Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Arken · 06-15-2003, 06:54 AM

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Originally posted by Magus55
Why does it need to be specific? The Bible isn't a science textbook . And here is news for you, do you really think people 4000 years ago are gonna understand scientific explanations that won't be discovered for thousands of years? The Israelites had no clue what taxonomy is. They didn't know what Archaebacteria or protists or eukaryotes meant. The explanations in the Bible are simple, and to the point. The purpose of the Bible is to be read by as many people as possible - explaining Genesis in the complexity of the Theory of Relativity, would not make many people want to read it - they would give up and not bother.

Yes, but supposedly God is omniscient and because of that he knew that one day people would read the book and say 'this is bullshit and full of errors.' So why didn't he do something about it? In fact, why didn't he just give the people 4000 years ago the ability to understand such concepts. After all, we have that ability so it's obviously not going against his plan, right? So why didn't he just give that same ability to them?

Spaz · 06-15-2003, 08:00 AM

They said rabbits chew the cud because of that funky thing rabbits do with their mouth and nose ya know. Bats fly, they knew no difference between bats and birds. They weren't fucking geniuses, which is why they get all their science wrong as well as other stuff. The reason for this is because IT'S NOT DIVINELY INSPIRED, IT WAS WRITTEN BY COMMON PEOPLE. k Magus? Doesn't that make much more sense?

Did anybody even live 120 years way back then? It was probably either a story that somebody lived to 120 that made the people write that or it could just be an arbitrary number. The fact that it's different in Psalms pretty much kills it anyway.

Calzaer · 06-15-2003, 11:56 AM

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Do you really think billions of people would all agree with each other, no matter what God did?

So God's NOT omnipotent?

Magus55 · 06-15-2003, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Calzaer
So God's NOT omnipotent?

Of course He is, but if you don't want to accept the Bible as the Word of God - thats your problem. He gave you the ability to make choices and holds you responsible for the choices you make.

Arken · 06-15-2003, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Magus55
Of course He is, but if you don't want to accept the Bible as the Word of God - thats your problem. He gave you the ability to make choices and holds you responsible for the choices you make.

And one of those choices is being ignorant of whether or not rabbits chew their cud?

Calzaer · 06-15-2003, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Of course He is

Then he COULD do something that would cause people to agree on a single interpretation of his "point" in the Bible, without compromising their free will.

He just doesn't give a shit.

Magus55 · 06-15-2003, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Calzaer
Then he COULD do something that would cause people to agree on a single interpretation of his "point" in the Bible, without compromising their free will.

You assume He could have. Without being God and knowing everything - how can you make that blatant assumption as though you know what the heck you are talking about? How do you know the way He did it, wasn't the best possible way? Just because not everyone in the world accepts it, doesn't mean He didn't choose the best way - it just means - humans can make their own choices, and ignore God - no matter what He does. He gave us that ability. Sure, He could have forced the entire world to believe Him, but thats worthless and holds no value. God doesn't want robots - He wants people to freely come to Him - not be forced to.

lpetrich · 06-15-2003, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Arken
... but supposedly God is omniscient and because of that he knew that one day people would read the book and say 'this is bullshit and full of errors.' So why didn't he do something about it?...

One could argue that that errancy has a purpose -- to hint that the Bible is not 100% literal truth.

lpetrich · 06-15-2003, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Magus55
You answered yourself. Genesis is an account of history, not science. It tells the who, why, and what, but not the how.

Magus55, that's an extremely narrow definition of "science".

Mainstream science includes the reconstruction of the history of the Earth, the Solar System, the Galaxy, and the Universe as a whole. So such hairsplitting will lead nowhere.

Calzaer · 06-15-2003, 10:34 PM

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You assume He could have.

Listen very carefully:

If he could not have done so, HE'S NOT ALL-POWERFUL. I'm assuming he could have because an omniscient being can do ANYTHING. If he can't do something as simple as fermenting our brain chemicals a bit differently, he's not omnipotent.

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06-15-2003, 08:00 AM	#22
Spaz Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: 6th Circle of Hell Posts: 1,093	They said rabbits chew the cud because of that funky thing rabbits do with their mouth and nose ya know. Bats fly, they knew no difference between bats and birds. They weren't fucking geniuses, which is why they get all their science wrong as well as other stuff. The reason for this is because IT'S NOT DIVINELY INSPIRED, IT WAS WRITTEN BY COMMON PEOPLE. k Magus? Doesn't that make much more sense? Did anybody even live 120 years way back then? It was probably either a story that somebody lived to 120 that made the people write that or it could just be an arbitrary number. The fact that it's different in Psalms pretty much kills it anyway.

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