[Sailor Steve]

To me that sounds like circumlocution. You may not see it that way, but it would be for me if I did it. Most Holy Books are written in a fashion that insists on belief in the whole, and are not open to picking and choosing. Of course the moral teachings are good and we can agree with them and dispose of the rest, but they are always placed in a context. As I said before, to claim the Ten Commandments is a "good guideline" is to accept the commandments that are moral and ignore the ones that are doctrinal. I don't see that as a possibility. Are Jesus' teachings good? Absolutely. Is the ressurection real? I'd like some real evidence. The wall I come up against is still the same. If you say the ressurection is unproven, then what proof have you that the teachings were real either? Did God destroy the entire population of the world in a massive flood? If you believe it then you need to show people like me how it happened, other than "The Bible says it." If you dismiss that part of the Bible but accept other parts, then you need to explain why, If Jesus is indeed God come in the flesh, he apparently believed it, which, if it were not true, he should know better. Did he know it wasn't true, but used the story because his followers didn't, and he didn't consider it his place to disabuse them of the notion? Did he know it was true?

This is my problem. I can't pick and choose, at least where the book seems to command belief. I can accept that it's an interweaving of stories, some wholely mythical and some at least partly based in fact, but with no way of knowing for sure I can only accept that which is proveable. None of the teachings are proveable, so while I can agree with them morally, that is so subjective as to be untrustworthy.

The Golden Rule as a great way to live your life, but it was said by others long before Jesus allegedly said it. So for me pickinig and choosing which parts I will accept and which I will reject is to avoid the obvious, which is that none of it is proven, so while it is possible that it is true, it is also possible that other ancient myth is true, so I'm forced to reject it as a whole, keeping the realization that I may be wrong, and keep questioning everything.