There is so much going on here that it is going to take multiple posts to respond. I think I'm going to save your first paragraph for my weekly Sermonette, because it is fractally wrong.
How can you say the Bible gives a valid account of the creation of the universe? It begins with creating light before the creation of the sun, and goes downhill from there! The Bible contains some lovely creation myths, but tells nothing that wasn't known to late Bronze-Age goat herders.
Your third paragraph sets up a false dichotomy. That a walled city called Jericho existed does not give credence to an account that its walls were topped by Joshua's horn-blowing troops. Noah's Ark? There is not the slightest bit of evidence that it ever existed outside of mythology. The existence of Pharoahs is known, but there is no evidence that anything told in Exodus ever happened or that Moses even existed. Ur-Patriarch Abraham? No record of his existence, let alone his conversations with angels or his impossible age. Tower of Babel? No evidence of a toppling ziggurat caused by confusion of languages.
Just because something like New York exists doesn't mean that stories about Spider-Man are true, or even the stories on Law and Order. The great grey-green greasy Limpopo River exists, but Kipling's "Just So" story about the Elephant's Child is a fable. The myths, legends, and just-so stories told by the Hebrews three thousand years ago give us information about a people and their values and beliefs, but does not contribute truth value to miracle claims.
Last night, I flew out of my second-story bedroom window and soared over the housetops. Do you believe me?
You don't know me very well, so your first reaction is probably that I'm lying. Your second is that I'm crazy. If you're feeling particularly charitable, you might think that I dreamt it. What would be required to convince you that I'm telling the truth?
I could send you a note from my wife, would that persuade you? How about a note from a neighbor? But of course they might just be in on the deception with me, mightn't they? A note from the priest who lives down the street? No?
How about a video? You could see it with your own eyes. But such things are fairly easy to fake, aren't they - we just saw 3-D ten-foot tall blue aliens flying on the backs of winged monsters. Let's face it, it would take an awful lot of evidence to persuade you that I actually did leave my bed and fly around my neighborhood in the middle of the night.
Now here is a Bible, a collection of stories written and compiled over a period of at least 1400 years. With the exception of a few letters, we don't know who wrote the stories. We don't have original manuscripts, or even copies of originals. We have copies of copies of copies, with some clear interpolations and redactions, based on evidence from other copies of copies. While certain historical facts can be verified - Nebuchadnezzer II reigned from 605 BCE to 562 BCE, give or take - we have no evidence at all that he tossed three men into a furnace and those men did not burn. Why - indeed how - can such a story be accepted as literal fact?
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Jesus the Bachelor
Date: 2011-02-26 03:18 pm (UTC)How can you say the Bible gives a valid account of the creation of the universe? It begins with creating light before the creation of the sun, and goes downhill from there! The Bible contains some lovely creation myths, but tells nothing that wasn't known to late Bronze-Age goat herders.
Your third paragraph sets up a false dichotomy. That a walled city called Jericho existed does not give credence to an account that its walls were topped by Joshua's horn-blowing troops. Noah's Ark? There is not the slightest bit of evidence that it ever existed outside of mythology. The existence of Pharoahs is known, but there is no evidence that anything told in Exodus ever happened or that Moses even existed. Ur-Patriarch Abraham? No record of his existence, let alone his conversations with angels or his impossible age. Tower of Babel? No evidence of a toppling ziggurat caused by confusion of languages.
Just because something like New York exists doesn't mean that stories about Spider-Man are true, or even the stories on Law and Order. The great grey-green greasy Limpopo River exists, but Kipling's "Just So" story about the Elephant's Child is a fable. The myths, legends, and just-so stories told by the Hebrews three thousand years ago give us information about a people and their values and beliefs, but does not contribute truth value to miracle claims.
Last night, I flew out of my second-story bedroom window and soared over the housetops. Do you believe me?
You don't know me very well, so your first reaction is probably that I'm lying. Your second is that I'm crazy. If you're feeling particularly charitable, you might think that I dreamt it. What would be required to convince you that I'm telling the truth?
I could send you a note from my wife, would that persuade you? How about a note from a neighbor? But of course they might just be in on the deception with me, mightn't they? A note from the priest who lives down the street? No?
How about a video? You could see it with your own eyes. But such things are fairly easy to fake, aren't they - we just saw 3-D ten-foot tall blue aliens flying on the backs of winged monsters. Let's face it, it would take an awful lot of evidence to persuade you that I actually did leave my bed and fly around my neighborhood in the middle of the night.
Now here is a Bible, a collection of stories written and compiled over a period of at least 1400 years. With the exception of a few letters, we don't know who wrote the stories. We don't have original manuscripts, or even copies of originals. We have copies of copies of copies, with some clear interpolations and redactions, based on evidence from other copies of copies. While certain historical facts can be verified - Nebuchadnezzer II reigned from 605 BCE to 562 BCE, give or take - we have no evidence at all that he tossed three men into a furnace and those men did not burn. Why - indeed how - can such a story be accepted as literal fact?