Kevbo

Jimmy: that view is more correct that you might realize. A lot of Genesis involves the Hebrew God creating the lesser deities of other contemporary cultures in order to show the superiority of the Hebrews.

Remember that Lucifer is called the Morning Star, he was one of these lesser deities who wanted to elevate himself above the other lesser deities like God (In the ancient hebrew picture of the universe, the earth was flat with a hardened dome or firmament above to which the stars were fixed. Only God sat above the dome on his sapphire throne, so that is why the Morning Star's desire to be above the other stars was such a heresy). This is further expounded upon in the book of 1 Enoch, which is a contemporary bit of Hebrew writing that didn't make it into the modern Bible, but from which the New Testament draws considerably in doctrine.

1 Enoch actually describes one of the stars falling to earth, and this star had the image of a man "whose manhood was the size of a horse" (gotta love what those ancient hebrews considered important). It also describes how stars who didn't rise on time were bound up by God and sent to some eternal prison. The hebrews thought that the stars were pretty small things, and that they wouldn't cause too much damage to the earth if they all fell.

nogods4me

ouch
my brain hurts after reading that stuff

Jimmy Higgins

Actually, I think it is somewhat laughable, all the signs of an old arachaic mythology that remains in the Tanakh. Psalms and Job and Genesis are filled with them. One or two examples alone can be ignored, but I find it hard to ignore all of them, including one that suggests man and woman were demi-gods in Paradise, that the serpent was the hero of "The Fall", etc...

At another board, someone pointed out that when God created man, the verse says, ~"and it was so, He created him, man and woman." They asked who the him was, pondering whether it was referring to Christ. I boldly suggested that the him and man and woman came from seperate versions that were spliced together. I tell ya, YEC'ers and some OEC'ers have huge reservations with JEDP, but man, once you learn it, this kind of stuff jumps out at you when you read the scripture.

Ab_Normal

Thanks, Roland! That very song was going through my head as I read this thread...

Primordial Groove

A bat is not a bird?!?!

[Captain Murdoch]

Why arent I notified of these things!?

[/Captain Murdoch]

Sorry, couldnt resist.

Spaz

Just browsing those boards makes me feel like a genius, they sound like a bunch of 5 year olds, the last thread I read was about somebody that thought their wife's friend was being harassed by demons and some weirdo told them to burn their books, not watch buffy the vampire slayer, and put oil on the doorframes of the rooms and claim them for jesus. What the hell is wrong with those people? How did they live this long being so ignorant? The sun isn't a star? Harassment by demons? WHAT?! Somebody needs to go give them an education and fast.

NonHomogenized

I'm not sure whether I should burst out laughing, or pound my head against the wall. Maybe I'll laugh maniacally whilst pounding my head against the wall.

Azathoth

I'm not surprised.Unrevealed knowlege is the enemy of the Abrahamic religions.

Someone here recently said that we're lucky that the bible doesn't have the four elements in it,or there'd be attacks on atomic theory.I would have to agree.

They live,because,although our society is signifigantly more advanced than that of our ancestors,the knowlege required to live in it,is,for the majority of people,little more than what someone 2000 years ago would need to know.Using a microwave,or a television is merely a case of pressing a few buttons.Sadly,most people can function perfectly well this way.Driving a car is skill that requires little knowlege of the engine,or the physics behind it.

If they get sick,they go to a doctor,he tells them what to take,and they get better.They need not know how it happened.

They can believe any nonsense that they want,and still function.They don't have to know what reality is,to survive.That's because the thinking is done by people who do.

At this point,a religious person may say something like,how can anyone know the nature of reality,or some other attempt to dodge.

The thing is,though,that their fantasy concept of the world,can't be applied to reality.There will never be biblical biotech companies coming out with the new discoveries we all use.For finding oil,biblical geology will never be utilized,and when mankind travels into space,not one biblical astronomy idea will be used.

I'm not saying that there aren't intelligent religious people.There are,but they choose in this one case,to short circut their thinking process,and to believe a fantasy.I believe that much of this is driven,at a basic level,of a fear of death.Wanting,at all costs to have an afterlife.

The problem I find,is that they see science as a competitor to the ideas in their holy book,to their concept of the world,and are actively trying to attack it.I couldn't care less what they believe,but they very much care what others believe.

Damn religion.It claims to offer a getaway from the one fear everyone has,at the cost of having to believe ideas that are in many cases,quite mad and contradictory.

Valentine Pontifex

Yes, people 2000 years ago need quite a bit of knowledge that most of us don't have. Indeed it takes a great deal of knowledge to get things done if one can't just press a button. One certainly did not have corner grocery stores back then nor instant meals which could just be heated up. Then there is the problem of preservation of food. If you did not know a bunch about stuff related to such stuff: you were probably not going live very long. I know that money was invented then, but I believe that there was a lot more things done on a barter basis. I believe that would require some knowledge of what a bunch of stuff is worth since barter is more complicated then money. And if you make a bad deal there is no welfare state to bail you out nor is going bancrupt or civil law suits an option.

Jayjay

I don't. The more obvious the mistakes, the less attractive the fundie position becomes. I really wish Paul or some of the other new testament authors had been a "science" buff, making the bible more embarrassing for modern apologetics to defend.

Take the Quran for example: the juiciest parts are the ones that are based on the scientific tidbits of the time that have turned out to be false.