Hi Brian:
Even though you do not argue in the Evolution topics by your own admission, there is a valid point in those debates which affects this one.
When a Creationist says "billions and billions of persons yet the net take of purported unearthed hominid fossils is anywhere from 2 - 6 thousand."
Darwinists respond: "There was never 'billions and billions' of persons to begin with....."
The Creationist point is that the billions of persons today results in a handful of disputed hominid fossils.
Darwinists say the ancient world never contained massive populations to begin with.
My point:
The Darwinists are right.
The Great Flood in 3140? BC wiped everyone out.
After the Flood the Bible profusely has God telling everyone in sight to be "fruitful and multiply".
Onan was killed for violating this edict.
The Scriptures constantly say that God was with Israel to multiply them BECAUSE their posterity must become as "the sand on the seashore/stars of heaven" in order for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham.
Now Brian, you have posted excerpts from sources which elicit by assumption that the population claims in Scripture are exaggerated.
IOW, the excerpts evidence opposite of what one would expect an ancient source to record.
But the ancient source implies at least 2 1/4 million Hebrews vacated Egypt in a matter of days.
CONCLUSION:
Lets assume your excerpts are correct, that their evidence should apply to populations in ancient times.
The fact that the Bible, which claims to be the word of God, says He blessed and multiplied Israel is evidence of His existence - how else did Israel become as such (2 1/4 million) ?
The population claims for Israel supports Divine control - which is the foundation message of the Bible AND THE ONLY CONTEXT THE CLAIM APPEARS IN.
Ray Martinez
This message has been edited by Ray Martinez, 05-25-2005 05:07 PM