Oh Little Town of Bethlehem...

@philokalia said
If you do not accept the Gospels as accurate, is there any other source of information by which there would be an accurate or alternative account of Christ?

No.

So why question this individual point?

As Kelly noted.

It doesn't make sense to reject an account and then to dwell on further rejecting aspects within the account when these are literally only relev ...[text shortened]... pted.

It's just beating a dead horse now, isn't it?

Is that how you like to spend your time?

As I said, you do not have to discuss it ~ with me or anybody else ~ if you don't want to. This a debate and discussion forum. There are lots of other threads.

@philokalia said
Jerusalem is ubiquitously known as the city of David.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_David

Take a look at Micah 5:2 and Luke 2:11.

Micah could've been fulfilled if merely Mary or Joseph was from Bethlehem, IMO.

@fmf said
As I said, you do not have to discuss it ~ with me or anybody else ~ if you don't want to. This a debate and discussion forum. There are lots of other threads.

Why don't you want me in your thread?

You don't like my posts because they're more meta and better than yours?

@philokalia said
If you do not accept the Gospels as accurate, is there any other source of information by which there would be an accurate or alternative account of Christ?

If the Gospels are not accurate then that is significant. Your 'I believe it because I believe it' thing is not an 'argument' that carries much weight.

@philokalia said
Why don't you want me in your thread?

You should post as you see fit and in whatever threads you want.

@fmf said
As I said, you do not have to discuss it ~ with me or anybody else ~ if you don't want to. This a debate and discussion forum. There are lots of other threads.

"Good faith posters shall always triumph against high volume bad faith posters because they are of the djinn." Quran Surah 3:112.

"Crush the bad faith poster like a serpent. The trees themselves cry out, and the dogs point the way like it were a duck hunt. Selah, thou shalt smote the bad faith poster and drive him from Medina and Mecca." Quran, Hadith number 13, passed on from Suharto al-Khoranni from IBM Bashir and IBM Asura.

@fmf said
You should post as you see fit and in whatever threads you want.

Then it's settled.

Just let me know when you want to wind this down.

@philokalia said
Micah could've been fulfilled if merely Mary or Joseph was from Bethlehem, IMO.

Noted. Take a look at Luke 2:11.

@fmf said
My loss of faith in the credibility of the Bible was not a matter of "little things". It was a big thing. You see, if the Bible is not credible - if it is concocted and contrived - then it does not inform us about "the great truths about God". If it is a not-credible revelation, then the "the main articles of faith" that it contains are neither her nor there.

What was it about the Bible you found to be not credible? Some point, some verse,
some book? Since the Bible resembles a library more than a single book, what was
the specific thing you found to be not-credible?

@philokalia said
Just let me know when you want to wind this down.

I don't know what you're on about.

@fmf said
I don't know what you're on about.

Why not? We've been through this before.

@fmf said
Noted. Take a look at Luke 2:11.

There are two cities of David, obviously.

@kellyjay said
What was it about the Bible you found to be not credible? Some point, some verse,
some book? Since the Bible resembles a library more than a single book, what was
the specific thing you found to be not-credible?

Well, we have discussed this before, KellyJay. Don't pull a Fetchmyjunk/dj2becker on me, now! The Book of Revelation was where the doubts first crept in ~ 20 or so years ago. I now see it as a hoax/delusion no different from the Muhammed and Gabriel hoax/delusion.

@fmf said
Well, we have discussed this before, KellyJay. Don't pull a dj2becker on me, now. The Book of Revelation was where the doubts crept in. I now see it as a hoax/delusion no different from the Muhammed and Gabriel hoax/delusion.

We have discussed a lot of things in the past, I don't doubt Revelation was a topic,
but I don't actually recall the finer points of it. You do not believe God is going to
wrap up His creation here, and start a new without evil in it? What do you find is
not a viable text or doctrine?

We don't have to go over this again either if you don't want too, up to you!