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Evolution vs. Theology

Sayre

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I'm sorry - Christ's use of the OT? Why would that mean that Genesis is not literal? Because some passages in Psalms and Job and whatnot are poetry, we can make anything else in Scripture poetry as well?

Ahh nope that is not what I'm getting at.

Psalms are poetry (sometimes, prophetic poetry) and Job is a theodicy - both not literal. The fact that Psalms and Job are not literal doesn't imply anything about the rest of the OT.

Jesus quotes the OT, and many people make an argument that goes as such:

If Jesus quotes the OT, then the passages in the OT that He quotes must be physical-literal rather than poetic / mythic in genre.​

There is nothing really to substantiate such an assumption. Especially when Jesus speaks often in parables.
 
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mark kennedy

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Jesus quotes the OT, and many people make an argument that goes as such:

That's an understatement, just from the Creation account:

A direct quote from Gen 1:27:
And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ (Matt 19:4)​

A direct quote from Gen 5:2:
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. (Mark 10:6)​

It's not described as a parable, there is no figurative language, no mythic genre, no poetic language even. Adam and Eve are only mentioned a few times in the New Testament but when they are they are our first parents from the Genesis account.

The same holds true for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. What is even more startling is Sayre would have us believe that Moses himself is a myth. I would just love to know what you believe about the miracles of the New Testament.

Have a nice day :wave:
Mark
 
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Papias

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mark wrote:

Darwinism was a part of, 'the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought'.

mark, that's another of your frankenstein definitions, where you grab things from different sources, stitch them together, and try to pass them off as a definition. It may work in your own mind, but not in the real world.

Let's De-frankenmark that for you:

Darwinism was a part of, 'the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought'.
The purple part is something you made up and stitched in there. There is no dictionary that defines "Darwinism" that way.

The green part is part of the description of modernism, not Darwinism, which applies to philosophy, as the full description itself says.

mark, maybe instead of frankenmark descriptions, you could use, you know, a dictionary?




Ok, first we snip the inflammatory spam, then we look at the quote taken out of context:

Out of context? Tell me how it is out of context? The whole document supports theistic evolution, and you can't point to any part that doesn't, and you know it. Go ahead, point to some unrelated part and then claim it says something it doesn't - I can't say I'll surprised, though.

As far as "inflammatory", have you read any of your posts?

Originally Posted by Papias
While there is little consensus among scientists about how the origin of this first microscopic life is to be explained, there is general agreement among them that the first organism dwelt on this planet about 3.5-4 billion years ago. Since it has been demonstrated that all living organisms on earth are genetically related, it is virtually certain that all living organisms have descended from this first organism. Converging evidence from many studies in the physical and biological sciences furnishes mounting support for some theory of evolution to account for the development and diversification of life on earth, while controversy continues over the pace and mechanisms of evolution. While the story of human origins is complex and subject to revision, physical anthropology and molecular biology combine to make a convincing case for the origin of the human species in Africa about 150,000 years ago in a humanoid population of common genetic lineage. However it is to be explained, the decisive factor in human origins was a continually increasing brain size, culminating in that of homo sapiens.
OK, mark, now that you've copied, it, can I assume that you've read it? What part of it do you not understand?

Do you understand the part about "converging evidence"? How about "virtually certain"? How about "humanoid lineage"? Did you just happen to miss all those? When he says "humanOID", what you think is meant?



Then the Popes dire warning regarding the dangers of Modernists like Theistic Evolutionists:

There you go again, falsely equating two different things, like you did with "modernism" and "Darwinism" above, except this time with "TE" and "Modernism". You can't stop with making out your own definitions, can you?


1. Christian culture......ors and dangers of error.​
Humani Generis
Which, as you are hopefully starting to see, never says anything against the Pope's support for Theistic Evolution.



