I do believe God died for all (the entire world), and all are forgiven by Him. But this is accessed by faith, and faith is a gift of God.

I was given faith in my baptism. When I was in my 40’s and started going to church with my wife (I didn’t really want to go)I heard the gospel proclaimed in it’s purity and received the Lord’s Supper and lo and behold, my “lightswitch” turned on.

I believe that the Bible is God’s revealed Word. Sure.I acknowledge that not everyone who reads the Bible comes to faith. I read it off and on for years and it didn’t mean a thing to me.

Mike, listen to this sermon (only 20 minutes). It addresses what we are talking about. I have linked to it here before, but it is really a terrific sermon.

Most Christians would not accept the premise of the sermon, but it is Biblical and I believe it to be true.

http://lightofthemaster.com/Sermons/Entries/2008/3/4__The_Holy_Spirit.html

Yes, there are Christians in those lands, but only because of missionaries, and without missionaries it is unlikely that there would have been any such Christians.

If there weren’t missionaries, there would be no Christians outside of Jerusalem. You forget, perhaps, the Great Commission?

Faith is not the forest… truth (i.e., the Big Picture) is the forest. Root rot? please. No one is denying the Bible… it just needs to be seen in context.

Ehrman is a fool, plain and simple. He breaks the rules for evaluating historical documents. I will state again that I suspect he does this to protect himself from facing truth. his problem is not intellectual; if it was, he’d easily resolve his issues.

Why does God choose some and not others?

I don’t think he does. The real question is, “why do people reject the truth?” It’s not intellectual. Again, I suggest a reading of CS Lewis’ “The Great Divorce” would perhaps be enlightening. (It’s not to be taken literally, by the way.)

Why does God choose some and not others? If it is God’s will and not Man’s, why do those not in areas not culturally Christian find themselves denied of God’s Faith Will? You were brought up in a culture that is predisposed to Christianity (despite pleas of persecution, you know this is true.) What makes you think that if you had been brought up in a culture predisposed to Hinduism, Islam, Shinto, Buddhism or other religions that you would not have succumbed to Satan’s allure in the form of “false religions?” How do you know that you wouldn’t be as ardent a defender of Allah as you are of The Logos?

When you examine this, you don’t know. Yes, there are Christians in those lands, but only because of missionaries, and without missionaries it is unlikely that there would have been any such Christians. How do Christians spread the Word if not with the Bible (see the military attempts to preach to the Afghanis contrary to the rules of the U.S. Military codes.)

Why are Creationists trying so hard to get the bible taught in schools?

Don’t try to deny that the Bible is a pillar of your faith, and if as Alden says, Faith is the Forest then to look at the scriptures close up as trees and while examining the roots find rot, it is not hard to see there is a concomitant lack of support for faith. You yourself will Faith and name the will as God’s.

It is you and Alden who are, in fact, missing the entire message of ex-Christian atheists. Ehrman writes about the textual criticisms of the Bible and its weaknesses because this is where his scholarship as a Christian led him.

I had to rely on my feelings…I would never believe.

I trust in His Word and in His sacraments.

He has given me enough faith to believe, in spite of my continual efforts to walk away from Him.

The only reason I believe is His will…not mine.

The other problem with both atheists and fundamentalists, as I mentioned in the prior post, is that they both tend to be literalists, when it suits their purposes.

If someone really wanted to understand the Bible, it can be done. There’s a remarkable story line that emerges. Critics like Bart Ehrman miss the forest for the trees (and often they even miss the trees). Bart seems to steal a lot from folks like Marcus Borg (he even credits Borg, once), who note many of the same issues, but at least Borg knows enough to grasp the metaphors and see the big picture. I still disagree with Borg on many, many things, but I tend to respect him more than the Ehrman-types. Better still are people like NT Wright or Ben Witherington.

A God that incarnates Himself as a mortal and endures hardship and death at the hands of those for whom He came to save…a monster?

Hardly. But then again…I wouldn’t expect you to understand it.

Of if it is in fact the word of a deity, then that deity is a childish monster.