed until 500 million years later as asteroids got pulled into its orbit, collided, and combined.

 

I affirm that the Bible is true with respect to the truth it means to convey.

Why don’t you just admit that the Biblical literature is presently over your head and, as a devout wooden literalist, you are not competent to critique it ?

If the flood was 22 feet higher than the Himalayas,
where did Noah find a thriving olive tree ?