If I was God and I wanted to divinely inspire a book to teach my people how to follow and worship me and show them the truth, I would have kept it simple. Really simple. The fact is, the bible is way too long, too open for interpretation, contradicts itself way too much... it has caused most of mankind's problems in the last couple thousand years either directly or indirectly. That sounds like a major screw up to me. If He is almighty and all knowing, He should have been able to inspire a 1-2 page document, make it easy to understand, make it direct to the point, tell us what you want and cut out all the fluff. But instead he chose to make a book where people can argue about what is literal, argue that passages don't really mean what they say based on other passages and basically a book that is so open to misinterpretation that thousands of religions that belief completely different things claim they follow the teaching in it. People aren't that smart. We're not going to read something that long and complex and get it right. God should have known this. When it comes to something as important as someone's eternity, don't make a manual that is so open to interpretation that thousands of differing religions can pop up from it and have them disagree on everything... that is just a little sadistic if you ask me. He is supposed to know everything, He should know what people are going to misinterpret and disagree on. He could have covered all these points in bullet form in a couple pages or even a Q/A format. It's really not that tough to get it right God... YOU SCREWED UP ROYALLY
Whilst I fully agree with the sentiment the fact is YOU are God. If you think about it more, even if you made it simple others would read it differently. God really isn't too bright sometimes. How simple would you make it? - three words? 'You are God'. Then how do you explain that so people understand what that means. Tell a few stories on how everything began and add a few parables to teach a few life lessons?
If I was Mathematics and I wanted to scientifically inspire a book to teach my people how to follow and use my law and show them the truth, I would have kept it simple. Really simple. The fact is, mathematic books are way too long, too open for interpretation, contradicts itself way too much... it has caused most of mankind's problems in the last couple thousand years either directly or indirectly. That sounds like a major screw up to me. If they are almighty and all knowing, they should have been able to inspire a 1-2 page document, make it easy to understand, make it direct to the point, tell us what you want and cut out all the fluff. But instead they chose to make a book where people can argue about what is literal, argue that passages don't really mean what they say based on other passages and basically a book that is so open to misinterpretation that thousands of mathematicians that belief completely different things claim they follow the teaching in it. People aren't that smart. We're not going to read something that long and complex and get it right. Mathematics should have known this. When it comes to something as important as someone's eternity, don't make a manual that is so open to interpretation that thousands of differing theories can pop up from it and have them disagree on everything... that is just a little sadistic if you ask me. He is supposed to know everything, He should know what people are going to misinterpret and disagree on. He could have covered all these points in bullet form in a couple pages or even a Q/A format. It's really not that tough to get it right Mathematics ... YOU SCREWED UP ROYALLY
Mathematics doesn't claim to have inspired people to write anything. Mathematics doesn't know or care if people understand how it works. Mathematics hasn't caused most of mankind's problems, in fact it has solved countless problems and has improved quality of life. Putting Mathematics in here instead of God doesn't make any sense at all
I think God in his infinite infallibility should be able to break it down so it isn't subject to interpretation... he is God after all. I don't think stories and some parables is really an effective way to teach things. He might have been on to something with the ten commandments... those are pretty hard to misunderstand but even then, they could have used some minor clarifications.
Even just ten commandments is tricky. Is it 'thou must not kill' or 'thou must not murder'? What language should it be written in?
Yeah but he's God, surely He can foresee any problems that would come up and He would write it something like this: Thou must not kill other human beings. This includes people of all lands, races and cultures.
Fair enough. But how do you know that's what he meant? In all seriousness though we ALL know the bible was written by men. Some believe it was inspired by God. My belief is that WE are God so I can't argue God did not write it. God certainly makes mistakes but He does learn from them.
Mathematics inspired legions of inventors and researchers . And you're 100% sure that God cares if you understand the Bible ? Actually mathematics are the foundation of ballistics . Ballistics are responsible for over 95% of the war casualties , executions and so on . Given the fact that propelled projectiles killed hundred of millions of people I'd say that's a problem . Unless killing people is something that is OK in your book . Because blaming God for Man's decisions makes perfect sense
. . . . and there would only be one book used by all people and if anyone tried to change any of its words to suit themselves, they would immediately be on the receiving end of a lightning bolt fired squarely at their derriere.
Mathematics didn't inspire anyone. Legions of inventors and researchers created mathematics. If God doesn't care if we understand it, why inspire someone to write it? Ballistics aren't responsible for anything. That's like saying iron is responsible for making a sword or uranium is responsible for nuclear weapons. It's the people that do these things. Blame the people not tools. "Because blaming God for Man's decisions makes perfect sense" - yeah like blaming mathematics for man's decisions. At least people are doing these things in the name of religion. That is their motivation. People aren't motivated by mathematics to create weapons. They might be enabled by mathematics but that doesn't mean mathematics is the cause. The motivation is the cause.
Or don't even write a book. If we have questions, come to each of us personally in a dream and tell us. That is something He has done in the bible. Instead of having all this one way communication with us praying and searching for answers, how about talking to us, explaining things and showing that He actually gives a damn.
