quote:It IS the literal truth. Just not the DETAILED literal truth at times.
A statement that is not sufficiently detailed to be unambiguous is simply wrong.
A good test for whether a statment is well-formed (short of going through all the logical rigmarole) is to try and write it as a computer program. Trust me, the C++ version of Genesis is utter nonsense - it does not make sense.
10 If $Scripture = Utterly Accurate Statements + Detail 20 Then Bibble = Omnipotence + Inspiration 30 Else Hogwash GOTO Trash
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
If bits of Revelations are metaphorical, why aren't bits of Genesis?
Because Revelation is a story of a vision being told by John. "And I saw..." Genesis isn't. It's intended as a historical record. Now if it was Moses saying, "And God showed me a vision of the beginning, and I saw that the earh was formless and void..." I'd certainly go along with the possibility of metaphor.
Tim:
It points out this coincidence of fourteen generations between all these important events. But, if you change the method of counting, the coincidence doesn't exist.
There was no such coincidence. There were more generations in there (except for the first group, where it says "in all"). It's a Hebrew poetical thing, and doesn't translate well. Matthew primarily wrote to the Jews, and they apparently liked this sort of thing. This isn't intended to be every single generation, but the 14 most important in the three time periods.
Eclipse:
A statement that is not sufficiently detailed to be unambiguous is simply wrong.
I disagree. Rob, you're the english major, you set him straight.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
quote: Genesis isn't. It's intended as a historical record.
Can't be. Nobody was around to write about it at the time, and there are HARDLY and primary sources available. Adam didn't keep a journal. "History of the First Seven Days, by YHWH" isn't lying around in big granite tablets anywhere. The oldest records aren't even a significant FRACTION of the age of the world, even when measured by the ludicrous Creationist timetable.
Genesis isn't any more of an historical record than Kipling's "Just So" stories or the Epic of Gilgamesh, or any other of the thousand or so Creation myths.
quote: A statement that is not sufficiently detailed to be unambiguous is simply wrong
Not necessarily. However, from a historical or scientific point of view, it is worthless as a source of information.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
posted
So does anyone have any more supposed contradictions within the Bible to point out? Or shall we declare this argument finished?
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Yes, it's so much more fun finding the contradictions is what YOU say.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Not necessarily. However, from a historical or scientific point of view, it [an insufficiently detailed statement] is worthless as a source of information.
:: raises hands ::
All right, I admit the desire to try to get in a vehement one-liner got the better of me there. You are, of course, quite right in saying that it is merely useless, rather than wrong (though it might well be wrong, too). If I'd taken another 30 seconds to post I'd have said as much.
This, of course, raises the thorny issue of whether a true statement is true before it is proven....
posted
Topic cropped on account of technical difficulties. Feel free to start another one if you think this might possible go somewhere it hasn't been already. If that's possible
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Topic Closed
Printer-friendly view of this topic