Freethought & Rationalism Archive

CoyoteTheClever · 04-13-2009, 09:41 PM

I understand the bit of Jesus flying in and changing all of the old laws and such, but this seems a little bit extreme. Didn't their God claim to be the same God as Moses'? So how can all of that just be merely mythology to a Christian?

Toto · 04-13-2009, 09:43 PM

I suspect the same Christians who read the Hebrew Scriptures as mythology also read the NT as mythology. The inerrantists see is all as newspaper reporting.

Shadowy Man · 04-13-2009, 09:46 PM

And I am further confused by their strong attachment to such things as the Ten Commandments and *some* of the Leviticus rules. Some, as in they hate gays but not lobsters. :huh:

CoyoteTheClever · 04-13-2009, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I suspect the same Christians who read the Hebrew Scriptures as mythology also read the NT as mythology. The inerrantists see is all as newspaper reporting.

This one was pretty specific about -just- the old testament though.

Decypher · 04-13-2009, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoyoteTheClever

So how can all of that just be merely mythology to a Christian?

I don't know. The New Testament treats the Old Testament as real history.

For example, 2 Peter 3 references the Flood:

[3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
[4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
[5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
[6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
[7] But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

judge · 04-13-2009, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoyoteTheClever

I understand the bit of Jesus flying in and changing all of the old laws and such, but this seems a little bit extreme. Didn't their God claim to be the same God as Moses'? So how can all of that just be merely mythology to a Christian?

Even Paul sees Genesis as figurative.

Quote:

21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:
"Be glad, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth and cry aloud,
you who have no labor pains;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband."

Petergdi · 04-14-2009, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I suspect the same Christians who read the Hebrew Scriptures as mythology also read the NT as mythology. The inerrantists see is all as newspaper reporting.

This is untrue of any inerrantist theologian known to me from Warfield to the present.
Would you care to name a single one who holds that Genesis is newspaper reporting?

Peter.

Toto · 04-14-2009, 12:22 AM

I was thinking more of the vulgar internet inerrantists such as AIG. I don't know that they qualify as "theologians."

judge · 04-14-2009, 04:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petergdi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I suspect the same Christians who read the Hebrew Scriptures as mythology also read the NT as mythology. The inerrantists see is all as newspaper reporting.

This is untrue of any inerrantist theologian known to me from Warfield to the present.
Would you care to name a single one who holds that Genesis is newspaper reporting?

Peter.

Wouldn't groups such as Answers in Genesis see Genesis as a newspaper report?
They see a literal Adam and Eve a literal tree of knowledge, a literal flood etc...

Woops I juust ssaw Toto's response.

Petergdi · 04-14-2009, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by judge

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petergdi

This is untrue of any inerrantist theologian known to me from Warfield to the present.
Would you care to name a single one who holds that Genesis is newspaper reporting?

Peter.

Wouldn't groups such as Answers in Genesis see Genesis as a newspaper report?
They see a literal Adam and Eve a literal tree of knowledge, a literal flood etc...

Woops I juust ssaw Toto's response.

Biblical inerrancy is a theological position/doctrine. Several of the inerrantist theologians with whom I am acquanted (starting with Warfield from a century ago) have claimed that there is no conflict between Genesis (or any other scripture) and the theory of evolution. So the claim that inerrantists as a group see Genesis as a newspaper report is quite clearly false.

Peter.

04-13-2009, 09:41 PM	#1
CoyoteTheClever Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: California Posts: 3,378	How exactly can a Christian say they read the Old Testement as merely mythology? I understand the bit of Jesus flying in and changing all of the old laws and such, but this seems a little bit extreme. Didn't their God claim to be the same God as Moses'? So how can all of that just be merely mythology to a Christian?

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

04-13-2009, 09:43 PM	#2
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I suspect the same Christians who read the Hebrew Scriptures as mythology also read the NT as mythology. The inerrantists see is all as newspaper reporting.

04-13-2009, 09:46 PM	#3
Shadowy Man Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: A Shadowy Planet Posts: 7,585	And I am further confused by their strong attachment to such things as the Ten Commandments and some of the Leviticus rules. Some, as in they hate gays but not lobsters. :huh:

04-14-2009, 12:22 AM	#8
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I was thinking more of the vulgar internet inerrantists such as AIG. I don't know that they qualify as "theologians."

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.