Bad Bob Loc: Virginia

Sounds like a change to me.

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

It's progressive revelation. As my sister says, "More will be revealed."

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

So you believe that the Bible is as you said "a good bit of history to make the story more believable?" Then why would God make up tales?

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Yeah... Imagine God making up stories.. Or parables... That would just be nonsense...

moldyoldy

Mark, Luke, John? Gods?

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

As a self-described “former evangelical Christian,” prominent agnostic New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman personifies an atheist poster boy, attempting to present himself as a reverse C. S. Lewis, compelled by intellectual honesty to abandon his faith. Just as Christians elevate the testimonies of former atheists who have come to Christ, so atheists elevate Ehrman.

As for Ehrman's beliefs, as a child, he was an altar boy in the Episcopal Church. At age 15, he became a born-again fundamentalist evangelical Christian. After attending the Moody Bible Institute, he studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, which introduced him to texts and interpretations that led him to a more liberal form of Christianity. Eventually, he left the faith altogether, to pursue an Academic career misrepresenting the God who has revealed Himself to mankind through His word, the Bible.

Bart Ehrman is now professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
He also teaches eight of The Great Courses’s widely acclaimed Bible and Christianity classes, and has a part in 78 others.
The subtitles of Ehrman’s books, (including his five New York Times bestsellers), capture his premises: e.g.,
"Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife,"
"Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why,"
"How Jesus Became God: the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee," and
"Forged: Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are."

False teachers influence the church from both inside and outside, but outsiders gain special credibility when they are former insiders, as was foretold 2,000 years ago in 2nd Timothy 4:3–4: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled,
they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

In this era of escalating deconversions, #exevangelicals, and the "Dones" (with Christianity), Bart Ehrman has been a major instrument in countless readers’ downward spiritual trajectory, and Satan applauds him.

With any of Ehrman's books, following the 1st one read, déjà vu will kick in. His core message never deviates from: "Christians are dead wrong; I know because I used to be one before I became enlightened."

Ehrman frequently states what he believes as if opinion itself constitutes proof.

He emphatically writes that, "There was a time in human history when no one on the planet believed that there would be a judgment day at the end of time." - as though he had, in his possession, private access to an ancient poll taken of every living person at a particular time in history.

Everyone trusts in something. Those who abandon trust in the secure footing of God’s revelation, replace it with trust in their own feelings, opinions, and preferences, or those of their friends and teachers - none of which can substitute as a stable, secure anchor, for the unmoored thoughts of men drift with popular culture and/or academic culture.They are as fleeting as is man's time upon this earth.

In Ehrman’s critical examination of Scripture. He writes, "Given... that God had chosen the people of Israel to be in a special relationship with Him - what were ancient Israelite thinkers to suppose when things did not go as planned or expected?... How were they to explain the fact that the people of God suffered from famine, drought, and pestilence?"

Ehrman then surveys answers to these questions, including human free will; God’s anger at disobedient people; suffering as being redemptive; evil and suffering existing so God can make good out of them; suffering as encouraging humility and undermining pride; suffering as testing faith; evil and suffering as the work of Satan, which Christ will overcome in his return; and suffering and evil as a mystery.

Oddly, he thinks that because the Bible’s answers vary, this makes them contradictory. The understanding that they supplement one another fails to occur to him.

While Ehrman finds it troubling that the Bible approaches the issue in different ways, those familiar with the complexities of life find it reassuring. No single reason gives a sufficient explanation, but different threads of biblical insight, woven together, form an extremely durable fabric.

The book’s subtitle ironic: "How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer." The problem is not that the Bible fails to answer it; Ehrman himself documents that it offers multiple answers. He simply doesn’t believe them.

Stating unproven premises reflecting his own bias, He then draws logical conclusions based upon his faulty premises.

Ehrman summarizes, often accurately, the biblical teaching. He then disagrees with it, usually citing no authority beyond his own personal opinion, seeming to assume that any rational person would join him in rejecting Scripture’s claims. His faith in his own subjective understanding is, at times, breathtaking.

Using phrases such as "scholars now believe" as if some universally recognized group of experts passes judgment reliably and unanimously, rather than that a large array of authors start with different presuppositions and reach different conclusions. Bart Ehrman could more truthfully write, "The scholars I agree with believe as I do...."

CarolBinkley Loc: Somewhere in Time

Your comprehension sucks. But I guess for people such as you, who have access to the good and evil spirits that can inhabit your body and that you can use to cure or kill and harm, "God" wouldn't have much meaning.

moldyoldy

Were there a bunch of scribes writing down every word?