The RCC definition from Modernism from New Advent:

Modernism: "the critique of our supernatural knowledge according to the false postulates of contemporary philosophy". (Modernism, New Advent. see 'The essential error of Modernism')
Wow, you know what that sounds like?

mark, it sounds nothing like that - oh, except in your own mind, where you have contructed this idea that the reality of UCA is somehow a conspiracy against Christianity.

All truth is God's word, and so God can't be conspiring against himself.



Return to the The orange definition:

natural selection

noun the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.

A pretty standard definition that includes population and environmental changes and other things as factors. Then there's reproductive success, a mainstay of Darwinian Natural Selection and no where in this definition are we seeing the a priori assumption of universal common descent.


Of course not, because UCA is a conclusion, not an assumption. That's been pointed out to you many times, and by others as well.


Modernism as you yourself defined it:

modernism — n modern tendencies, characteristics, thoughts, etc, or the support of thesesomething typical of contemporary life or thought See International Style a 20th-century divergence in the arts from previous traditions, esp in architecture ( capital ) RC Church the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought​
Of course - showing that we are talking about philosphical naturalism, which I and others have condemned many times. I'm not sure why you still don't see that, when it is clear from the definition.

And now your down to spam and flaming ad hominem attacks which is where you always end up.

And when you previously on this same thread accused me of that, I kindly asked for you to point out where I made an ad hominem attack, so that I could apologize, and you admitted that I did not do so on this thread. Can you point out a place now, or is this more of you empty insults?



That's how I know when your finally beat, you have nothing else. That's why I demand definitions from you guys because it forces you to actually learn what the words mean, whether you like it or not, believe it or not, whether you want to admit it or not.

More empty insults. This section is especially funny since you have been avoiding the actual dictionary defintions again and again on this thread, and making up your own definitions.


Blessings-

-Papias
 
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Achilles6129

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Jesus quotes the OT, and many people make an argument that goes as such:

If Jesus quotes the OT, then the passages in the OT that He quotes must be physical-literal rather than poetic / mythic in genre.

There is nothing really to substantiate such an assumption. Especially when Jesus speaks often in parables.

Well no, that's really not what we're saying. We're just pointing out that Christ claims the OT is true, and that he's using these specific passages as examples of certain things. So if the passages never really happened then Christ would be rather mistaken, wouldn't he?
 
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mark kennedy

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mark, that's another of your frankenstein definitions, where you grab things from different sources, stitch them together, and try to pass them off as a definition. It may work in your own mind, but not in the real world.

That's the point of a definition, there is a definite meaning with precise details, essential meanings, literal and common usage meanings. What is commonly referred in Modernism as dogma is really just essential doctrine defined by the standards (aka canon) of the Christian faith. Science also has standards by which natural phenomenon is measured, compared and evaluated.

A definition is the same for everyone, the whims and caprices of those who would bend definition to their will are neutralized. That's why I demand your definition from a commonly recognized source authority, that's why we debated this formally from Catholic authority. That way you don't get to rationalize the obvious away.

Let's De-frankenmark that for you:

Oh goodie, another convoluted clutch phrase.

Darwinism was a part of, 'the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought'.
The purple part is something you made up and stitched in there. There is no dictionary that defines "Darwinism" that way.

That's a conclusion based on the definition of Modernism from the RCC. In order to realize the substantive basis for that connection you must have a standard by which the definition for Darwinism (AKA the Modern Synthesis) and Modernism are compared. You conflate and confuse the definitions relentlessly in order to reject the obvious fact that Modernism and Darwinism adapt doctrine to 'the supposed requirements of modern thought'.

The green part is part of the description of modernism, not Darwinism, which applies to philosophy, as the full description itself says.

mark, maybe instead of frankenmark descriptions, you could use, you know, a dictionary?

I know what these words mean, you know what they mean, that's not the issue. I know what the Scriptures and the canons of Christian theism are and so do you, that's not the problem. The problem is Modernism, Darwinism and Theistic Evolution want you to chase answers around in circles like chasing ghosts in the fog. Nothing is ever defined, everything is shrouded in an endless barrage of fallacious diversions.

