Discussion on TD&D guidelines

[r~]

[William]

Overcomer wrote:
But the word "authoritative" is defined as "able to be trusted as being accurate or true".

To which William replied:

Which is all that it means. This does not mean that one cannot critique it. After all, that is what Christians are doing when they argue interpretations. They are not trusting the bible, but rather, they are trusting their particular interpretations of the bible and it is the interpretations which are being treated as authoritative and thus trusted as being accurate or true.

I understand what you're saying, but when Christians discuss the meaning of Scripture and refer to scholarship on the matter, they aren't suggesting that the Bible is not the Word of God. Nor are they questioning its authority. Their goal is to understand it better and, while doing so, remain respectful of it and its source, that is, God.

And I see a difference between "critique" (examining something critically which is what Christians have been doing for centuries) and "criticize" (attack, denounce, malign, deprecate, trash, belittle -- take your pick of these synonyms).

Are you seriously trying to say that when Christians have been critiquing [for centuries] they are not themselves attacking, denouncing, maligning, deprecating, trashing, belittling?

When you call the Bible nothing but mythology, you are denouncing it, something that you are free to do in the Apologetic Forum. So there is a place here for talking about Scripture as mythology. It just isn't the Theology and Doctrine Forum.

I see. You are of the opinion that referring to something as mythology is related to "attacking, denouncing, maligning, deprecating, trashing, belittling".
That is not the case. Referring to stories in the bible as mythology is truthful expression of actual facts. I have never referred to the overall book itself as mythology - just stories within it which clearly cannot be said to be 'true' any more than analogies can be said to be true.

Mythology is 1.
a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition.
"tales from Greek mythology"
Similar:
myth(s)
legend(s)
folklore
folk tales
folk stories
lore
tradition
stories
tales
mythos
2.
the study of myths.
"this field includes archaeology, comparative mythology, and folklore"

[otseng]

[William]

[otseng]

[Replying to William in post #24]

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=38330

[Purple Knight]

[William]

[Replying to Overcomer in post #20]

I understand what you're saying, but when Christians discuss the meaning of Scripture and refer to scholarship on the matter, they aren't suggesting that the Bible is not the Word of God. Nor are they questioning its authority. Their goal is to understand it better and, while doing so, remain respectful of it and its source, that is, God.

In this subforum the canon of the Bible is considered authoritative with respect to the historical consensus of the canon's content.

While many Christians do indeed believe that the bible is the word of God - the canons content does not go so far as to make that claim. It is purely an invention of most Christian beliefs, to make that claim, perhaps even to give the bible that type of air of authority , but the practice of critiquing any biblical script is not nullified because the one critiquing does not happen to believe the cannon is 'the word of god'.
When I critique the bible stories, I assume [for the sake of argument] that they are true and then find the holes in said stories which make them appear to be fabricated.

[Revelations won]