Is there anything skeptics can't reduce

I understand that the Jewish Oral Tradition was quite strict, and required a lot of discipline. Not just anyone was allowed to "repeat" the stories.

Demonstrably not. Look at the different creation narratives in Genesis.

And if you're looking at the early Christian oral tradition -- well, that wasn't "Jewish Oral Tradition" at all, so different rules, if any, applied.
 
Demonstrably not. Look at the different creation narratives in Genesis.

And if you're looking at the early Christian oral tradition -- well, that wasn't "Jewish Oral Tradition" at all, so different rules, if any, applied.
No, I don't claim to be an historian but, I do understand there are folks out there who understand how important it is to get the story straight. In which case I think it would be unfair to pass the whole thing off as some sort of "telephone game."
 

Why is arguing a point that nobody can prove or disprove so important? I've been in these arguments before, and wearing down an adversary is not a victory. Be staunch in your beliefs unless proven otherwise, but at the end of the day, you have as much as a claim to victory as everybody else.

If you're right, you're right. If you're arguing to get attention, it's meaningless.
 
As several here have said, the default position is that you are quite simply wrong.

Again, if you wish to go beyond that and tell us that there is a particular reason for your wrongness, go ahead.
Yes, I understand how important it is for you to feel "smug" about what you believe.
 
Why is arguing a point that nobody can prove or disprove so important? I've been in these arguments before, and wearing down an adversary is not a victory. Be staunch in your beliefs unless proven otherwise, but at the end of the day, you have as much as a claim to victory as everybody else.

If you're right, you're right. If you're arguing to get attention, it's meaningless.
Because maybe it's possible I'm not crazy? Or, if I am, it's not the kind of crazy these folks could ever hope to understand.
 
Why is arguing a point that nobody can prove or disprove so important? I've been in these arguments before, and wearing down an adversary is not a victory.
Yes, this is Tricky's tactic. I'm merely stating something (from the standpoint of my own experience) that I think needs to be said.
 
Because maybe it's possible I'm not crazy? Or, if I am, it's not the kind of crazy these folks could ever hope to understand.

Well, I'm crazy too then. Why is it so important to you to make friends on a site where they all berate you? I've stated my position many times, but you don't see everyone jumping on all my posts. In fact, I had a nice conversation with a few people attempting to understand my beliefs. I have had run-ins before when I first came here where I was a little less understanding of others beliefs. I know my position, I'm confident in my position, but if somebody disagrees it doesn't ruin my day. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But nobody can prove or disprove their position either on my stance. We're all arguing from ignorance on this subject. The difference is our jump to the super(or undiscovered) natural. I understand I can't really argue with evidence. I also understand neither can anyone else. All we can argue is beliefs. Beliefs are not tangent, and offer no more than that person's opinion. And you know what they say about opinions.
 
Yes, this is Tricky's tactic. I'm merely stating something (from the standpoint of my own experience) that I think needs to be said.

Ummm...I had a nice little conversation with Tricky on this very thread. He didn't wear me down. He was curious to my belief structure. I'm not insecure in chatting about the possibilities that I am wrong.
 
Alright. I'm open to the possibility that condeming people to firey, endless torment for getting a question wrong on a test might be an effective teaching instrument. So, what's the lesson?

In that scenario, there are more tests coming.
 
Ummm...I had a nice little conversation with Tricky on this very thread. He didn't wear me down. He was curious to my belief structure. I'm not insecure in chatting about the possibilities that I am wrong.
Just don't claim to know anything outside of his point of reference (what he "thinks" he knows) and follow the crowd, and you and he will get along just fine.
 
It doesn't surprise me one bit that equally ignorant statements like this are made by those whose superiority is certain unto themselves.

C'mon Merc. You're better than this.
Perhaps you should explain yourself. My sis-in-law was ignorant of the history of the bible. Do you disagree with that? Iacchus has repeatedly been pointed to the experimental literature on dreams and consciousness, yet he refuses to look--he remains steadfastly, intentionally ignorant.

I won't go into the "superiority is certain" bit, because it is wholly irrelevant.
 
No, I don't claim to be an historian but, I do understand there are folks out there who understand how important it is to get the story straight. In which case I think it would be unfair to pass the whole thing off as some sort of "telephone game."

Actually, no. Just because one person regards it as necessary to get the story straight does not mean that the story will be gotten straight. Of course it would be unfair to pass it off as a "telephone game" without any evidence that it was a telephone game -- but we have ample evidence of story transmission and manipulation, both in the Old Testament (e.g. the different creation narratives in Genesis) and in the New (the relationship and mutual contradictions among the synoptic gospels).
 
Yes, I understand how important it is for you to feel "smug" about what you believe.
If it makes you feel better to believe that, go ahead. Whether or not I am smug, your notions are incoherent, illogical, and (in the few cases where a claim of fact can be pinned down) in disagreement with the observed evidence. All of which has been shown to you many many many times.

I think you are confusing me being smug with you being wrong.
 

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