I'm not sure my argument was properly conveyed here. The contradiction issue takes place when a particular theory or beliefs is chosen based on scriptural understanding which ends up in contradiction throughout the biblical criticism. For example, there was no need to choose the second account of Genesis over the first as the outstanding theory, yet it was chosen. However, in doing so, the person(s) find themselves in contempt with numerous biblical terms and compromising on host of accounts and other biblical scriptures.
i'm not sure that properly conveys your argument either -- i don't understand how that is particularly any different than what i thought you said the first time.
my point is still the same. you cannot judge each individual passage on how well you think it lines up with what you consider the message of the rest of the bible. the bible is the sum of its parts, but the individual parts are not all the sum. there are too many points of view represented in the bible for us to say we agree with the "omni-" viewpoints, and thus enforce omniscience in passages that on their own do not reflect that idea.
So to summarize, we have people cherry picking one out of many possibilities while completely ignoring the signs that the reasoning is not withstanding of the remainder of scriptures.
but this is not cherry-picking. i quite happily talked about the other ideas present in the text. "cherry-picking" is when you make a case, and defend it using only some points from some sections and ignore the existence of the others. which is actually what
you are doing. you cannot discount the passages that describe god as operating by trial-and-error because other passages describe a perfect divine plan. BOTH ideas are in the text, and to pretend one does not exist is the very essence of cherry-picking.
You raise a good point. Unfortunately, I never took the initiative to dedicated my research to other religious doctrines. Though my choice was based on Christianity, it is unfortunate that alternate faiths and beliefs remain very much bound by geographic and ethnic implications. I for one would of loved to travel the world and study all of the options to that effect. Having said this, I am pleased to say that I am not bound by any religious group or enterprises.
i am not speaking of different religions. i am speaking of different ideas within ONE religion, judaism, in a relatively short amount of time. the yahwist (J) wrote at close to the same time as isaiah, give or take 100 years. and they lived in the same country, judah.
In the mid part of your comment, you make reference to a human emotion in the J document(Not sure what this means btw).
the torah is composed of a few seperate documents which have been sliced apart at about the story level, and arranged chronologically according to the events. (sort of like how christian bibles put the book of ruth between judges and samuel)
the two main sources are "J" and "E." "J" was written by someone we call "the yahwist" because he freely uses the lord's name. "e" was written by "the elohist" who only refers to god as "elohim." the two stories are slightly different in style and flavor, but comprise many of the same events. this why you often see the same story told twice (abraham and abimelech) or contradictions within what appears to one story (how many animals did noah bring?).
another source is "P" for the priests, redactors who stitched the text together. the largest portion of text in the P document is genesis 1:1-2:4a. another source is "D" for deuteronomy. leviticus may be a separate source. J-E seems to run through about numbers.
And to this I would like to mention that your reasoning of this scripture seems somewhat skewed. For example; is it even sound to conclude that God demonstrates *a human emotion when we were etched in God's image?
yes. some books describe god in more human terms than others. E is slightly more abstract. J is generally regarded as the most human depiction of god. the important thing to remember is that this textual criticism. basing our logic on taking for granted that what the text says is factual is not, shall we say, kosher. we have to approach the text as readers, not believers.
and besides, "made in god's image" doesn't appear in J. in J, we have the breath of god within us. "made in god's image" appears in the P document.
Nevertheless, I remain interested in the scriptural passages which you make reference to in your argument.
you've read them all before, i'm sure, you just haven't picked them appart carefully enough to know what comes from where, and gather the particular styles and emphasis of each. the great crime of religion is that it has the tendency to lump all scripture together, as if it were all the same thing, had all the same purpose, was all written by the same person with the same agenda... when really, there is quite a lot going on in the bible!
Do we even have 2600 year old data to scrutinize?
ok, 2200. the septuagint seems to date to about then. the DSS are soon after that.
hought we do have the dead sea scrolls, they remain fragmented and the Genesis account seems to be missing.
genesis is found about two dozen times in the dss.
Thats an interesting statement. I think reality would prove otherwise. Unlike most people, I was not raised in a religious environment. In fact, I was drawn to my own path without any inherent or biased desires. It was not until I began to study the ancient scriptures that I chose to settle on a belief. As far as I can tell, it came after the fact. So you see, it was by your own emotions that you assumed such things.
my own story is identical. yet, it still took me a long, long time before i was able to separate what the text said and how it was arranged from what i was told to believe. you would be surprised at how many things about or from the bible have seeped their way into society at large, and often it is misinformation. we never read the text with fresh eyes, even if it is the first time. we all think we know what it's supposed to say, even without reading it.
ask some random friends -- what was the fruit eve gave adam? who was the serpent? why did god punish sodom? they'll know the answers, and they'll be wrong.
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