Which Bible Do You Trust, and Why?

[Wolfrock]

There are so many things wrong with your statements. The Bible is God's word and is truth. There are translational issues because broken men attempted to make it easier to understand based on their culture. I am ok with that if it means more people read. 

Catholictholics are more of a cult than religion.  The pope is the CEO of a business, not God's special chosen. Priests can not hear confessions and absolve sin. They are broken as we all are. Nothing special. The same applies to Mary, just a sinner. Priests however should have a great prison ministry, given the number of them residing there.

For the record Mormons and guideons are different. Guideons are traveling salesmen with a good distribution system that wanted to spread the Gospel of Christ to all the world. Mormons wrote a book of fiction.



Catholictholics ARE Christian.   The ORIGINAL Christians.  No need to put the word 'or' in that sentence nor separate the two words Catholic and Christian as if they are two different things.

2 - What I said is true, use your head.   Large portions of the bible are not literal truth, they are allegory.  Adam and Eve, Jonah and the whale, Job, Noahs Ark, Enoch etc.    And the world is not 6,000 years old.  And since we know for a fact that Noahs Ark and the flood did not happen, then the quote supposedly from Jesus speaking about 'in the time of Noah ...' is problematic.   There was no Noah and there was no flood.

[3rdrockfrmsun]

That's true, but local/regional flood stories aside, there is still no credible geological or archaeological evidence for a single global flood covering the entire Earth.

Even the end of the Pleistocene period does not support a global flood theory.

And dont get me started on magic TARDIS 400ft long boats made of wood and glue that contained two of every animal on Earth.

I mean, it's a cool story, but that's about it, and if we are honest, most likely a rehash of the "Epic of Ziusudra" from Sumerian tales that came before.

You’re right — there’s no proof of a global flood covering the entire planet. But there is strong geological and archaeological evidence of massive regional floods in the ancient Near East that easily could’ve inspired the story.
Sediment layers from around Ur, Shuruppak, and Kish show sudden flood deposits dated roughly to the same era. The Black Sea deluge theory points to a catastrophic rise in sea level around 5600 BC that flooded thousands of square miles almost overnight. Even ancient Mesopotamian records like the Epic of Gilgamesh describe a near-identical event — long before Genesis was written.
The Ark story was never meant as a shipbuilding manual; it was the ancient world’s way of preserving a real disaster’s memory through symbolic storytelling. And when nearly every culture on Earth remembers a great flood — that’s not coincidence. That’s history echoing.

[andy06shake]

Yes it is.

4,000 years ago the world was not destroyed in one massive flood leaving only a boat with 8 people and 2 of every kind of animal aboard.   It simply did not happen.    And having regional floods here and there around the world at different times doesn't equate to the Noahs Ark story at all.   All the science and history prove the flood did not happen.   If it had happened everyone would be speaking one ancient language and all would be worshipping the same ancient God of Noah.   Obviously that's not happening.   It is allegory (coming from a Summerian story that the Hebrews stole and readapted to fit their own culture and religion).   Adam and Eve, Job, Jonah and the Whale, Noahs Ark, Enoch ... did not happen.

[3rdrockfrmsun]

Yes it is.

4,000 years ago the world was not destroyed in one massive flood leaving only a boat with 8 people and 2 of every kind of animal aboard.   It simply did not happen.    And having regional floods here and there around the world at different times doesn't equate to the Noahs Ark story at all.   All the science and history prove the flood did not happen.   If it had happened everyone would be speaking one ancient language and all would be worshipping the same ancient God of Noah.   Obviously that's not happening.   It is allegory (coming from a Summerian story that the Hebrews stole and readapted to fit their own culture and religion).   Adam and Eve, Job, Jonah and the Whale, Noahs Ark, Enoch ... did not happen.

