I believe that most are NOT open to discussion. They are just trying to reaffirm and justify their own interpretation of the scriptures.
Do you think people who ask questions about the Bible are only looking for the answers they WANT to hear or are they open to ALL the Bible has to say regarding the topic of discussion?
Can we shed some light on why someone would ask Bible questions in a forum such as this? The "answers" (if I may go so far as to call them that) are -in theory- right there in the book itself. We would do well to reply, "Read on, dear supplicant, read on."
When one opens this line of inquiry, particularly with "Do you think...", then confirmation bias is put in play, the seeds of dispute are being sown, and the hoary specter of perceived persecution draws nearer as disfavored viewpoints are presented.
One is hard-pressed to find completely inarguable answers in Bible texts; Shakespeare once said Satan himself could quote scripture for his own ends. That wisdom is inarguable.
What has always engaged my wonder is how so many boldly contrasting positions can be spawned from and about the same source material. In my own view, this is less an indictment of the able reader than of the material.
I often ask bible questions here to stimulate thought. I find that most christians do not really know what their bible says, they know what they are told it means. Most people do not know that there are 2 virgin births in the bible (in many translations). Most christians will state that Jesus fulfilled all of the Mosaic laws, yet most of those laws had an "everlasting" clause with them. Christians also see the 10 commandments as important, but do not understand that NONE of the Mosaic laws (which the decalogue was part of) never applied to gentiles anyway. Ignorance abounds it seems at times.
I'm even more curious to know why an atheist would offer any explanations of what he thinks the bible might say in a forum like this.
Of course, as The Z mentioned, "Shakespeare did say once said Satan himself could quote scripture for his own ends." And The Z observed, "That wisdom is inarguable."
On the other hand, knowing that, perhaps The Z has a point when he wonders "why someone would ask Bible questions in a forum such as this?"
Aint logic wonderful?
