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Author | Topic: Contradictions: Hint that Genesis 1 and 2 are Allegorical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
arachnophilia Member (Idle past 1595 days) Posts: 9069 From: god's waiting room Joined: |
"PaulGL" writes: Any apparent discrepancy is due to one of three things: A. Unjustified, inductive extrapolations of scientific findings. B. Incorrect, dogmatic (present on both sides of the E. vs. C. issue) interpretations of either secular or scriptural evidence. actually, you will find that it is the apologetic interpretations that are incorrect and dogmatic. they seek to justify science and the bible against each other. the person (or more likely, committee) that wrote genesis 1 had no knowledge of the universe in modern scientific ways, and this much is evident from the writing alone. they get the most fundamental basic descriptions of cosmology incorrect, from the very beginning. they describe a primordial chaos consisting of water, out of which a flat earth and a solid domed heaven are made. these are not meant to be allegorical; they aren't symbolic of anything. they are plain descriptions of the way that every ancient near eastern person thought of the universe in the bronze and iron ages, consistent across many cultures. genesis 1 serves primarily two functions:
J's version seems to have been heretical in its assertions that yahweh had an opponent he had to defeat at the dawn of time, in the dragon leviathan (and perhaps, as in the baal cycle, the dragon first defeated him), and in the assertions that yahweh lied, and that yahweh's creation was flawed. the P version, found in genesis 1, and cutting right to genesis 5, skips all of the strife found in J. and the places where they overlap highlight the differences very strongly: instead of man being created alone, and that being "not good", and yahweh failing to make man a mate, and then the woman being portrayed as better than the man in some ways and punished to subservience, they are created side-by-side. instead of stealing "knowledge" (which has definite sexual connotations in biblical hebrew), they are commanded to procreate. instead of a murdered son and an exiled son, and a third son to replace those two, P skips right to seth. so too P glosses over the parts we know about the missing section. dragons are mentioned in verse 21, but there is no battle. the second major concern is the etiological function of genesis 1. it is not so much about creation of the world, as it is about the demarcation of time. it is the etiology for night and day (in that order, comprising the jewish day which begins at sundown), it is the etiology for the week, and it is the etiology for shabbat. those etiologies make zero sense if they are using the words differently than they are clearly defining them. shabbat was a relatively new practice that P was concerned with more than some other sources were. P is also the timekeeper of the torah; the authors of all the genealogies. so genesis 1 is about time. playing fast and loose with the time is to have completely missed the point. but these are things you have to actually study the text, and the texts of the surrounding nations, to understand.
C. Lack of evidence in critical, specific areas for the purpose of preserving free will. Example: IF science ascertained factually that there was no fossil record prior to 6,000 years ago (i. e.: Adam and Eve, the human race magically and instantaneously appeared) don't you realize that this would be such prima facie evidence of direct Divine intervention that it would interfere with free will? no, doesn't follow. there is plenty of evidence for evolution, common ancestry, an old earth, global climate change, that we went to the moon, the holocaust, etc. yet there are people who deny all those things. evidence of divine intervention would simply be evidence of divine intervention, and would not invalidate free will. if free will is even a thing to begin with.
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djufo Member (Idle past 3705 days) Posts: 55 From: FL Joined: |
The original texts do not come from clans. They come from civilizations and empires.
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member |
The original texts do not come from clans. They come from civilizations and empires. As you said in Message 38, prove it.
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djufo Member (Idle past 3705 days) Posts: 55 From: FL Joined: |
I am surprised by your lack of knowledge. The original historical data we have of our origins comes from the Sumerian civilization. Later inherited by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Akkadians and so on. On the other hand, interestingly enough, the pseudo scientific fictional theory of human evolution does come from a clan or a group of followers with a specific agenda.
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Capt Stormfield Member Posts: 429 From: Vancouver Island Joined: |
The original historical data we have of our origins... I suppose, if you equivocate the meaning of "data" and "origins".
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member |
I am surprised by your lack of knowledge. Whuh? You don't know me. We all lack knowledge of many things. Why would you be surprised by a random person's ignorance of some thing? Unless you were just acting like a jerk?
The original historical data we have of our origins comes from the Sumerian civilization. Later inherited by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Akkadians and so on. Oh, that's what you were talking about. You just posted a short little one-liner response to an 11 year old post. I didn't really think you were replying within the context of that thread, but still, its hard to tell what someone is talking about from just 14 words. I was way off with what I thought you were referring to as the "original texts".
On the other hand, interestingly enough, the pseudo scientific fictional theory of human evolution does come from a clan or a group of followers with a specific agenda. What does that have to do with this? Surely you're not trying to bait me?
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djufo Member (Idle past 3705 days) Posts: 55 From: FL Joined: |
Yes I was referring to the original writings coming from ancient times. No I'm not trying to bait you, my comment about the "scientific" community was generalized. My whole reply did contain a degree of jerk due to yours in your previous reply. No feelings though.
