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RE: Reading the Bible is "Like Picking Out Diamonds from Dunghills"--Part 1
Central template for every point of this post:
"Because there are tons of decoy flares and chaff out there we can be sure there is no real payload."
Not exactly, but close. It's true that we can't determine the real payload because there is too much noise, but we can definitely, at least in some instances, determine what is NOT the real payload. It's very hard to know what is true but comparatively easy to determine what is not true.
I think that there is overwhelming evidence that there WAS a message.
No one bothers to make forgeries unless there was something there to forge.
We can quibble about how much noise there is. But you have not shown that there is any other message that has a better signal to noise ratio. You are great at pointing out noise. Not so great at demonstrating you are as good, much less better, at extracting the signal.
If you do eventually get around to telling us what your think the alternative message was, you will immediately be subject to the same arguments you attempt to use against the historical message.
I will point to all the other decoys, flares, and chaff you mention here and say your choice can't be right for even more of the same reasons.
You need to show that more quality evidence was rejected than all the evidence that was ultimately accepted and you need to prove that you have faithfully tallied and weighed ALL sources.
Otherwise, what history has handed down to us is itself has passed through the only filter that, by definition, processed and weighted all the candidates and transmitted to us the variations we have today.
In the end, what survived was the fittest.