Most improbable Bible story?

Argue for and against Christianity

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
Difflugia
Prodigy
Posts: 3017
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:25 am
Location: Michigan
Has thanked: 3247 times
Been thanked: 1997 times

Most improbable Bible story?

Post #1

Post by Difflugia »

In the Samson thread, it's noted that the story includes a number of improbable elements: he killed a lion with his bare hands, single-handedly killed thirty men of Ashkelon, found three hundred foxes and tied them together, and killed a thousand men with a donkey bone. Since each of these must be true individually for the story to be true as a whole (at least in a literalist sense), the probability of the whole story being true is the individual probabilities multiplied together.

Taken in a literal way, which Bible story requires the most outrageous set of contingent probabilities? Is Samson the worst?

User avatar
Purple Knight
Prodigy
Posts: 3465
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:00 pm
Has thanked: 1129 times
Been thanked: 729 times

Post #31

Post by Purple Knight »

SallyF wrote:Moses and all the amazing tricks he performed with his magic wand are right up there on the improbable list too.
This I must agree with. To declare something like a man waving a staff and parting the red sea plausible, I would personally have to either 1) be aware of a physical mechanism which could accomplish this or 2) see it myself.

I may be wrong that it's implausible precisely because I don't have all the information, and yes, I have seen things I can't explain scientifically.

However, I have to go with what I know. I have to go on the information I have, rather than just trusting anything I'm told happened, or every scammer who tells me a volcano is coming just walks off with my money. I think it's implausible that a volcano is coming to my state of Colorado, and if the caldera under Yellowstone erupts, there will be no bloody point to volcano insurance as I will be superdead.

User avatar
JehovahsWitness
Savant
Posts: 21073
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:03 am
Has thanked: 790 times
Been thanked: 1114 times
Contact:

Post #32

Post by JehovahsWitness »

Purple Knight wrote:
This I must agree with. To declare something like a man waving a staff and parting the red sea plausible, I would personally have to either 1) be aware of a physical mechanism which could accomplish this ....
Emphasis MINE

In other words, assess all information on a presumption in the truth of naturalism.
Purple Knight wrote:...or 2) see it myself.
Limiting what is possible or plausible to what one has personally seen or experienced seems to me the very defintion of igorance. If mankind had had that attitude we would still be living in caves. Indeed all scientific enquiry is based on the premise that there are realities that exist beyond our present sphere of understanding and experience.




JW
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

User avatar
1213
Savant
Posts: 11342
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:06 am
Location: Finland
Has thanked: 312 times
Been thanked: 357 times

Post #33

Post by 1213 »

SallyF wrote: …
It's how the humans who made this stuff up saw the world.
...
No, the image you have is the interpretation of some artist. And the image is not very intelligent. Person could make better from what the Bible tells.

User avatar
bluegreenearth
Guru
Posts: 1917
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:06 pm
Location: Manassas, VA
Has thanked: 681 times
Been thanked: 470 times

Post #34

Post by bluegreenearth »

JehovahsWitness wrote:Limiting what is possible or plausible to what one has personally seen or experienced seems to me the very defintion of igorance. If mankind had had that attitude we would still be living in caves. Indeed all scientific enquiry is based on the premise that there are realities that exist beyond our present sphere of understanding and experience.
You forgot to include the necessity of falsificationism in the philosophy of science.

User avatar
SallyF
Guru
Posts: 1459
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:32 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Most improbable Bible story?

Post #35

Post by SallyF »

Difflugia wrote: In the Samson thread, it's noted that the story includes a number of improbable elements: he killed a lion with his bare hands, single-handedly killed thirty men of Ashkelon, found three hundred foxes and tied them together, and killed a thousand men with a donkey bone. Since each of these must be true individually for the story to be true as a whole (at least in a literalist sense), the probability of the whole story being true is the individual probabilities multiplied together.

Taken in a literal way, which Bible story requires the most outrageous set of contingent probabilities? Is Samson the worst?

It takes a plethora of outrageous contingent probabilities to get to this …


Image

There are SO many improbable/impossible/absurd biblical stories, it's a real task to try and determine the worst.

But we can possibly narrow it down by examining those that that certain Christians have tossed out of their belief balloons as difficult ballast.
"God" … just whatever humans imagine it to be.

"Scripture" … just whatever humans write it to be.

User avatar
help3434
Guru
Posts: 1469
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:19 pm
Location: United States
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 26 times

Re: Most improbable Bible story?

Post #36

Post by help3434 »

[Replying to post 1 by Difflugia]

Most improbable? How about the entire book of Genesis? Is there any evidence that every story in that book is not just pure fantasy? Bible historians say that Job is the oldest book in the bible so the supposed events in Genesis were written thousands of years after they supposedly occurred.

Post Reply