Tower of Babble (a bunch of baseless babble)

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Originally posted by mark24:
"Until evidence of the bibles divinity is brought forward, it is a hopeful assumption, not fact."

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Much of the problem here is semantics.
We must define the word "divine" and observe how it was used by, and what it meant to, the people of ancient time.Divine may be used as a noun, a verb or an adjective, and in an informal sense may mean, "guess correctly" (Thorndike Barnhart).Ancient kings, as representatives of the gods, were considered to be gods themselves. The word "divine" was included among their many titles.
The "divine word," was an ultimately reliable message because it came from the highest authority - the government (representative of the deity).
Diviners were people who figured out mysteries. Theirs was an honorable and high paying profession. In today's world, they might have positions in the intelligence service.Whether a Bible qualifies as "divine" depends, in part, on whether it is recognized by the king (authorized version). Changes in the Royal house result in changes to the Bible. [See HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE, by Frederick Fyvie Bruce, Oxford University Press, 1978]In our society (in the absence of a divine king), a Bible's divinity must be judged by how well it explains the mysteries of life, the universe and everything. And as former explanations are shown to be inadequate, the Bible loses some of its "divine" mystique.As regards cosmogony and cosmology, the Bible provides a wonderful peek into the development of popular science, but as a "divine revelation" of the mysteries of the universe, it is obviously dated.------------------
Bachelor of Arts - Loma Linda University
Major - Biology; Minor - Religion
Anatomy and Physiology - LLU School of Medicine
Embryology - La Sierra University
Biblical languages - Pacific Union College
Bible doctrines - Walla Walla College

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Originally posted by mark24:
In this case divine is in the biblical sense, "Gods doing", miracles etc.

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Check out some of the contexts in which this term -divine- is used:When the servants of Joseph find the royal cup hidden in the baggage of his brothers, they note that Joseph not only drinks from that cup but also "divines" with it.
Later, when Joseph confronts his brothers on the matter, he asks, "Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed divine?" Genesis 44:5,15.The king of Israel requests a spirit medium to "divine" for him the spirit of the prophet Samuel. 1 Samuel 28:8The king of Babylon uses "divination" to plan his attack on Jerusalem. Ezekiel 21:21,22."A divine sentence is in the lips of the king" Proverbs 16:10Remember, the king is himself divine; a god, and a son of god.The New Testament uses the word divine on three occasions: once descriptive of public worship, "divine service" and twice in reference to the godlike nature and power of King Jesus.

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Originally posted by Mark24
"There really isn't a definition problem here."

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There may be some confusion or misunderstanding of what the term implies in reference to the Bible. As far as I can tell, however, the scripture does not describe itself as "divine".--------------------
db

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Originally posted by mark24:
For divine, read supernatural then. It doesn't matter the argument remains the same.

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Mark

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Did I miss something? Are you saying that the Bible is supernatural?Never mind. Just read your previous post. Seems I was attempting to persuade the wrong fellow. Sorry about that.--------------
db

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[This message has been edited by doctrbill, 02-17-2002]

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Originally posted by minnemooseus:
Dr. Bill:
I note you list this in you "signature":

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Bachelor of Arts - Loma Linda University

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I have previously explored around the Geoscience Research Institute
website. ( http://www.grisda.org/main.html )

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They are based at Loma Linda University.

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I find the Adventist Churches strugle with reconciling science and the Bible to be rather fascinating.

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Do you have any comments on that situation?

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Still Moose

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Hi Moose!Sorry I am so late in responding to your post. I spent a lot of my time in Yahoo! until they screwed up that forum. Still learning how to use this one.Yes, Seventh-day Adventists are quite challenged by the difficulty of making science and Bible agree. That problem is one of the reasons I am no longer with them. Some of my former colleagues were influential in the early days of "Creation Science", and I know of one, a paleontologist who still clings to the YEC platform (imagine that!). Well, he makes a lot of money in the profession, and gains public accolade through the church, so I can see the temptation to keep the blinders on.Anyway. They also have a problem reconciling modern geology with the writings of Ellen White (whom they consider to be a prophet on a par with Isaiah). To many SDA's her writings are as sacred as the Bible itself. Ellen has written that earthquakes are caused by God setting fire to underground coal and oil which comes into contact with underground water, resulting in steam explosions. That idea was popular in her time (circa 1880). I believe that Ellen, like Isaiah and others, made allusion to the generally accepted science of their own times. Personally, I accept the evolution of science. If I didn't, then how would I be corresponding with you now?!-----------
db