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Old 04-09-2007, 04:05 AM   #1
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Default Proto-Indo-Europeans

The Proto-Indo-Europeans were a group of people who lived roughly 8,000 years ago. The amount of evidence for their existence is vast and incredible. Archaelogical, cultural, religious, and linguistic evidence all support the existence of a common group of people who gave birth to the modern countries of Europe and India.

But Christians believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old and they also believe that a giant flood destroyed the entire human race 4,000 years ago. Even if that seemed impossible enough, they also believe that the construction of a giant "Tower of Babel" gave birth to the many different races, cultures, and languages of mankind, presumably centuries after the global flood.

Do Christians reject the idea of a Proto-Indo-European ancestor even though archaelogical, cultural, religious, and linguistic evidence all support their existence? Consider the following...

English = My name is Condraz23.
Latin = Meum nomen est Condraz23.
German = Mein name ist Condraz23.
Spanish = Mi nombre es Condraz23.
Dutch = Mijn naam is Condraz23.
Russian = Menya zavut Condraz23.

English = Star, brother, sister, daughter, mother, father, sun, great.
Latin = Stella, frater, soror, filia, mater, pater, sol, grande.
German = Stern, bruder, schwester, tochter, mutter, vater, sonne, gros.
Spanish = Estrella, hermano, harmana, hija, madre, padre, sol, grande.
Dutch = Ster, broer, zus, dochter, moeder, vader, zon, groot.
Russian = Zvezda, brat, sestra, dochka, mat, otets, solntse, bolsoj.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to reading your responses.
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Old 04-09-2007, 06:51 AM   #2
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Not all Christians are Young Earth Creationists. In fact, most aren't.
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Old 04-09-2007, 07:24 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Condraz23 View Post
But Christians believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old
Christianity omnia divisa est in partes tres quarum:
  1. Christians who think the bible is a literal history book.
  2. Christians who think the bible is the best story people of 2000 years ago could tell about God.
  3. Christians who think the people of 2000 years ago did actually knew what they were talking about, and hence were not really talking about the sky daddy of Christians #2.
Only Christians #1 think the earth is 6000 years old. We should just let them think that, were it not that they tend to want to blow you up with nuclear weapons (even though they can't pronounce them) if you don't agree with them.

Gerard Stafleu
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Old 04-09-2007, 09:17 AM   #4
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I think it is possible to trace most of our modern religions back to these peoples, with Zarathustran ideas being highly influential.

If we did this, we may see utterly different family trees, like Islam being a cult that resulted from an amalgamation of Zarathustran and Xian ideas.
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Old 04-09-2007, 11:31 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gstafleu View Post
Christianity omnia divisa est in partes tres quarum
Christianitas est omnis divisa...

(And if you follow du Pontet, "in partis tris".)
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Old 04-09-2007, 01:27 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Condraz23 View Post
The Proto-Indo-Europeans were a group of people who lived roughly 8,000 years ago.
Not quite. Normally, Proto-Indo-European refers to a hypothesized language as a sort of formula useful for investigating the emergence of contemporary IE languages and the relations between them. Few if any believe that PIE was ever spoken in the reconstructed form.

Meeting the requirements of a language, PIE as such is entirely free from links to any group of people or artifacts or cultures or religions. For comparison, the modern word "film" is encountered in that form and meaning in widely separate cultures and countries.
Quote:
The amount of evidence for their existence is vast and incredible. Archaelogical, cultural, religious, and linguistic evidence all support the existence of a common group of people who gave birth to the modern countries of Europe and India.
Possible, but not directly related to PIE or other languages. Consider that lots of people on a respectable academic level have tried for generations, but can't find a consensus on where such a single group of people might have lived. Additionally, languages and culture can travel through populated areas without any migration of people.

Quote:
But Christians believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old and they also believe that a giant flood destroyed the entire human race 4,000 years ago. Even if that seemed impossible enough, they also believe that the construction of a giant "Tower of Babel" gave birth to the many different races, cultures, and languages of mankind, presumably centuries after the global flood.
During the ca. 50 years when I was a Christian, I never heard one of my brethren in faith deny science or history. USAian beliefs (for a counter-generalization) don't necessarily apply to all countries.
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