Explanation

Bender, it wasn't directed at you LoL.  It was just a statement of part of the reason I believe what I believe.  Still, you made some good points in your comment and I want to offer my explanation.

Bender said:  "Hmm... I feel like I should respond to this since I think this was directed at me. As I said, I am not as familiar on this topic; I'm more comfortable dealing with the idea of theology philosphically within the context of the stories I know. So for the moment, let me just say this:

-Quoting religious texts is only going to get you so far. As I said, accounts from that far back can be quite sketchy at times. Everything must be taken with a grain of salt. Furthermore it is an edited text, and also one filtered by translation. Also, it's not even entirely consistent with itself. Naturally, the more unusual claims require more independent scruntiny.

-You seem to be assuming that honesty equals truth. They could simply be earnest but wrong. This is by no means a rarity in humanity. 

-The problem with having people tell people who then tell people and so on, is that the message invariably gets jumbled along the way.

None of these are particularly gotchas, just things to keep in mind. It's not as simple as you've laid out. I would like to explore this further, but there's an awful lot to take in to appropriately comment on this global issue. I like to stick with what I know, so until then, I'll stay [relatively] quiet on those details."

Stuart answers:
"I'm more comfortable dealing with the idea of theology philosophically within the context of the stories I know."  That's what I'm doing LoL.  How do you 'know' those stories?  What stories?  Who told you?  Were you there?  I am truly asking.  I'm not trying to throw questions back at you.  Don't just say 'well the Bible isn't true' and move on...that's not keeping an open mind.  Even I have to consider daily whether or not even I believe that the Bible is true, and the more I read it the more I see that it has to be.  It all fits.  If you look at the "My Purpose" post, I list verses starting in the Old Testament and going through to the New Testament and they all have the same message.  That's just one small part of it.  A big part of it is that I memorized Romans 8 (39 verses) and since most verses have other verses listed as references, I started writing those down as well.  Starting in Romans 8:2, I have listed the verses 8:2 references, then all the verses those verses reference, and so on...from one verse I am at 15 pages of bullet pointed verses, and I am nowhere close to being done.  That verse has roots in the Old Testament that go deep as well.  I am blown away by it all.  I hope that one day I can finish it and have a hard copy to show for it, but it's very time-consuming LoL.  Remember, I'm not even at 8:3 yet and I'm going for 8:39.  I believe that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God.  Seriously, if God isn't big enough to organize His own book then He's not big enough to save me.  If you have any particular contradictions that stick out to you, please tell me and I'll look into them.  So far I have seen that the Bible fits together perfectly, and the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.  My faith is based on what the Bible says, so I will continue to use my 'religious text' to back up everything I believe.

Truth is objective.  We can honestly believe a falsehood.  I have faith that Jesus told the truth when He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6)

The great thing about God is that the message is consistent even though He used people to actually write the Bible by putting pen to paper.  The message of the Bible is the same now as it was thousands of years ago.  Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again.  The Old Testament reveals the need for a Savior, and predicts the Savior, and the New Testament tells about the Savior and how He applies to our lives.  This message has not been jumbled.  And even if the words did get jumbled, the sacrifices of the apostles afterward in the name of Christ is enough to get me thinking.  Here were 12 guys who thought that since Jesus was the Messiah, He would defeat the Romans and set up God's kingdom on earth through a show of power.  James and John even asked Jesus to sit at His right hand and His left hand when He came into His glory.  They argued over who would be Jesus' right hand man.  All they cared about was 'suckling at the power teat' so to speak.  Even His closest friends missed the point, and when He allowed Himself to be crucified the disciples ran and hid in a locked upper room for fear that they would be killed too just for having known Jesus.  Then something happened (Jesus' resurrection and appearance to them in that locked upper room) that made them unify and preach His resurrection to the world...and it ultimately led to their deaths.  I cannot ignore that change.

I am afraid that it is that simple.  God created us, He loves us, He wants us to show our love for Him through obedience, we disobeyed, He had to punish us, we couldn't save ourselves, He stepped out of Heaven to save us Himself, and we have the choice to follow in that.  It is a simple yes or no, I'm afraid.  We are the ones who try to complicate it by putting a price tag on it.

Bender, thank you for commenting.  Please keep doing so!  Don't be afraid to give me specifics.  I will humbly answer the best way I can.  I will keep using the Bible as my reference though, because it lays out what I believe, so if you're not willing to meet me there then I doubt this discussion will go anywhere :)  I don't mean that you have to accept the Bible as truth, just don't discount it right off the bat.

And, readers, you all have permission to comment or question me, not just Bender LoL.  My e-mail is:  stuartlkingsley@gmail.com

For the Kingdom,
Stuart