otienosmall,

I seem not to have been articulate enough.This is what I meant:
The same mechanism that caused life to exist on planet earth must be replicated in the universe wherever lifeforms are to be found.
These aliens would not have existed without ozone layer,oxygen etc.The elements we humans rely on for survival.



Religion is a subset of culture.Richard Dawkins could not explain the fundamental differences between animal and human behaviour.He concluded that apart from genes which determine
behaviour.Humans have memes.From the word mimic.A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.







...But there is religion and there is also The Bible. The bible doesn't teach about religion.

1 Timothy 1:4 . . . Don’t let people waste your time in endless speculation over myths and spiritual pedigrees. For these things only cause arguments; they don’t help people live a life of faith in God.
2 Timothy 2:14 . . . Remind everyone of these things, and command them in God’s name to stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless, and they can ruin those who hear them.
Titus 3:9 . . . Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These kinds of things are useless and a waste of time.

My 2 dinari

Christianity vs Religion

Some commentators here say 'iam a christian of sorts' others say 'one is a christian by default' or 'you are a christian if you were born in a christian family nation etc' still others point to a creed that they are 'sticking to'.

No one on this earth is born a christian. You may be the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and it will not make you any more Christian.

No one on this earth 'learns' to be a christian either through classes or training.

One becomes a christian the day when the holy spirit via the preaching of the gospel or directly reveals to you your true sinful nature vs his grace and unconditional love and sacrifice for your salvation. Your eyes open to the truth, you repent and forsake your ways and embrace the truth of the Gospel as revealed in the Holy scriptures.

You are then a new creature, with new desires and a love for God and his Word.
You then become a Christian.

The Church

The church is simply the body or group of individual christians(see definition above)also referred to as a fellowship of believers.

It is not a building or a denomination.

Intelligent Design

Most of the world today agree there must have been some sort of intelligent design behind the existence of the universe.

Most of the worlds religious systems often point to the bible saying 'see even the bible acknowledges this or that aspect of their faith here and there'

The bible or the christian faith is the only faith that does not seek to confirm its assertions by pointing to any other faith or religion.

IF you are a true seeker of what is true about life, death and the universe you will find the answers in the bible.

@ Pastor

These scriptures you quote deal with individuals who have already become Christians but spend their time arguing and discussing things that are untrue and have no spiritual value.

Paul here is admonishing them to desist from panganga.

[quote=Rollout]Is there a possibility that the bible was a genious writings of people like william shakespeare and the church is just but a big Ponzi scheme?

quote]
I am glad you have asked. To restate your question, I think you are asking why we should trust Biblical records and is the Bible truly the inspired word of God. The question is however inconsistent in so far as I have seen in your other posting that you do not question the existence of a supernatural being, which in case of the Bible that you are questioning, is God. If you have no problem with the Author, I’d have thought that you’d have no problem with His publication. Food for thought.

Back to your questions. Why should we think that the Bible is inspired? I will illustrate this using the Old Testament (OT). The 39 books of the OT were written over 1000 years apart [1500 – 400 BC] by different authors who lived in geographically different regions and yet all the 39 books are in perfect fit and harmony. To quote Archer (2007), the singleness of purpose and program, can most reasonably be explained as the operation of a single mind; the mind of the divine author Himself. Secondly, there is also the Infallible proof of fulfilled prophecy. Occasional human predictions may be true but what do we have in the OT? Hundreds of Biblical prophecies that are fulfilled in subsequent history. The phenomenon of prediction and fulfillment of Biblical prophecies is evidence of an ordered plan followed by a God who is sovereign over history and time (Archer, 2007). To give an example, no one has been able to explain how Isaiah 53 was able to explain the events of Easter. It is generally agreed among scholars that Isaiah lived before 600BC and complete versions of the book of Isaiah dating as far back as 150-200BC have been found intact and have been proven to be authentic by other archeological evidence collaborating the life of the ancient world between 700-600BC. Yet Isa 53 accurately predicts events that take place almost 750 years later with amazing accuracy. This is what, my friend, sets the Bible apart from Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote from his mind, but the Biblical writers were human writers who received God’s revelation and recorded it at His direction.

These various authors do not claim to be writing their own thoughts but what has been revealed to them and names of people & places as well as historical events have been sufficiently collaborated with other ancient records such as from Jerome and Josephus, the first century historians whose writings are with us today.

I have seen allegations posted here that the inerrant original manuscripts of the Bible have been “doctored” over time to suit sectarian interests. Let’s examine the facts. Aristotle wrote at about 343BC and the earliest copy that we have of his writings is only 1100AD (a gap of 1400 years after he wrote) and only about 5 copies are known to exist. History of Thucydides (460-400BC) is only available in 8 copies dated about 900AD(a gap of 1300 years after he wrote) yet no classical scholar would question the authenticity of these copies that are 1300/1400 years younger than the originals which we do not have. How does the Bible stack up? The quantity of New Testament (NT) Greek manuscripts alone is overwhelming – they are no less than 5600 of them! And despite this huge amount of manuscripts, over 99% of the wording is not in doubt. To quote Sir Frederic Kenyon, a foremost scholar of ancient manuscripts, the interval between the dates of original composition and the earliest archeological evidence is so small and banishes any remaining vestiges of doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written. I invite you to look into the authorship and claims & evidence of inspiration of other holy books such the Koran, Hindu Vedas and examine the evidence for yourself. I will deal with other comments in due course.