posted
*NOMADspeak* "Non sequitur. Your facts are uncoordinated."
You only claim its metaphorical because otherwise, it would not make sense. If it made sense, you would claim it was literal.
This is comonly known as 'picking and choosing' what bits to believe. "The Bible is literally true, except in those cases where it is wrong or illogical, in which case it's a true metaphor about (insert made-up explanation here.)"
It's a convenient cop-out, as when things change, showing a prior assumption made by literal interpretation (such as geocentrism, held as 'truth' for a thousand years) to be false, you can always say 'oh, no, that was metaphor' and maintain your faith in the validity of the rest of the text... that is, until the next proof comes along.
------------------ Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson
posted
"You only claim its metaphorical because otherwise, it would not make sense. If it made sense, you would claim it was literal."
Doesn't that tell you we are looking for the truth?
We do take the Bible literal unless we have clear evidence not to, as in the case of this passage in Daniel. Archeology and historical text (not in the Bible) tell us how to interpret things.
------------------ What started in Jerusalem as a relationship, went on to become a philosophy in Athens, an institution in Rome, a culture in nothern Europe, and was turned into an enterprise in America. -paraphrased, author unknown-
posted
Not in George Lucas' bank account there isn't!
------------------ "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." --Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) Come Hither and Yawn...
posted
People look at a paucity of archaeological clues, and somehow 'deduce' that the Biblical accounts are true. Riiiight.
Okay, Jericho existed. Okay, so its walls fell fown. BFHD, because the Middle East is full of earthquake faults.
Just because I know that New York City existed doesn't prove that the events described in King Kong are factual.
Can anybody prove the events in DRACULA (the book, not the movie) didn't take place, for that matter?
Well, I can think of one event that most likely did not happen as it was described in Biblical terms, since the result should have been the annihilation of life on Earth... the sun did NOT "stand still in the sky." For one, the Solar System is not Geocentric. For another, the sudden stopping of the Earth's rotation would most certainly be cataclysmic.
------------------ Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson
posted
No matter what way you look at it First if God would do that then it would make sense he would preserve life also.
------------------ What started in Jerusalem as a relationship, went on to become a philosophy in Athens, an institution in Rome, a culture in nothern Europe, and was turned into an enterprise in America. -paraphrased, author unknown-
posted
The argument against that, as I imagine First will be familiar with due to his claims of solidarity with the deists, is this: The universe has laws. The events of the world around us can be predicted by a variety of simple natural laws. If we assume that the universe was created by a being, this being must have also created these laws. And if the Creator made these laws, it stands to reason that they are perfect, as the Creator would not design a fatally flawed creation. However, if the natural laws of the universe are perfect, changing them in any way would reduce their perfection. If we associate perfect with "good" and imperfect with "evil", then a perfect Creator cannot commit imperfect acts. Hence, the Creator cannot break these laws.
From another point of view, let's say that the Creator can brake and has broken these laws. This means that the fundamental laws of the universe are no longer worth anything. If we assume that the universe was created by the same God as in the Bible, then "whomsoever believeth in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life" has the same weight as "force equals mass times acceleration". But if the Creator is willing to break the second law, then there is no reason to believe he will not break the first. The Bible, or any religion's holy book of revealed truth, becomes meaningless. A joke. God is, at best, a precocious child, always ready to change his mind. At worst, God becomes a malicious entity, giving humans promises that he has no intention of keeping. Either of these possibilites are totally incompatible with Christianity or any other modern religion. We're left with a form of animism, or something resembling Greek mythology, wherein the gods can be as petty and cruel as us, and the only commandment is "tread lightly and don't draw attention to yourself".
------------------ "20th Century, go to sleep." -- R.E.M.
posted
F = MA isn't a promise God made. F = MA is a deduction we've made ourselves.
And I did once read an good explination for the sun standing still (and later going backwards). Some sort of atmospheric distortion, IIRC. I'll have to look it up.
------------------ You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend far too much time reading this sort of trash.
posted
Uh...no, it's a fundamental property of the universe. Part of the very fabric of existance. (At least for macroscopic objects not traveling at high fractions of lightspeed.) This would seem to indicate that is as much a law of God as anything else. And technically, it was derived by induction, not deduction. Well, wait...hmm...observed properties...but is "things fall down" an axiom? I suppose so... *fades into internalspeak*
------------------ "20th Century, go to sleep." -- R.E.M.
posted
The last thing I'll say on this matter is that Isaiah uses figurative, metaphorical language.
------------------ What started in Jerusalem as a relationship, went on to become a philosophy in Athens, an institution in Rome, a culture in nothern Europe, and was turned into an enterprise in America. -paraphrased, author unknown-
posted
... and we're back to "literalists" claiming metaphor AGAIN.
BTW: the Bible does NOT say "the sun stopped in the Sky, and God protected the beings of the Earth, that they might not be flung off into space," so adding your assumed protection is simply more interpretation, with no basis in literality.
------------------ Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson
posted
*asks Baloo and Omega to speak because I said I would not*
------------------ What started in Jerusalem as a relationship, went on to become a philosophy in Athens, an institution in Rome, a culture in nothern Europe, and was turned into an enterprise in America. -paraphrased, author unknown-
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