Is there a god?

[PlagueOfLocust]

@sieanr - The historical events referenced only in the Bible have either never been proven false or have been proven true as new historical evidence arises. The absence of other texts to back up the occurence of these events does not mean they didn't happen. When even one of the events can be proven never to have happened, then you've got something to talk about there.

I don't agree that the Bible is ambiguous. It's not poetry. Read it; the message is clear. You can take a lot of different lessons from it as long as you're reading it correctly, but only by misreading it are you going to create your own meanings. And the books of primary concern are in the New Testament.

Your quotes from the Bible about violence and slavery are from the Old Testament. That's under the old law, when God expected mankind to know Him and what He commanded better, and his judgement was swift and hard. Under the new covanent we are extended much more mercy since a much larger measure of faith is required from us. And the bit about slavery seems to be promoting fair treatment of servants ("servants" is the word used in the King James Version). Servants were an aspect of society for most of history. Interestingly enough, the passage immediately following your quote: "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death." And later: "He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death." -Exodus 21: 12 & 16

About science and evolution: science does not deal in facts. Science deals in guesses, and the testing thereof. We call those hypotheses, since that has a nice ring to it. It does not prove, it suggests. When you use a process that only checks things that can be physically measured, of course the process is going to seem more reliable; it handles the small stuff. Science seems more reliable because it is useless in measuring anything that cannot be seen, and is therefore never used to measure such things. If you don't believe anything but what can be proven, you're only limiting youself.

And how convenient that evolution changes as we go along and "learn more." Oh we weren't wrong, we just didn't know certain things. Same thing. Yes the concept remained the same; that's not impressive at all. And Darwin himself believed in God; his theory was speculation. He said that, if in 20 years the idea hadn't been shown true, it should be abandoned. But it meant so much to people not to have to feel responsible to a higher power that they clung to it, making changes and changes and still having so many gaping holes that really shouldn't exist in a concept born from a field of study that doesn't extend itself beyond what can be measured.

You're right, though. Christianity has remained rigid; maybe that's because the truth doesn't need to be changed.