TRANSPONDER wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:53 am Major contradictions or discrepancies are, as I explained, ones that bring the credibility of the Bible -narrative into serious question and can’t be easily explained. Obviously if the gospels (for instance) agree on something it is not going to be a discrepancy or contradiction. Also if easily explained or irrelevant (1) it is minor.
This is further indication of an inerrant view of the Bible. When there is no inerrant view of the Bible, unexplained discrepancies and contradictions can exist and it does not invalidate the text. As stated before, I hold a Maximalist (Almost all events, places, and people existed. Major points would be true and minor details could be incorrect.) view. This view allows for things to be incorrect. So, bringing up minor points, no matter how many are brought up, has no impact on my position.
because that is the lie – the evidence says they didn’t ‘die’ – not so as to save Jerusalem (you will not, I trust pull ‘oh…well surely Some died..’ so as not to make yourself a laughing -stock).
Personal attack aside… are you claiming none of the Assyrians died?
they can see that the major contradictions DO call Bible reliability into question as well as I can,
What major contradiction are you referring to?
and your ongoing refusal to see it (or pretend that you don’t) harms the credit of your case and your own., mate,
Posturing doesn’t help your case. Please present logical arguments instead.
And it’s not getting at you, mate; it’s something that Believers catch, like C19, and it’s not really their fault.
What C19 are you referring to?
TRANSPONDER wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 5:11 amTRANSPONDER wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 4:46 am One can’t be true and may be a copyists’ error or a deliberate exaggeration (a lie in fact) either way.These are two different things. One deals with God micromanaging his book and the other is evaluating the Bible narrative in the way we’d evaluate any other book.
I’m evaluating the Bible as any other ancient book.
We acknowledge all books have errors in them. There is no perfect text or source. But, we can still rely on texts even if they are not perfect. We have to understand the primary meaning and not let the minor details detract from the main point. The Jerusalem siege is a good example of this. Is the main point of the text how the Assyrians died? I argue even the Jews didn’t know they died. The main point is the entire nation of Judah was at the point of annihilation with absolutely no hope of salvation, but overnight they were spared. Do you disagree that this is the main point?
Why would it be hard to believe God smote the Assyrian army? I believe because skeptics see this as a supernatural causation, therefore the Bible is wrong. Not only skeptics take this approach, but so do liberal Christians. In this case, I don’t think it really matters how they died, whether Gabriel got out his guns, mice ate away at the Assyrian weapons, a plague… who really cares? We can even attribute the death to a natural cause and it does not affect the main point of the passage.
https://debatingchristianity.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1067702#p1067702