The simple fact that there are apocryphal texts that the church voted out of the bible would seem to be a form of validation that the bible is a book by men and not the true and infallible word of a supreme being.
Some questions:
If the world was flooded in the old testament and the Noah’s Ark story is real, where did the water come from and to where did it recede?
Why would God put Job through all those hardships just to prove a point to the devil? If He’s omnipotent, he could do something else (not involving cruelty to a faithful servant) to show the devil the truth of things.
Jesus’ mother was a virgin when she gave birth, yet science tells us that a woman can get pregnant without penetration as long as there is exposure to semen. Isn’t it possible that Mary and Joseph did some fooling around (of a sexual nature, but without intercourse) that resulted in her pregnancy?
If the world was flooded in the old testament and the Noah’s Ark story is real, where did the water come from and to where did it recede?Sky, earth.
Why would God put Job through all those hardships just to prove a point to the devil?
Job is one of the most intriguing books in the Bible, and has been analyzed through the eyes of religion, literature and psychology. It's often referred to as the first short story. Your reading is literal; give the book a bit more credit artistically and read it again.
Jesus’ mother was a virgin when she gave birth, yet science tells us that a woman can get pregnant…
First, there are very rare examples in nature of very similar birth events. (If you watch House, he used it in an episode.) Second, the "science tells" part is based on inferential logic not deductive - as are most miracles which violate what "science tells us" (the definition of a miracle BTW). It is very strong evidence, but it is not technically (formal logic) proven true.
Two Kid’s Dad: “The simple fact that there are apocryphal texts that the church voted out of the bible would seem to be a form of validation that the bible is a book by men and not the true and infallible word of a supreme being.”
Nevadan: You are mistaken. The apocryphal books of which you speak were never formally recognized by all Christians as being a part of the Bible. The books that were finalized into the Old and New Testaments occured over a long period of time. In regard to the New Testament, it was the Church leadership that decided which books NOT to INCLUDE as scripture. Their reasons for which books were included and which were rejected had to do with authenticity, historical accuracy, and whether or not the book(s) in question were regarded as “scripture” by the Church Fathers, Apostles, and the Church as a whole over a long, tested period of time. The Christian era apocryphal books that were rejected (i.e. Gospel of Thomsas, Judas, etc.) were written 200-400 years after the time of Jesus. They were composed by Gnostic Christians. Gnostics believed in all sorts of heretical ideas - such as Jesus never actually existed, or He was never really human. Their doctrinal ideas were rejected by the early church because their beliefs ran counter to established, historical Christian teachings.
The fact that the apocryphal books were written hundreds of years after the events especially cast them in a bad light with obvious questionable “authenticity”. Whereas the hundreds and thousands of New Testament manuscripts we have for the books that are included in the New Testament (such as the four Gospels and the letters of Paul, Peter, John, Jude, Hebrews, etc.) range anywhere from 50 to 100 years of when they were originally composed.
This is quite amazing considering that the existing copies we have of many “secular” ancient texts, such as Caesar’s Commentaries, are anywhere from 700 to 1000 years from the time the originals were composed.
There are several excellent books that deal with all of the questions and subjects you brought up. One thought, though, if one, for sake of argument, admits that there may be a God who is omnipotent and all powerful, then isn’t it possible that He could flood the world and get rid of the water? Couldn’t He also cause a virgin, since He created human beings to begin with, to be pregnant?
Just because one can come up with a theory as to how something occured doesn’t mean that that IS how it occured (i.e. all the 9/11 conspiracy theories).
As to your issue with God about Job - you need to read the whole book very carefully. I think you are looking at the book in a very superficial way. You will find one of the key issues of the book is that it was both God and Job’s integrety that were at stake. God had said Job was a good and faithful servant to Him. Satan claimed that Job really did not love God or truly honor Him. Satan accused Job of only honoring God because of all the blessings and protections he had received from God. If these blessings and protections were removed - Satan claimed that Job would not only turn away from God, but the he would even curse God. You may ask, “Why would God feel the need to prove to Satan that he was wrong about Job?”. To be honest, I don’t really know the whole answer to that. But, apparantly God felt this was an important enough issue to prove not only His integrity - but also that of Job’s - to His creation.
You must also understand that the book of Job is part of the “wisdom” literature of the Old Testament. It’s purpose was to tackle some tough questions. Such as - why do good people suffer? There are other “wisdom” books, such as Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. All of these books try to grapple with how to live a Godly life in a hostile and oftentimes Godless world.
In ancient times, and even today by some people, it was believed that anyone who suffered some kind of tragedy or catastrophe in their life, that it must be because they had “sinned” in some way. Even the disciples once asked Jesus what sin a blind man had done in order that he was made to be blind. Jesus said that it wasn’t because of any sin, but that God’s glory could be shown in the healing of this man. Jesus didn’t quite answer the question completely which means there are just some things that we will never completely understand. God just doesn’t tell us everything.
In closing, you’ve asked some good questions. I wish I were competent enough to answer them completely, but there are excellent books out there that delve into all these issues if you will search them out. There are online Bible study and Biblical reference materials (often free). I encourage you, if you are genuinely seeking answeres, to look them up. On the other hand, if you are not truly looking for answers, then nothing I or anyone else can say to you will matter.
Why would God put Job through all those hardships just to prove a point to the devil? If He’s omnipotent, he could do something else (not involving cruelty to a faithful servant) to show the devil the truth of things.
God, being omniscient, knew exactly what He had to do. He wasn't just proving a point to the devil, but also to all who read the book of Job.
Jesus’ mother was a virgin when she gave birth, yet science tells us that a woman can get pregnant without penetration as long as there is exposure to semen. Isn’t it possible that Mary and Joseph did some fooling around (of a sexual nature, but without intercourse) that resulted in her pregnancy?
If she had, God would probably have chosen someone else to mother Jesus.
If the world was flooded in the old testament and the Noah’s Ark story is real, where did the water come from and to where did it recede?
Gosh, that's a tough one... There should be large amounts of water somewhere on this planet. But where?
