Re: Tsunami was God's revenge for your wicked ways, women to
re: sin of Onan
The sin of Onan was because of Onan's irresponsibility to raise a son for Er. It was a cultural practice at the time (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, Matthew 22:24) that if the husband died, his brother should take the widow as his wife to continue the family. There was nothing wrong with Onan sleeping with Tamar, but what was wrong was that he "spilled semen on the ground". And yes, God killed Er and Onan, but it doesn't say they were sent to hell, does it?
The real answer is that all sins are forgivable (except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3, Matthew 12) , which many theologians believe cannot be committed today). However sins can only be forgivable by repenting to God (the Protestant view... the Catholics still have the confession box) . So it is not the type of sin that condemns people to hell, but whether a person's sins are repented and forgiven.
prove that the bible is NOT fiction. Saying something is true, without error, or the direct word of a deity requires proof.
It's a huge topic, and I can definitely not convince you with a post that the Bible is non-fiction. For starters the Bible talks about people and places that everybody admits existed... Rome, Greece, Israel, Babylon, Persia, Egypt, King Nebuchadnezzar, the kings of Persia. I can lead you to a good number of Biblical archaeology websites that show the historical accuracy of the Bible.
If you want, I'll let you give me some of your explanations for the resurrection of Christ. If the resurrection is a myth, then why did the early Christians get martyred and died for a myth?
let's say the Bible was the divine word of God... how could that possibly be proven?
That can't be proven, because it is a matter of faith, but the Bible could still be tested for truth outside of what God says.
there can be many factors involved with the bible.
Just wondering, Dan... did you get your questions out of the Da Vinci Code?
1) The current Old Testament has been shown by the Dead Sea Scrolls to be almost the same as the one two thousand years ago. Quote from Wikipedia on the Dead Sea Scrolls: "Although some of the biblical manuscripts found at Qumran differ significantly from the Masoretic text, most do not." (the Masoretic text is the basis of today's Old Testament)
The New Testament is written in Greek, a language that still exists today. Even though there may have been changes to the language, scholars still know how to read the language used in biblical times.
2) The Roman Catholic Church did add some apocryphal books to the Bible after the Protestant Reformation to fit its doctrine, but the Protestant Bible canon has remained the same since the 4th century AD. The criteria for New Testament books in the Bible is that they must be written by an apostle (including Paul) or someone who knew an apostle, and they must have been written in the same century as the lifetime of Christ. Roman Emperor Constantine did not change the Bible during the Council of Nicaea as the Da Vinci Code alleges.
3) Some parts of the Bible are metaphorical (such as Revelations and Jesus' parables), but it's made very clear to the reader what parts are and what parts aren't.
4) Like what? I've got to ask you for proof (again).
