# Bible stories... Fiction or the word of a God? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 23, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829 "2014-07-23T10:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/121 "2014-09-08T11:51:29Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > He was testing her faith, I’d imagine. Just as His Father was with Abraham on Mount Moriah. If God is all knowing why does he have to test one’s faith? He should have known the answer even before she was born, just as he should have known How Adam and Eve would disobey. God, according to the Bible. He doesn’t sound like a loving being, nor an all knowing being. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/122 "2014-09-08T13:56:12Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > He was testing her faith, I’d imagine. Just as His Father was with Abraham on Mount Moriah. hmmmm [QUOTE=Book of James, Chapter 1] 13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/123 "2014-09-08T15:57:11Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > Yes he helped her but that was not his purpose in Coming. Considering the expansion of the blessings to Gentiles (even explicitly mentioned in Nazareth) not merely to this woman, but the Samaritan woman at the well, the Centurion, etc. … I think that was definitely part of his purpose in Coming. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/124 "2014-09-08T16:36:13Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > I also (and again, this is a judgment call) think that the idea that, for example, the Suffering Servant chapters of Isaiah are self-evidently talking about a person (to wit, Jesus Christ), makes much more sense than the idea that they are talking about the personified nation of Israel. Again, I can’t prove that to you, and am not going to try, though I suspect that most neutral observers looking at the passage would naturally agree with me, rather than with you. (I’ve tried this experiment with a few secular/atheist folks I know, with little previous knowledge of the Bible, and they’re usually baffled to realize when the passage was written). I’m Jewish, and the one thing we know how to do is to suffer. Especially with what was going on back then. For the time Jesus didn’t even go through the median amount of suffering. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/125 "2014-09-08T17:27:30Z")
**Bible stories… Fiction or the word of a God?** > [@potenski](#): > > I have been writing parodies on the Bible. One on the ‘Creation’ , ‘Noah’s Ark’, ‘Virgin Mary’ and one on “Abraham’. Next victim Moses. While I was doing some research I suddenly realize that God appeared to a lotta of important people and spoke to them in great length. Really? In order for that statement to be correct, one must be able to prove the existence of a god of any kind. Until one can do that, the answer to the question is fiction. History also shows us that it is fiction. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/126 "2014-09-10T10:31:40Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Considering the expansion of the blessings to Gentiles (even explicitly mentioned in Nazareth) not merely to this woman, but the Samaritan woman at the well, the Centurion, etc. … I think that was definitely part of his purpose in Coming. According to the writer of the gospel he is quoted as saying, I came Only for the Lost Sheep Of Israel. It is like someone who says to another I just came to pick up my belongings, and helps them life something. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/127 "2014-09-17T10:35:28Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > I don’t, for sure. > > I do, however, on the basis of my own reason and judgment of the evidence, think that the Gospels are more likely to be history than fiction, and therefore that the interpretation of the prophecies that coheres with the events of the Gospels is more likely > > I also (and again, this is a judgment call) think that the idea that, for example, the Suffering Servant chapters of Isaiah are self-evidently talking about a person (to wit, Jesus Christ), makes much more sense than the idea that they are talking about the personified nation of Israel. Again, I can’t prove that to you, and am not going to try, though I suspect that most neutral observers looking at the passage would naturally agree with me, rather than with you. (I’ve tried this experiment with a few secular/atheist folks I know, with little previous knowledge of the Bible, and they’re usually baffled to realize when the passage was written). The point is the Bible was written by humans for humans and no proof god said or did anything, Then belief is belief in other humans. Not a God. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/128 "2014-09-17T10:38:16Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > He was testing her faith, I’d imagine. Just as His Father was with Abraham on Mount Moriah. She apparently wasn’t Jewish so there would be no need to test her faith.She did believe Jesus could work Miracles. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/129 "2014-09-18T12:09:43Z")
> [@entomos](#): > > Below is the actual passage with a bit more context–John 10:22-42 (_NIV_). Clearly, Jesus claims the Messiah is greater than those being referred to in that Psalms passage. “‘[W]hat about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?’” His response may have slowed them down a bit, but it did not satisfy them or completely stop them. “Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” He thought of himself as a son of God just as the Psalmist was quoted. It did not mean he was divine any more than any other Jew. The Word God it self( through history) was someone or something that had power or strength. That is why there are gods of thunder, the son etc… . ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829/130 "2014-09-18T12:13:30Z")
> [@entomos](#): > > Before giving my response, let me share one rabbi’s nutshell history of the Jews: “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat!” > > I do agree the Bible is a collection of writings, but a very special one with a unifying theme. However, it is not quite the history of the Jews, but rather of God and man. Maybe you could call it a myth, but in this case, the myth is true and it’s a love story. God does have a competitor in the story, namely sin. And sin has an advocate, the Devil. Our entire space-time continuum of matter and energy is the stage for God to demonstrate his love for us in a way no perfect world could. Now you can whine all you want that it should never have been this way, many do. Actually, I suspect we all do at certain points along the way. But it was never meant to be the end and our lifetimes here are quite short, especially in comparison to eternity. The point is to embrace love, something evidently not so readily done, given all we read and see in the news and in history, and, if we are honest, in our own selves. For God to willingly suffer the extreme humiliation of Jesus for people who are as stubbornly rebellious as we have been and in that act take care of all the ultimate consequences of our rebellion… Well, that kind of love to me is just amazing and irresistible. And yet God does not force even that conclusion on anyone. Hell, if you think you’ve got something better and would rather be left alone to your own devices, that is your choice. Just don’t imagine you will be left to perpetrate it on others. > > From the Westminster Shorter Catechism: > > **Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?** > > A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, [a] and to enjoy him for ever. \*\* This then is proof that God id not a good parent,nor a loving and just being. He created humans with flaws then punished them for it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bible-stories-fiction-or-the-word-of-a-god/693829.md?page=6)