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Pressie Member (Idle past 226 days) Posts: 2103 From: Pretoria, SA Joined: |
How on earth do you generalise the scientific community?
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member
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Yes I was referring to the original (Sumerian) writings coming from ancient times. Can you see why someone might be confused when you come in and reply to a post, that is over 10 years old, that is talking about the books of Genesis in the Bible and when you refer to the "original writings" you are not talking about the Bible at all but instead are talking about some other, practically unrelated, ancient civilization? You didn't even hint at the fact that you were not referring to the Bible at all. Replies are tied to other messages and we typically stay within the context of those messages. To suddenly change to something completely different, with no mention of it to your audience, is only going to cause problems.
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deerbreh Member (Idle past 3144 days) Posts: 882 Joined: |
Can you see why someone might be confused when you come in and reply to a post, that is over 10 years old, that is talking about the books of Genesis in the Bible and when you refer to the "original writings" you are not talking about the Bible at all but instead are talking about some other (Sumerian), practically unrelated, ancient civilization? Well, in fact there is evidence of borrowing of themes from other creation accounts, particularly Mesopotamian, which includes Sumerian. The difference is that the Hebrews modified the accounts to change them from polytheistic to monotheistic. You can choose not to believe that, but it is probably the prevailing hypothesis of the majority of OT scholars. The reason for the differences in the two accounts is that they have different authors/sources - Genesis 1:1—2:3 is Priestly and Genesis 2:4—24 is Jahwistic. The two accounts were actually written in reverse order, i.e., the Jahwist account was written first, and the Priestley account written later.Genesis creation narrative - Wikipedia
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member |
Well, in fact there is evidence of borrowing of themes from other creation accounts, particularly Mesopotamian, which includes Sumerian. Sure, like the great deluge in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The difference is that the Hebrews modified the accounts to change them from polytheistic to monotheistic. Meh, I wouldn't ascribe so much intention to that action, and especially not to them in general as a group. I consider it more of an unintentional cultural evolution. And they went from polytheism, through henotheism, and then onto monotheism. So it wasn't really a "Hey guys, let's change all this stuff to be talking about one god", its was more of a gradual cultural change across generations.
The reason for the differences in the two accounts is that they have different authors/sources - Genesis 1:1—2:3 is Priestly and Genesis 2:4—24 is Jahwistic. The two accounts were actually written in reverse order, i.e., the Jahwist account was written first, and the Priestley account written later. Indeed.
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1695 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
The traditional Christian understanding of the Bible, that goes back to Jesus and even to Moses, is that the Bible gives the true version of the stories that also ended up in the lore of other cultures. It's not that the others are original, they are simply what was picked up by people in various distorted versions from their ancestors on the ark, but since God inspired the Bible we get the true story there. Unbelievers generally prefer the fictional account of course.
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jar Member (Idle past 90 days) Posts: 34140 From: Texas!! Joined: |
There is certainly a possibility that Jesus considered the stories found in the Torah as historical but it really is unlikely. But regardless, we know for a fact that whether or not Jesus believed things like either of the Biblical Flood myths or the Exodus or the Conquest of Canaan or Genesis 1 or Genesis 2&3 as being factual, they were not. If Jesus did believe they actually happened then Jesus was simply wrong. We've learned quite a bit more than Jesus could have possibly know.
No one questions that people have in the past though such stories were factual but for at least the last couple hundred years it has required willful ignorance, delusion or deceit to do so.Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!
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Phat Member Posts: 18635 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 4.2 |
jar writes: Its sad that you state this so casually. Jesus was simply wrong. We've learned quite a bit more than Jesus could have possibly knownSaying, "I don't know," is the same as saying, "Maybe."~ZombieRingo One of the major purposes of debate is to help you hone your arguments. Yours are pretty bad. They can use all the honing they can get.~Ringo
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deerbreh Member (Idle past 3144 days) Posts: 882 Joined: |
It's not that the others are original, they are simply what was picked up by people in various distorted versions from their ancestors on the ark, but since God inspired the Bible we get the true story there. Well that is an awkward view, given that the Hebrew version was written well AFTER the other ancient versions. But I suppose it Could Have happened that way, God COULD HAVE dictated the correct version to the HEBREWS and NO ONE ELSE. And Noah COULD HAVE taken baby dinosaurs onto the ark. And it COULD HAVE rained for 40 days and 40 nights over the whole earth at once even though that defies everything we know about physical science. And there COULD HAVE been hyper evolution to generate all the different species from the different kinds on the ark. And there Could Have been hyper laying down of sediments, rock formation and subsequent hyper erosion for the Colorado River to cut out the Grand Canyon. Oh never mind. If you are going to invoke miracles every time you turn around, there is no end to it.
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