I don't personally believe in God, but why would you presume he wants everyone to know everything and to act a certain way. It is pretty easy to imagine that a God would put out beliefs that intentionally could be subject to multiple opinions on its meaning. I don't like to presume that everyone sees or senses things the same way. I was a picky eater as a kid and my dad would say to me, "you don't know what you are missing." I would tell him that I wish there was a helmet he could put on so the food would taste to him as it does to me, because clearly we were not tasting the same thing. We were eating the same thing but to our brains it was obviously different. I think the same way about religion. What if "God" gave people different beliefs just to see how they all react. So to some he gave no beliefs to see how the act as atheists, to others he gave them a firm belief in Christianity, to others a firm belief in Islam, or Judaism, or Mormonism, or Buddhism. What if there was but a single God but he was causing different people to have different beliefs or no beliefs. If God wanted me to believe in him or in religion I think I would have been made that way. Personally, I have no belief in God. Unlike many others with no belief in God I do not mind that others do. I don't see it as my duty to question the beliefs in someone's mind. At the same time, I don't accept that I should accept their belief in God or religion as a basis for anything but their own belief. It is not a justification for anyone but that person to live a certain way. I am firmly opposed to anyone telling someone else how to live because of the way they see God. Threads like this to me serve no purpose but to poke someone who does believe in God in the eye. You start with a premise that God is trying to show people the truth. Maybe, maybe not. Who are you to suggest you know what God wanted to achieve? Maybe he is guiding in a way that you can't even fathom. The only thing we can take from your thread is that God certainly did not come to you to impart his wisdom. I don't believe in God, but I do think you are an idiot.
Mathematics weren't created they always existed , it was always up to the people to learn about them and use their knowledge . Because he already gave us the power to understand it . It is up to us to invest the time necessary to complete the process. Iron and uranium are materials . Ballistics are a set of laws , invisible and immaterial . Ballistics inspired creators to fabricate every projectile weapon known to man . Therefore ballistics and it foundation mathematics are responsible for man's decision to build weapons that slaughtered hundreds of millions . There are people killing in the name of lack of religion , are you gonna blame atheism as well ? God says "thou shell not kill" how is he responsible for man's decision to break this law ?
Agreed, there are a number of better ways to communicate than the "inspiring primitive scribes method" and then leaving those who buy into all of this to figure it out themselves while they mutter incantations and personal pleas for favorable outcomes while never receiving a response. One does not even need mention the numerous different "sacred" texts or the divisions caused by these texts within humanity to see how ridiculous it all is.
ALTER2EGO -to- NEIL PEARSON: The length of the Bible is the cause of the problem, you say? According to you, it's God's fault that people cherry pick words from the Bible--meaning they ignore the context (the surrounding words, verses, and chapters)--with the result that they wind up with the wrong interpretation. So God is to blame for people not paying attention to what they read; huh? TRANSLATION: You're passing the buck. ALTER2EGO -to- NEIL PEARSON: A 1-2 page document, you say? How about a two-sentence instruction, such as the one below. "{16} And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: 'From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. {17} But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die." (Genesis 2:16-17) That's two sentences as you can see. You couldn't get more basic than that. What was the result? Did Adam listen to that very brief instruction in which he was told the consequence of disobeying? Let me know. ~***~
You are missing the whole point of my post. My post was talking about the bible of Christianity and taking a stab at the people who believe the bible is the literal, inspired word of their Christian God. Yes of course there are other possibilities, but the ones you are presenting are out of that target audience. You are talking about Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, etc.... My post was for the literal thinking, close minded people that accept the bible as 100% fact and can't accept anything outside of it. I was challenging their belief that the bible is perfect, divinely inspired, and that it contains all the answers and is the only source of truth on the planet. And since you can't read the sarcasm and intent of the post, I would have to say that you are more likely to be the idiot here.
Yeah except that just shows how ridiculous the bible is. If God told me two sentences and all I had to do was not eat from a tree, I would have easily been able to follow that instruction... and I'm not the perfect man "Adam"... why was he so flawed that he couldn't follow a simple command even though I could easily follow that same command even though I was born after people became sinful? And I think you reinforce my point. I'm not saying that making a simple 1-2 page document would make it easier to follow. It would make the expectations clearer. You just gave a two sentence example... and nobody confuses the meaning of that statement. We all know what it means. I never claimed we would follow a 1-2 page document, I just said we would understand the expectations a lot easier. Adam completely understood the expectation. He hid after he did it, proving he knew that he messed up. Currently people read the bible and take vastly different stances and fully believe they are doing what YHWH wants them to do. The whole thing is misleading. Your example only helps to prove my point. And yes, it is God's fault. If you believe the bible, he created everything. He created people with a sinful nature that lets them not follow God's word. He created angels that ultimately rebel and turn to evil. He created a planet that is unstable and full of natural disasters. The whole thing is God's creation and ultimately his fault for creating such a faulted system. If he made us better, we wouldn't have screwed up