[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree that the bible or quotes from the bible provide no assurance that it is divinely inspired, nor that any particular passage you have deemed divine is indeed the word of god, not something slipped in by a human with an agenda. My point is not that an atheist or agnostic should be particularly impressed by any claim resting on biblical arguments (I'm not a fan of the "Page 3 predicts what's written on page 20 - isnt that amazing!" argument).

My point is that if god exists and the bible is divinely inspired (although distorted over the ages) then it can still be valuable in providing hints to what god meant. You cant look at it objectively and scientifically determine which bits are real and which arent - but if there is someway to know god directly (I think most theists believe this) then there may well be benefit in studying the bible and examining how that fits in with the god you know .

Again - I am presupposing god is real, the bible is divinely inspired and humans can know god in some sense. Obviously, I believe these three premises and you dont but that isnt the point - the point is that you can believe in god and even in christianity without believing the bible is infallible. My claim is that although this is of less value than a tome of divine dictation - it is not worthless.

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't it seem very circular to you? or is it just me. Say you never saw a bible in your life, could you have gotten to know the christian god directly? ... nobody seems to, it takes a missionary with a bible ( or a mom).

So, a person is told 'some part of this bible is true, some is false, some analogy, some metaphor, etc. A person bring their belief in their direct line to god to their reading of the bible and lordie, lordie we know how many varieties of readings we have to hear about.

I have no issue with a person fitting the bible into religious beliefs and it serving as a way to model it or to help extract more meaning frow what a person thinks is right/wrong, etc. But once each person is extracting a personal fit, then whether any particular part of the bible is true or false or metaphoric or anything doesn't matter... it's merely a tool of 'faith-building' and a good poem, music, an inspirational biography or a good friend may serve the same or better purpose.

It is 'virtually useless' as a bible because clearly all the input is actually coming from the person and even if it was guaranteed to be divinely inspired it can't on-it's-own add anything.

I have various incidents that occured in my life that were life-changing for me. Yet, if I relate them some are really ho-hummers. All the incident did was crystallize an idea, an emotion, an ideal, for me... but the crystallization isn't in the situation ( or I'm the worlds worst story teller :-).

hope that's clearer, luckyme
( burn the book... the realizations are still going to come in).