The Bible is not the word of God

MiraclesMy opponent simply does not understand my argument. The very definition of miracles are that they violate natural law. You cannot say that something that defies natural law cannot exist because it defies natural law. This is circular reasoning at its best. If the Bible is true, miracles exist and defy natural law. If the Bible is false, miracles do not exist. You cannot use the conclusion of an argument to prove the presupposition. .. this is exactly what my opponent is doing. He is saying the Bible is false because it presents miracles which cannot occur, however he is using the fact that miracles do not exist to prove the Bible false. Unless he can prove the Bible false on some other grounds, this argument fails. In regard to the dating of the flood. Again, my opponent seems to think that the most fundamentalist and conservative sources are the most reasonable. However there are scores of Christian theologians, even in the evangelical realm, that do not believe the dating posited by these person. Typically the dating is based off genealogies given in the book of Genesis. However, these genealogies can skip generations, or refer to dynasties instead of individuals. Because of this ambiguity, we really have no way to know how long each genealogy is, and therefore no reliable way to date the flood. Furthermore, we have no way to know that the Flood account is not a literary convention. Many Christian scholars view Genesis 1-11 as entirely metaphorical or literary, reckoning them as no more than a mythological account. While this is not a perspective that I share, it is no less a reasonable and legitimate perspective. My opponent must prove that the only way to interpret the flood account is as a literal, historic account. In addition, he has to prove the dating to where he places it. The Book of Moses"The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch, or "The Books of Moses. " Many fundamentalist Christians and Jews believe that Moses wrote these first five books. I am absolutely sure that my opponent is in that category"My opponent has made a grave error. First of all, I am not a fundamentalist, nor do I believe that the Pentateuch was simply written by Moses. I believe that it was written primarily by Moses, edited by Joshua (or Aaron) and then later edited again (perhaps in Exile). This accounts for the record of Moses' death being part of the story. This debate is not about Mosaic Authorship, so I will not go into further details. However, the books of the Pentateuch make no explicit internal claim to their authorship, and therefore showing that Moses is or is not the author is irrelevant and cannot represent a contradiction. Furthermore, the only evidence that my opponent has offered that the book was not written by Moses is that it was written in the third person. I am not usually moved to laughter, but this is quite humorous. Has my opponent never read an autobiography? The Autobiographies of Charles Spurgeon and Billy Graham are sitting on my shelf right now. They were written entirely in the third person. This doesn't mean that they were not written by the subject of the story, it is simply a litterary choice to write in the third versus the first person. ConclusionAt this point has offered no objection or contradiction that is not easily overcome by a full understanding of the text and logical interpretation. He has failed to refute the fact that his argument against miracles is circular in nature, and thus does not stand. He has also failed to prove any internal contradictions in the Bible and therefore the argument does not stand. He has also failed to prove any historical contradictions in the text, and therefore the argument does not stand. In his opening argument he posited that "The Christian Bible is not the Word of God because it contains scientific errors, contradictions, and historically inaccurate information. " He has not fulfilled his burden of proof to show that it contained any of these inaccuracies, and therefore he has lost the debate.