"even the best kept records will have started to fade by then" true how can christians be sure that they are following the word of god when their only tangible connection to his laws is a book that has been compiled by people

I will give you the honest answer that I have no idea. I've never personally looked into it.

What, exactly, are you trying to imply? And don't say "nothing".

You've hit the nail on the head there. They can't. In fact, they can be pretty sure that they aren't. If, indeed, God even exists.

What is science? Its a word made up by mankind. Every thing we understand about it is nothing more than our limited interpretation of the universe. A few days from now a breakthrough can change our entire understanding of that universe. At the end of the day those religious folks aren't doing anything different from anyone else.

You speak as though mankind has reached the pinnacle of enlightment. We came up with the scientific method so now we have all the answers? Do you honestly believe that every concept must be clearly defined, do you believe that we are anywhere close to understanding the really big questions? I firmly believe that a thousand years from now there will still be things that are beyond human comprehension. It's one thing to question something but its another to dismiss it simply because you don't understand it. That is the height of human arrogance and its not much different from the religious folks who accept doctrines because they have no other explanation. 

Maybe God is a benevalant ominipotent being or maybe he's a piece of cheese. I don't know, but the fact that I can't say definitevely what he/she/it is doesn't invalidate it's existence.

Im implying nothing.......JK haha

Im just trying to imply that a random guy in the middle of nowhere back then who lived in society that had a polytheisitc religion (not even christianity or judaism) was able to recite something not only intelligient but organized and even referenced stuff from the bible, torah (in a soicety where almost no one followed a montheistic religion!) and was even able to finish and give better insight to some of the stories in thse books and even involve science that had not been discovered yet.... its kind of amazing. ANd to this day that random guy in the middle of nowhere managed to have over a billion of followers And thats why i follow the relgiion of islam. Because know scientific proof can really answer how such a random illiterate man in a middle of nowhere was able to create something powerful like the quran. It was such aandom and unnatural event. Kind of like how many scientists belive the big bang was just a random and unnatural event. There has to be some kind of magic here. Right?

See I agree with Kantor for the most part. Well the first paragraph.

However if a creator does exist how could he not be an omnipotent being. He created the whole freaking universe I would say that its hard for him not to be omnipotent. Now can we understand God's personality, hell know but you see Christian's believe Jesus Christ was the son of God as such we base our beliefs about God's personality and morality on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Other faith such as Muslim's believe that Mohammed was given the Quran from God, as another user said try to explain how he could have possibly put it together, I don't even believe in Islam but even I can't explain how it was possible.

Also saying we have to listen to him. Umm if he created us and everything in existance I'm pretty sure he has more knowledge then we do. He knows how things work alot better then we do. If he says we should do something and he actually exists then we should probably listen, especially when most of what he says makes perfect sense to even us.

The fact hinges on beliefs, if you believe God exists thenchances are you also believe he is an imnipotent being. You also have a basis for your beliefs which is usually found in a spiritual leader and/or religious text.

Its all very logical if you believe in the existance of a God. If you do not, it is harder to understand. But I have met many Agnostics who understand fully why religious people believe as they do.

alrighty, let's see if I can get this train back on track here.

Original post was saying (in a nicer way) that if Religion wants to continue to have an influence on the world of politics, science, and society, it should be expected to withstand the same criticism and scrutiny that all other aspects of our world has.

Instead of offering proper, intelligent insight to the issue, the thread has essentially turned into the precise thing I was hoping it wouldn't: Proving my point. Instead of offering philisophical insight to the origin of the universe or whatever, we have a lot of christians claiming that this criticism is somehow offensive and are trying to get the thread locked, and the rest are just trying to divert attention to disproving different scientific theories.

In an odd way, this thread has further proven my point: Religion collapses under pressure and is incapable of standing up to rationality without reverting to "let's see who can scream the loudest" to determine what people believe.

Also, for all the people arguing evolution, I have to facepalm. I may not know all the intricate details of evolution offhand, but even the slightest bit of research and proper scientific inquiry will prove to you that evolution is real. Anyone denying this fact is...well, they're not only ignorant but aggressively so.

"Don't bother me with the facts, I've already made up my mind."

Hey if you are not too busy will you try answering my question? Kantor tried but unfortunately he never really looked into it. What do you think?

What was your question?  the one about "how could some dude write a bible" thing? Elaborate, I want to know the whole question. 

First Post Asking:
Im not gonna support 7eyes here because I really don't think Jesus was the son of god. I don't think God would ever want to degrade himself to the level of humans or even have a son(ehich doesn't make any senese what soever. Does god have a wife?) But answer this. In terms of the quran how can a man without any education doesn not know how to read/write able to produce the quran? The book has many things in it (universe is expanding, earth revolves around sun, earth is round, only able to see one side of the moon, etc.) that even a very literate man back then would not know. Answer that?

Reply to Kantor:

it doesn't matter how scientifc or not the quran, bible, etc. is. My main question is how was some so illterate able to produce it? He actually recited it and the only people who could write at the time wrote it. And no science was not as developed either. Arabia was pretty much at the bottom of the food chain in the day of Mohammad. Kind of like the dark ages of europe. Pretty much no one could have known and put the quran together in such an organized manner.

What I am implying:

Im just trying to imply that a random guy in the middle of nowhere back then who lived in society that had a polytheisitc religion (not even christianity or judaism) was able to recite something not only intelligient but organized and even referenced stuff from the bible, torah (in a soicety where almost no one followed a montheistic religion!) and was even able to finish and give better insight to some of the stories in thse books and even involve science that had not been discovered yet.... its kind of amazing. ANd to this day that random guy in the middle of nowhere managed to have over a billion of followers And thats why i follow the relgiion of islam. Because know scientific proof can really answer how such a random illiterate man in a middle of nowhere was able to create something powerful like the quran. It was such aandom and unnatural event. Kind of like how many scientists belive the big bang was just a random and unnatural event. There has to be some kind of magic here. Right?