You keep saying “it didn’t happen” like that somehow settles the discussion — but the evidence doesn’t line up as neatly as you’re claiming. Around 2900 B.C., major Mesopotamian cities like Shuruppak, Kish, and Ur were suddenly buried under thick flood silt. The Sumerian King List even breaks off right there to say, “Then the flood swept over.” That’s not Sunday school — that’s archaeology.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, Atrahasis, and Genesis all describe the same event through different cultural lenses. The Hebrews didn’t “steal” the story — they inherited a shared regional memory and gave it theological meaning. That’s what every ancient culture did.
And the “two of every animal on one boat” line? Nobody’s arguing it was a literal zoological inventory. Ancient writers weren’t giving weather reports — they were preserving the memory of something so catastrophic it reshaped civilization.
You don’t have to believe Noah’s Ark was global, but pretending the flood motif just popped out of nowhere ignores the fact that nearly every culture on Earth remembers it. That’s either a wild coincidence — or humanity’s collective memory trying to tell us something.

[andy06shake]

You’re right — there’s no proof of a global flood covering the entire planet. But there is strong geological and archaeological evidence of massive regional floods in the ancient Near East that easily could’ve inspired the story.
Sediment layers from around Ur, Shuruppak, and Kish show sudden flood deposits dated roughly to the same era. The Black Sea deluge theory points to a catastrophic rise in sea level around 5600 BC that flooded thousands of square miles almost overnight. Even ancient Mesopotamian records like the Epic of Gilgamesh describe a near-identical event — long before Genesis was written.
The Ark story was never meant as a shipbuilding manual; it was the ancient world’s way of preserving a real disaster’s memory through symbolic storytelling. And when nearly every culture on Earth remembers a great flood — that’s not coincidence. That’s history echoing.

Agreed. 

The book is full of parables and principles. 

And it's not the only religious text known to do so by any manner or means.

The Bible seems to be somewhat of a rehash of religions that came before, considering the parallels with older Near Eastern religions.

[3rdrockfrmsun]

Agreed. 

The book is full of parables and principles. 

And it's not the only religious text known to do so by any manner or means.

The Bible seems to be somewhat of a rehash of religions that came before, considering the parallels with older Near Eastern religions.

That’s fair — there are definitely parallels between older Near Eastern texts and parts of the Bible. But that’s not proof of imitation; it’s proof of continuity. Cultures didn’t live in vacuums — they passed down shared memories, symbols, and divine experiences that evolved over time.
If anything, the Hebrew writers took fragments of those ancient myths and refined them into something monotheistic and moral, shifting the focus from a crowd of squabbling gods to one righteous Creator. That’s not a “rehash” — that’s revelation taking shape through history.
And hey, if a few cultures exaggerated the details along the way, that’s fine — they were ancient storytellers, not shipwrights from Doctor Who. 

[andy06shake]

That’s fair — there are definitely parallels between older Near Eastern texts and parts of the Bible. But that’s not proof of imitation; it’s proof of continuity. Cultures didn’t live in vacuums — they passed down shared memories, symbols, and divine experiences that evolved over time.
If anything, the Hebrew writers took fragments of those ancient myths and refined them into something monotheistic and moral, shifting the focus from a crowd of squabbling gods to one righteous Creator. That’s not a “rehash” — that’s revelation taking shape through history.
And hey, if a few cultures exaggerated the details along the way, that’s fine — they were ancient storytellers, not shipwrights from Doctor Who. 

I suppose it's more accurate to say Christianity developed in dialogue with them.

Or even gave some of the older Eastern ideas new theological and/or moral meaning. 

The kicker being the storytellers weren't writing history books.

More like crafting narratives to explain the world as they knew it and teach lessons. 

It's a safe bet to suggest that over time, a lot of the details got amplified and reinterpreted.

I'm put in mind of something like a cosmic game of telephone, if you can remember that one from school.

[FlyersFan]

There are so many things wrong with your statements.

Right back atchya.

[FlyersFan]

You’re right — there’s no proof of a global flood covering the entire planet. But there is strong geological and archaeological evidence of massive regional floods in the ancient Near East that easily could’ve inspired the story.

But the story is dead wrong.
Inspired or not .... it's not accurate and it's dead wrong.

[FlyersFan]

 Even ancient Mesopotamian records like the Epic of Gilgamesh describe a near-identical event — long before Genesis was written.

Because that's where the story came from.
The Hebrews stole the Gilgamesh story, rewrote it to fit their culture and religion.
The Noahs Flood didn't happen and the story is false.
Either something is the literal inerrant word of God or it's not.
In this case ... it's not.   It's not literally true.  It's allegory.