Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

The same thing is true of Narnia.

Originally Posted by tanya

Obviously, none of us on this forum have any idea what Aesop (or anyone else) believed, believes, or will believe.

What we do know, in some considerable detail, should you choose to investigate, is something about laryngeal musculature.

In order to phonate, one must have a laryngeal apparatus capable of emitting sound. Yes, there are sounds produced by muscles not part of the larynx, clicking sounds, for example, from contraction of pharygeal muscles, or hissing sounds from moving saliva through crevices in the dentition by the tongue, but, language, for the most part, whether mammalian or avian, involves the larynx.

Nevertheless, there is no evidence that any animal or bird can converse in English. Parrots can immitate a few words, and can understand a few commands, but this is not illustrative of language skills per se.

Donkeys can emit sound, but they cannot vocalize.

Originally Posted by Chili

Narnia may be both iconic and fantasy and so is real in part.

Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

Christianity certainly benefited greatly, but only because it won a lottery, not because it won a debate.

Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

Do you know that the author of the Balaam story did?

Originally Posted by sotto voce

See the thread.

Originally Posted by RavenSky

I just read the entire thread and Diogenes' question has not been answered.

Originally Posted by Sheshbazzar

A simple and entertaining story can contain and be much more than it appears upon a superficial reading.
Humpty Dumpty has entertained generations of children, many of whom have grown up without ever realizing that its essence, its very reason for existence was cleverly concealed political satire.
Does the fact that the idea of talking egg is impossible and utterly ridiculous mean that our understanding of the tale should be limited to consigning its content to being nothing more than a silly nursery rhyme? If so, it is our loss.
Gulliver's Travels? Through The Looking Glass? Uncle Tom's Cabin? Tom Sawer? Each of these beloved old tales are cultural treasures that are much more than they appear to be on any superficial reading.
However with these we are still close enough in time and in shared cultural experience to be able to, (if we use our brain, and ability to investigate) pick up on and appreciate their deeper and more important thoughts and social significance.

The Bible is not one book, but a series of books that were built around certain themes and constants. Each of these books were produced for different purposes under differing social, cultural, and political conditions.
Most of which, except upon knowledge gained by a superficial reading, we would have no knowledge or appreciation of at all.

Because we are now so far removed in time, and from that cultural experience, it can be very difficult for us to appreciate these Biblical stories in the deeper senses that their original authors intended, but which would have been immediately apparent within their original setting.

Anyone who has followed many of my posts within this forum will be aware that I have been attempting to convey that the Book of Genesis and many other portions of Biblical texts served a mnemonic function, that is that many outwardly seemingly primitive stories were mainly constructed so as to contain and retain certain invariable mathematical and geometrical concepts and relationships between pure numbers.
Working principals could quite easily be forgotten or lost in cultural disruptions caused by wars, the wholesale massacre of elders who held this knowledge, or by prolonged periods of dislocation, or slavery.
But by carefully encoding and weaving these principals throughout an interesting and colorful set of easily recalled creation myths and heroic ancestor tales in a treasured cultural Holy Book, one whose amazing tales could be taught to and would remembered even by children and the illiterate, the concealed information would then be assured of enduring into perpetuity.

In conclusion, to the question of whether the Bible is a Novel, I must say the Bible is a series of Novels, poems, and songs created by different authors at different times and in differing circumstances, but all sharing in a common vision and goal.
It contains Novels and much, much more, of which much has long since been forgotten but is now at long last beginning to be brought to the light again, to the triumph of the human spirit, and to the enrichment of all mankind.


ששבצר העברי
Sheshbazzar The Hebrew

Originally Posted by Steve Weiss

You have achieved new heights of revisionism in attributing to the writings (notice that I didn't say book) in the bible more than is actually stated there. How you could find inspiration and reinforcement from the bloodthirsty stories throughout this work astounds me. I can only describe these Iron Age stories as perverse, ignorant and dispicable. Do you also honor and praise the NT nd the Koran? Please be specific in identifying what you consider the redeeming value of the bible. It is the last place that I'd look for establishing moral standards.