Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi Irish Mom
I read it too. Doesn't faze me as a Christian. I know the Word is Christ. He said so himself. He told his followers that and it was recorded, from God's heart to the world. I don't know why God would have infallible men do His work, but He chooses to do so. I know that if you pick at anybody's story, you can find errors - real or imagined.
I often contradict myself - doesn't make me unreal or not true, cause here I am. Anyhow, if someone wants to find errors to discredit others' beliefs, that is their prerogative. God gives us freewill. The Bible is an amazing book and always will be, despite the critics. Some days the only joy in my life is knowing that God has accepted me, based on the knowledge found in this incredible book of stories written throughout many years and by many devoted followers. Too bad the author of this essay doesn't feel the same.
Although I may not disagree with you, I will concede that the ongoing debate regarding the creation stories and the flood are edifying.
Here is a set of seven linked pages about the Great Flood authored by an historian who is expert in ancient history and languages. Note especially at the bottom of the page the table of comparative information about several similar flood stories from the Middle East and Greece (specifically, Eridu Genesis, Atrahasis, Epic of Gilgameš, Bible, Berossus, Greece, Quran). You can click on the links found at the top of each column of the table to see the story as told by the other traditions. The great Flood: the story from the Bible
Here is a set of seven linked pages about the Great Flood authored by an historian who is expert in ancient history and languages. Note especially at the bottom of the page the table of comparative information about several similar flood stories from the Middle East and Greece (specifically, Eridu Genesis, Atrahasis, Epic of Gilgameš, Bible, Berossus, Greece, Quran). You can click on the links found at the top of each column of the table to see the story as told by the other traditions. The great Flood: the story from the Bible
If this event really happened, it would be unusual to NOT find this narrative in different cultures. Actually, this gives the argument strength.
Your author confirms this:
Quote:
The possibility that there is a historical event behind the story (a local flood in southern Babylonia in the twenty-eighth century BCE) can not be excluded.
although he does try and limit it to a local event. Why would a local event show up globally?
I'll say straight up, I did not look at the link because I am doing 10 things at once.
Really, this is nothing new. Someone one said, "We do not believe in Christ because we believe in the Bible; we believe in the Bible because we believe in Christ." A very prominent New Testament scholar named Bart Ehrman said he lost his faith in Christ because he discovered one minor error in the Gospels.
I think that's really unnecessary, though. First, we may need instead to revise our understanding of what constitutes an error. Nobody thinks that when Jesus says that the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds (Mark 4.31) this is an error, even though there are smaller seeds than mustard seeds. Why? Because Jesus is not teaching botany; he is trying to teach a lesson about the Kingdom of God, and the illustration is incidental to this lesson. Poetry obviously is not intended to be taken literally, for example. But then what about the Gospels? What is their genre? Scholars have come to see that the genre to which the Gospels most closely conform is ancient biography. This is important for our question because ancient biography does not have the intention of providing a chronological account of the hero’s life from the cradle to the grave.
Probably the closest example to this in our non-oral, Western culture is the telling of a joke. It’s important that you get the structure and punch line right, but the rest is incidental.
The real issue at hand is the evidence AGAINST the ressurrection of Jesus Christ. For if Jesus never rose, then the very essence of Christianity is thrown down the tubes.
A friend sent me this and I thought it was interesting...not sure what I think yet but wanted to put it out in case anyone was interested in taking on the challenge.
The deep things of God's word will never be understood by a secular mind, no matter how brilliant unless one honestly seeks an experience with God, he can't understand the things of God.
Copyists may have miscopied in some cases, but no such alleged error of any kind effect's the truth of God's Word. Doctrine is built not on one passage, but on the total of God's comments on any subject. Some things in scripture are hard to reconcile and there's always room for doubt for those who want to doubt. The harder people work to undermine the Bible, the brighter it's light shines
If this event really happened, it would be unusual to NOT find this narrative in different cultures. Actually, this gives the argument strength.
The argument gains if the multiple accounts are basically coherent with respect to each other! American Indians found fossils of sea shells in mountain ranges, then perhaps they invented stories regarding some kind of flood to explain what they found. Of course, those stories don't actually explain anything because they have no basis of knowledge about the extent of the earth's geologic time and the notions about plate tectonics.
The deep things of God's word will never be understood by a secular mind, no matter how brilliant unless one honestly seeks an experience with God, he can't understand the things of God.
Right! It somehow is consistent with God's plan for mankind to keep the key knowledge about his person and his intentions with respect to humans and human history closely held and inherently difficult to understand! This is the copout explanation that any mullah anywhere in the world would give. It is called SUPERSTITION and MANIPULATION OF THE MORALLY SENSITIVE AMONG US, and any human being living in the 21st century should GIVE IT UP!
Last edited by ParkTwain; 11-02-2007 at 05:56 PM..
Irish... you know my take on this.... we have been around this tree before...
I think that the bible is the word of God. Manipulated by men? Who am I to say. That is my point. I have seen studies where they say that the bible we have today is 98% the bible of old, or translated correctly. Who am I to question where that 2% is? Or what that 2% is or if that 2% is? So I will take it as it is, study it, hide it in my heart, and let God deal with anyone who has changed it. I am adhering to what I have. What I am saying is that God's ways are not man's ways. If you believe like the world outside of the bible, then you are subject to fallibility more so than if you are in the bible.
BTW... I did look at the site... sure.. if you are looking for something you could find it... take the 4 gospels. Why aren't they told the same... LOL... sorry. I hear that one a lot. Take 4 eye witnesses to a murder and put them in an interrogation room and see if you get the exact same story. If the 4 gospels were the exact same story they would be saying .... see... they are exactly the same. They copied off eachother. Sheesh!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
