To Be Decided During The Debate

"First of all, my opponent wishes to paint the construction of the Bible as a political tool that Constantine used in order to "wield more power", however, this is nothing but a presumption, and my opponent has yet to validate this belief with any citation. Constantine was the one to give power to the church in the first place, not to mention the fact that he devoted a considerable amount of resources to aiding the spread of Christianity, supporting its practice, and giving practitioners the right to do so, an act that was quite unheard of in that time and place." He did all of this to gain power. At that point, Rome was in a Civil War http://en.wikipedia.org... and Constantine's support of Christianity was his key to victory. "In addition, my opponent makes the statement "Constantine only gained power because he called the Council of Nicea. If he hadn't, Rome would have stayed pagan, and Constantine wouldn't have been emperor. The Council of Nicea was used as a tool to grab power". As with before, my opponent offers no citation to support his belief, and I find it erroneous.' Although the Council of Nicea occurred later, his actions to support Christianity were used to gain power. http://en.wikipedia.org... "The Council of Nicea was called in 325, which Constantine's wikiarticle determines to be part of his late rule. Constantine rose to power long before he began 306. At the point, he used the substantial amount of power he had and increased it with military victories. He did not even pass the Edict of Milan until 313, which allowed Christians to practice their faith openly without punishment or persecution. My opponent is attempting to argue that Constantine, who ruled with so much power by that time already, is looking to a persecuted group for more? That point is nonsensical." Addressed above. "My opponent also declares that the Bible was put together during the Council of Nicea. This is also a complete untruth. The Council of Nicea was called to come to terms with several issues, including the relationship between God and Jesus, the date of celebration for Easter, and the legitimacy of baptism by heretics.' All of which are reflected in the canonical bible. "The canon "bible" was not developed until over a millennium later in 1545 during the Council of Trent." Based on the determination of the Council of Nicea. Which was influenced by clouded interests. Furthermore, it was still written by men with conflicting interests and opinions. It cannot be considered holy. "Having found so many flaws in my opponent's fact finding, it is hard for me to understand where his point lies. Regardless, the fact that there are so many errors in his historical background leads me to disregard his entire argument so far. He attempted to prove that Although I am sure he is not trying to deliberately mislead the audience by giving faulty information to support his point, it does make us question his understanding." Even if some of my facts were false, my point is not moot. As you said, the Bible was put together by the Council of Trent. They were still men. They do not make it holy. "The people of the Christian faith wholeheartedly believe that the Bible is the word of God, or at the least, divinely inspired by God through man. The authors of the Bible are transcribing a message of faith. Although my opponent wants to paint the bible as a tool purposely erected to command power or to manipulate the masses, he has failed to provide a substantial reason as to why he believes so. The message of the Bible has little to nothing to do with worldly conquest or acquirement. People who read the Bible derive their faith and strength from it, and this is how we can see God through the work of man. Although we can point to any number of manmade things and pinpoint a purpose from it: That cup was made to hold water, that fork was made to eat with, one cannot point to the Bible and declare any rote, purely secular purpose. Thus, we must say that the Bible is holy. Why? Because its only purpose and its only devotion, is to the will of God." As I said, men do not have purely holy interests. Even if they are filled with the Holy Spirit and inspired to write it, the canonization and the wording reflects their interests. For example, even though slavery is seemingly contradictory to Christian beliefs, parts of the Bible support it.