[Dimensio]

So you cannot condemn as abolutely wrong (the "universal standpoint") the massacring of innocent Jews by Hitler? Please correct me if I am mistaken here.

That is correct. What's your point, that you don't like this consequence?

No, you are well aware that such a standard exists.

No, you arrogantly assert that I am "well aware" because your small mind can't comprehend that not everyone believes as you do.

You can't universally condemn mass murder, but you can't bring yourself to shrug it off either.

There's a difference between "not shrugging off" mass murder and claiming a universal basis for condemnation of it.

Whether it is effective or not has absolutely nothing to do with the question, as you well know. Whether your moral construct allows you to stand on firm moral, logical ground is the issue.

I see no logical contradictions in my position. You've yet to demonstrate any.

I would daresay that there are countless examples of evangelicals who believe that the Bible is authored by those it claims to be.

Ad numerum?
Anecdotal?

. I would go so far as to say that it is difficult to find someone in conservative evangelical/Catholic circles who does not believe it.

Interesting, because some of my references are also Catholic.

Thanks for the references though. I note that they provide lots of assertions, but little educational reference. Nonetheless, I can provide websites that back up my claims.

http://www.uscatholic.org/2001/06/gya0106.htm

You'll have to give me a specific example in order to answer that question.

It's rather well-established that there were Greek "orcales" who would set up temples near thermal vents and interpret the interesting scents that they caught there as "sighs" of the future. In any case, the stories of their gods had to come from somewhere.

You'll have to give me a specific example in order to answer that question. It is possible that they truly received messages, but I would suspect that they would be demonic in origin.

Ah, such a convenient excuse. "My divine messages are revealed Truth, but their divine messages are DEMONIC!"

The problem is that the same excuse could be applied to you. Of coruse, you'll wave your hands around and dismiss it with some lame excuse.
Actually, that's not the only problem. It's also an assertion without evidence. You've not even demonstrated that the "demonic" exists.

In addition, considering that the Greeks gods were little more than amplified humanity, making no attempt to account for sinfulness and redemption of fallen man, it would be diificult to take them seriously.

What does that have to do with the truth of their existence? Gods only exist if their nature matches what you want them to be?

[Zack Nguyen]

That is correct. What's your point, that you don't like this consequence?

Well, at least you are consistent here, which is more than most atheists. I'm sorry but I must be frank here - your viewpoint is absolutely abhorrent and tragically wrong, and if applied writ large to society will lead it into total and complete destruction. Massacring innocent Jews is a crime against God and man.

Since you cannot judge right from wrong, why are you on this website? Why do you care? The fact of the matter is, you do not live consistently by your own assumptions. Despite your inability to condemn the Holocaust, you make absolute judgments of right and wrong all the time. You do this because God has given you a conscience, and you know that there is an absolute Authority.

Nonetheless, I can provide websites that back up my claims.

I'm sure you can. That does not change the historic position of the church, which has been that the Bible is what it says it is. Your claim that "no reputable Bible scholars" believe that the Bible was actually authored by those who claimed to author it is laughable.

What does that have to do with the truth of their existence? Gods only exist if their nature matches what you want them to be?

No, it just makes it much more likely that they are man-created.

To paraphrase a sermon I heard the other day, Christianity is not a religion that man would have invented, even if they could.

Christianity is a religion that is not centered around the works of man, but demands that mankind believe and place their faith in the finished work of someone else; it does not demand rules and rituals and good works, it demands simple faith. It does not rely on human beings ability to "make something of themselves", it asks that human beings acknowledge that they are sinners and will always be; it does not ask man to "pull himself up by his bootstraps", it tells him that he cannot.

In other words, mankind does not come off looking very good in the Bible. Christianity says that there is nothing that man can do about it - he must look to Christ, who has obtained forgiveness of sins already, and is ready to change someone from the inside out. The less I am of me, the more I can be of Christ. I cannot imagine a less "humanistic" creedo. No, the Bible is not a creation of man.

At some point I sincerely hope that you answer my question about 1 John 1:1-2.