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Old 05-16-2004, 08:14 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by Magus55
The word sphere doesn't exist in Hebrew...
Isaiah 22:18:
"He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country..."
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Old 05-16-2004, 08:41 AM   #12
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Magus55, since you know Hebrew so well, you may wish to try to converse with Heathen Dawn - he's a native speaker.
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Old 05-16-2004, 08:42 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by Magus55
...And while metaphoric, why can't a tent cover a sphere? Ever put a cone on top of a sphere?
It doesn't cover it! A cone is an open shape. You still need a plane, ie flat ground, too and then any little sphere itself becomes irrelevant compared with the flat earth. So for example on the Earth, while the UK was covered then New Zealand wouldn't be and while Israel was covered a bit of ocean wouldn't be etc. If we put a dunce's hat on your head your mouth would still be out and talking.
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Old 05-16-2004, 09:44 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by Ebonmuse
Isaiah 22:18:
"He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country..."
Since when is a ball always a sphere? Last I checked, a footBALL isn't a sphere.
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Old 05-16-2004, 09:45 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by SEF
If we put a dunce's hat on your head your mouth would still be out and talking.
Depends how big the cone is in relation to the sphere.
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Old 05-16-2004, 09:49 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by Magus55
Since when is a ball always a sphere? Last I checked, a footBALL isn't a sphere.
Are you suggesting the ancient Heberw played modern American footbal?
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Old 05-16-2004, 09:50 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by lpetrich
Magus55, since you know Hebrew so well, you may wish to try to converse with Heathen Dawn - he's a native speaker.
I never said I speak Hebrew well. I used to speak Hebrew, but got bored with Synagogue and studying for my Bar Mitzvah.

And afaik, modern hebrew isn't the same as ancient Hebrew.
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Old 05-16-2004, 10:53 AM   #18
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MachineGod askedAt a "scientific" creationism conference in Ohio in the late 1980s - around 1988, IIRC - with Duane Gish and Carl Baugh sitting on the stage, a geocentrist creationist speaker tried to demonstrate (with two paper cups) why the shadow of a solar eclipse went the wrong way if the earth actually orbited the sun. He failed, and while he fumbled around his wife stalled, saying, "I'm sure inspiration will come back soon." It didn't.
Dude, that’s freaky!

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Originally Posted by SEF
The only plausible biblical scholar to appear on another message board said the word was for a circular (and flat!) dance.
I’d say he’s not very plausible then. And since when and why should anyone believe what a scholar says? BTW, what do you think he meant by “dance�? Sounds irrelevant to the text.

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Originally Posted by SEF
While I know a little biblical hebrew, I don't have access to any original texts to check this - and we all know the importance of checking the original source.
I agree, but one also must use a little common sense. Of course common sense isn’t so common.

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Originally Posted by SEF
NB If you mean Isaiah 40:22 (took me a while to find because it was misnumbered in my concordance!) then the rest of that bit is about foundations (ie under a flat thing if meant in that sense)
That’s just it. I don’t think it is meant in that sense. Why should we assume it’s “under a flat thing�.

21hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

I don’t see anything where the foundations imply a flat thing.

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Originally Posted by SEF
and tents over things (ie definitely not possible with a sphere).
I don’t know what’s up with all the “cone� stuff, but I can definitely fit a sphere into a tent. However, this is obviously just a metaphor. I suppose someone would like to take it literal and say God is actually sitting on top of the “circle of the earth� and we are really just grasshoppers who think we are human.

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Originally Posted by SEF
Then there's the slight problem of Jesus being shown all the kingdoms of the world from a high mountain, Matthew 4:8, revealing that the bible writers were still ignorant - especially compared with their neighbours who had known for centuries that the Earth was approximately a sphere.
Last I looked, the word translated as world could also be translated “land�. Some people hang themselves on a single word so much it’s baffling. I know people for centuries have claimed the Bible to teach a flat earth, but ever since the first time I read the bible cover to cover, I never honestly saw that it out right taught that the earth was flat.

The more interesting thing I saw about that part of the Bible (Matthew 4:9) where Satan said to Jesus, “All these things [kingdoms] will I give thee�. That was really interesting. How could he give them to Jesus if he didn’t have dominion over them? And Jesus never said “They are not yours to give.� That was incredibly enlightening statement.
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Old 05-16-2004, 11:02 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Matrioshka_Brain
Are you suggesting the ancient Heberw played modern American footbal?
What else would they have played?

Did you not know that King Solomon was the wisest football coach who ever lived. He used to sacrifice a cow to the God before every game. He is most famous for crushing the Philistine Longhorns time and time again in the annual Jordan River Shootout. This is before they made football such a wimpy game by removing the spears that the linebackers used to carry.

Solomon was of course the son of the famous quarterback David who used his slingshot to slay one of the games greatest defensive backs in the history of the game paving the way for a spectacular 100-cubit touchdown run.

Of course ancient history is loaded with famous football riveries: Greeks and Trojans was famous for NCAA officials coming and slaying a few players of the team that did not give a good-enough blood sacrifice being a famous example.

And then there were those BCS controveries which had every single tribe in the Middle East claiming that it should have played in the Middle East Championship. More deadly wars were started by that then by any other factor in world history.
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Old 05-16-2004, 12:09 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by MachineGod
and why should anyone believe what a scholar says?
They are more likely to be right than an ignoramus.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MachineGod
what do you think he meant by “dance�? Sounds irrelevant to the text.
A folk dance involving a circle like greek ones and "ring-a-ring-o-roses" and "the farmer's in his den" etc - ie a word/metaphor for a circle not for a sphere.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MachineGod
Of course common sense isn’t so common.
Of course not, otherwise there wouldn't be so many idiots trying to take a silly myth literally and desperately trying to pretend it was also scientifically correct or was trying to teach anything worthwhile (ie other than the obvious outdated local morals which included murder, slavery and rape being OK for the right people). So of course it didn't outright teach that the world was flat. That sort of thing was merely implicit common "knowledge" of that time and place. It is the only thing for which the bible really is useful - telling us about the prejudices, beliefs, habits/customs and state of ignorance of those particular tribes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MachineGod
That’s just it. I don’t think it is meant in that sense. Why should we assume it’s “under a flat thing� ... I don’t see anything where the foundations imply a flat thing.
Foundations have to be under something whether a building, a platform/earthwork or a mounted globe or disc on elephants on the back of a turtle. The only possible get-out clause is if foundations refers to the creation, eg like the founding fathers of America.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MachineGod
I don’t know what’s up with all the “cone� stuff, but I can definitely fit a sphere into a tent.
It wasn't about putting something into some modern flatpack popup enclosed tent though! It was about spreading heavens like a curtain or tent (and think about what that meant at the time). However, since it was only ever intended as a set of metaphors and fables, the really silly thing is the people (who have effectively stolen the book from the real descendants who knew better!) trying to look for proofs of reality in it.
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