Not a chance, brother, this is the argument forum.

But the whole idea of three Gods destroys monotheism. Almost everyone understands the God/Son-O-God relationship (which does not really contradict monotheism), but almost nobody understands the Holy Ghost business. What is the source of this character? Why is he necessary at all? Why complicate the matter? We have no commandments or quotes from this deity nor any bible stories that come immediately to mind.

I applaud this clear-thinking assessment. Priests, in order to serve the needs of The People, addressed historical events by cloaking them in religious tradition to explain and contend with the practices, beliefs, and phenomenon of their time.

Myth (noun) -- A traditional allegorical narrative of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon.​

​

​

Now, take it a bit further and a bit further back. Did this practice of creating religious tenets to conform with the times start in Roman times? Surely not. Perhaps the entire Old and New Testaments are a collection of such oral traditions, modified frequently to fit with the times of the people, and to address their origins, deities, history, ancestors, and heroes.

Mythology (noun) -- A body or collection of myths belonging to a people and addressing their origin, history, deities, ancestors, and heroes.​

​

​

Well, the geography of the bible is amazingly accurate which is circumstantial evidence that much of the accompanying history may be accurate as well. But in fact we have little in the way of archaeological evidence and almost nothing in the way of ancient documents independent of the Bible to corroborate the specific tales and personalities of the Bible.

Certainly there is much evidence of the great civilizations of the time --Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Greece -- and the great people of the time -- Hittites, Assyrians, Philistines, etc. But the nomadic Hebrew and Bedoin tribes left little in the way of documents and artifacts, certainly no great cities until much later. Perhaps this is why their oral tradition is so strong.

Physical evidence of Old Testament personalities is entirely lacking. Amzing documentation for much of the New Testament is lacking which is surprising since the Romans were meticulus record-keepers and so much has survived from that era.

I know of no such evidence of David and Solomon that has withstood archaeological scrutiny. Evidence?

Truth? Well, it is evocative and has a style that is beautiful. All good oral tradition must be so to be memorable from teller to teller. And they get better as time goes on. But I think it is more allegorical than truthful.

But I follow your logic. If God exists how else would he explain origins to a primitive illiterate people but through allegory, fable, parable, and "miracle"? It's not like he could jump straight to quantum mechanics, evolution, and relativity.

The bible is amazing and memorable literature that teaches many lessons. No other ancient text can approach it in this fashion. The old testament is almost certainly an accurate legend of the history of the Hebrew people in broad generalities. It just isn't corroborated by a hell of a lot of physical archaeology and documents as to specific persons and events.

And like all ancient religions, it has borrowed the best parts of other religions it encountered along the way. The only older ancient document is the mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh and parts of the Bible (Garden of Eden, Noah's Flood, Nebuchadnezzar's madness) are clearly adapted from Gilgamesh. The Commandments of Moses have clear parallels in the older mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi. Bible scholars note that these and other concepts (like Hell) did not enter the Hebrew literature until the mesopotamian exile.

So it is not only ancient and engaging literature, it has evolved over time to retain its popularity and usefulness.

For Pete's sake, fellas...Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2...... "Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 2:3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 2:4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak"

Yeah, I have seen Swaggart do that. But what makes this "spirit" that comes upon them an actual deity?