El_Mariachi64

Hi Mary

I'll try to answer your question as best I can. I'm a history minor, so while I'm no theology expert, I do know more than most when it comes to the history of it.

Pretty much what cause the bible to lose its credibility, as far as I'm concerned is the history of not only itself but of other religions. For instance, many of the stories presented in the Bible have their origins in much ancient civilizations.

For example, the Moses story originates in the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations of Mesopotamia (Iraq - around 5000-4000 BCE), a story of a hero called Gilgamesh - Gilgamesh wasn't actually Moses - he meets a guy who did everything Moses did - this "Moses" was trying to teach Gilgamesh that life is not eternal and to stop trying not to die (Gilgamesh was a son of a God)

Another example is the myth of baby Moses being left on a basket in the river. Ancient Egyptians kings likewise had similar origin stories.

I've read accounts of the cross being a religious symbol long before Christianity even came into being, and that the concept of the trinity is also recycled from previous religoins.

One professor also said that Jesus might have lived 200 years before he supposedly was even born (ie - 200 BCE), and that his story of leadership and sacrifice against Roman cruelty carried on and expanded over the Roman empire, getting so big that it created a new religion.

Also, there's the fact that the bible was not written down by the apostoles. The first part was written down around 80 CE, the rest of it much later. As most stories were passed down back then, Christianity was taught through word of mouth.

Then, before Emperor Constantine came along, Christianity was seen as a backwater religion, its followers persecuted. But then Constantine saw a vision (was he on drugs? too much sun?) of a cross and he heard "by the symbol you will conquer." So he decided to change the Roman Empire (which was under some distress due to the Christians not converting to Roman Gods) to a Christian religion. He summoned the Christian teachers he saw convenient to assemble at the Council of Mycenae at around 450 CE to put together the bible, omitting and destroying all opposing Christian points of view (of which there were many), and thus the Roman Catholic Church and the Bible were born - as you can see, both political inventions of man put together to maintain an Empire through the power of religion. I figure Constantine pretty much though "meh, if you can't beat them, join then."

Then there's all the other competing religoins, like Islam (which has its own convoluted politically convenient story of war and conquest) which claims to be an Abrahamic religoin as well, but claims to be the ultimate, true version. So who's to say which one's right? Both? None? They both have just as much credibility as the other, which makes choosing one a logically impossible task.

The bible is a great book, has lots of great advice (as well as lots of bad advice - which any sane person would ignore) But that's it, imo

Mary, you just have to make up your own mind. Read everything there is to read about the subject, and then come up with your own conclusions. Don't let anyone tell you what to think, not me, not priests, and not professors (but do take into account who's talking - a bum on the street has less credibility than someone with a Ph.D in Physics). Listen, and then decide for yourself.