Christianity is the One True Faith

Apologies to my opponent for forfeiting the previous round. I’ll simply call it technological issues this site was giving me. However, I return to post my rebuttals. My opponent makes an erroneous assertion when he says “no one has every proven the Bible to be wrong I don't see any validity in your claims.” In fact, there are several ways to prove my assertion that the Bible is false. I’ll be using the preferred argument of similarities in mythology. To use supporting evidence, I’ll quote an essay from Daniel Miessler, in which he states the following: “The similarities between the stories and characters in the Bible and those from previous mythologies are both undeniable and well-documented. It is only due to extreme the extreme religious bias that pervades our world today that people rarely get exposed to this information.” [1] The following quote refutes the Bible’s earnestness just by refuting the story of Christ. (Bear with it… it is quite long.) “Perhaps even more compelling is the story of Christ himself. As it turns out it’s not even remotely original. It is instead nothing more than a collection of bits and pieces from dozens of other stories that came long before. Here are some examples. Asklepios healed the sick, raised the dead, and was known as the savior and redeemer. Hercules was born of a divine father and mortal mother and was known as the savior of the world. Prophets foretold his birth and claimed he would be a king, which started a search by a leader who wanted to kill him. He walked on water and told his mother, “Don’t cry, I’m going to heaven.” when he died. As he passed he said, “It is finished.“ Dionysus was literally the “Son of God”, was born of a virgin mother, and was commonly depicted riding a donkey. He healed the sick and turned water to wine. He was killed but was resurrected and became immortal. His greatest accomplishment was his own death, which delivers humanity itself. Osiris did the same things. He was born of a virgin, was considered the first true king of the people, and when he died he rose from the grave and went to heaven. Osiris’s son, Horus, was known as the “light of the world”, “The good shepherd”, and “the lamb”. He was also referred to as, “The way, the truth, and the life.” His symbol was a cross. Mithra‘s birthday was celebrated on the 25th of December, his birth was witnessed by local shepherds who brought him gifts, had 12 disciples, and when he was done on earth he had a final meal before going up to heaven. On judgment day he’ll return to pass judgment on the living and the dead. The good will go to heaven, and the evil will die in a giant fire. His holiday is on Sunday (he’s the Sun God). His followers called themselves “brothers”, and their leaders “fathers”. They had baptism and a meal ritual where symbolic flesh and blood were eaten. Heaven was in the sky, and hell was below with demons and sinners. Krishna had a miraculous conception that wise men were able to come to because they were guided by a star. After he was born an area ruler tried to have him found and killed. His parents were warned by a divine messenger, however, and they escaped and was met by shepherds. The boy grew up to be the mediator between God and man. Buddha‘s mother was told by an angel that she’d give birth to a holy child destined to be a savior. As a child he teaches the priests in his temple about religion while his parents look for him. He starts his religious career at roughly 30 years of age and is said to have spoken to 12 disciples on his deathbed. One of the disciples is his favorite, and another is a traitor. He and his disciples abstain from wealth and travel around speaking in parables and metaphors. He called himself “the son of man” and was referred to as, “prophet”, “master”, and “Lord”. He healed the sick, cured the blind and deaf, and he walked on water. One of his disciples tried to walk on water as well but sunk because his faith wasn’t strong enough. Apollonius of Tyana (a contemporary of Jesus) performed countless miracles (healing sick and crippled, restored sight, casted out demons, etc.) His birth was of a virgin, foretold by an angel. He knew scripture really well as a child. He was crucified, rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples to prove his power before going to heaven to sit at the right hand of the father. He was known as, The Son of God.” [1] Beyond that argument, there are more scientific arguments refuting the assertion that the Bible is true. According to an article by The Church of Reality, “If we were to believe the Bible, then we would have to believe the Earth was created before the stars, which is the wrong order. If the stars were created 10,000 years ago, we wouldn't be able to see stars that are more than 10,000 light years away. That's because if a star was further away than 10,000 light years, the light from that star wouldn't have got here yet. Our galaxy alone is about 100,000 light years across. If the Bible were true, we wouldn't be able to see but 1/10th the way across our own galaxy. We surely wouldn't be able to see other galaxies or galactic clusters or know that the universe is expanding.” [2] There are many more publications refuting the Bible. There are also many more arguments. If you go to ExChristian.net, you’ll find at least 10 arguments refuting the Bible as truth. Of these arguments, the following points are made: 1. The accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection as depicted in the gospels are in serious conflict. 2. The concepts of heaven, hell, eternal life, etc., all predate Christianity as does a savior-god who died and was resurrected. (See Zoroastrianism, Osiris, Dionysus, etc.) 3. There are no historical writings by any first century historian that mention Jesus by name 4. Almost every miracle and event in Jesus’ life can be found in the Old Testament stories. 5. Jesus is depicted as believing the Old Testament verbatim and therefore invalidates himself since much of the Old Testament can be shown to be false. 6. Jesus is not foreshadowed in the Old Testament 7. Isaiah 7's virgin (or young maiden) birth is not a prophecy about a coming messiah. 8. Jesus promised to return from heaven within the lifetimes of his listeners – he never did. X 9. The Messiah was to be of the lineage of David yet Jesus was born of a virgin! 10. Jesus sinned by making himself unclean when he touched the leper and dead girl (a violation of Levitical law which all Jews were under. Jesus himself agreed he was under the law.) [3] Since there is continual proof that the Bible is false, I reinsert my earlier argument here. Since Pro has the BoP, he MUST prove the Bible is true to prove that Christianity is the ONE TRUE religion. Sources: 1. https://danielmiessler.com... 2. http://www.churchofreality.org... 3. http://articles.exchristian.net...