Out of context? Tell me how it is out of context? The whole document supports theistic evolution, and you can't point to any part that doesn't, and you know it. Go ahead, point to some unrelated part and then claim it says something it doesn't - I can't say I'll surprised, though.

Then quote it in context don't run me in circles by begging the question of proof. What happens when I answer the question, you ask it again and again. Nothing is defined, nothing is ever conclusive, there is not standard by which to make a determination. It's called begging the question of proof and is a staple of Theistic Evolution, second only to the inevitable ad hominem. You can't appeal to an actual standard, scientific or theological, because when you do there is a proof for an alternative to an a priori assumption of exclusively naturalistic causes. The presuppositions of Darwinian dogma cannot allow that so it's buried in fallacious diversions.

As far as "inflammatory", have you read any of your posts?

There is a standard for determining a valid criticism on Christian Forums, it's called evidence. I've always supported my criticisms of you and the worldly philosophy you defend so zealously. I'm not the one with an antithetical view, I don't have to attack the standards of science or the canons of Christian theism to make my point. I can measure against clearly established standards and canons and make the indictment stick. Don't blame me when your Achilles heal is the fallacious rhetoric you shamelessly promote.

OK, mark, now that you've copied, it, can I assume that you've read it? What part of it do you not understand?

First of all nothing substantive or coherent, it's a rhetorical circular questions punctuated with an inevitable ad hominem. It's a fallacious statement, an argument that never happened, because you have nothing substantive. You have nothing substantive because you have abandoned the standards of science and the canons of faith. Chase all the ghosts in the fog you like but don't try to bring me on one of your expeditions. I have actual standards and canons to appeal to.

Do you understand the part about "converging evidence"? How about "virtually certain"? How about "humanoid lineage"? Did you just happen to miss all those? When he says "humanOID", what you think is meant?

A text without a context is a pretext. 'Christian culture being attacked, men persuading themselves of what they do not wish to believe. Arguing that evolution, not fully proven, proves all things, such fictitious tenets repudiate all that is absolute and paved the way of the new erroneous philosophy.'

Did you read his conclusions or just cherry pick his descriptions from their natural context. This practice of quoting out of context is yet another flawed argument that cannot stand on it's merit, it must be sustained by the ubiquitous ad hominem. He further warns, ' errors, it is clear, have crept in among certain of Our sons who are deceived by imprudent zeal for souls or by false science'.

There you go again, falsely equating two different things, like you did with "modernism" and "Darwinism" above, except this time with "TE" and "Modernism". You can't stop with making out your own definitions, can you?

I don't need to make up definitions, I have standards by which they can be determined whether you want to admit it or not. Darwinism is defined by the Erasmus and Charles Darwin and Darwin's bulldog. Theistic evolution is nothing but Darwinism or evolutionists would be attacking them with the same zeal they do Creationism and Intelligent Design. Darwinians don't attack Theistic Evolution because it's the same thing.

Now if you think I'm wrong in concluding that you entitled to your opinion. If you think there are two different semantical terms being equivocated there is a simple remedy, define both and the difference will be obvious, the way I refuted the equivocations of evolution and Darwinism. All you really need to destroy an equivocation fallacy is the two definitions. I've never seen it fail. It definitively train wrecked your fallacious arguments.

Which, as you are hopefully starting to see, never says anything against the Pope's support for Theistic Evolution.

Which, as I know you are well aware, lead to the dire warnings against the dangers of Modernist philosophies like and especially, Theistic Evolution.

mark, it sounds nothing like that - oh, except in your own mind, where you have contructed this idea that the reality of UCA is somehow a conspiracy against Christianity.

I never called the a priori assumption of universal common ancestry by exclusively naturalistic means, a conspiracy, I called it Darwinism. It's one long argument against Creation and Theistic Evolution is the same thing with a theistic label.

All truth is God's word, and so God can't be conspiring against himself.

All truth is not God's Word, that's blasphemy. To equivocate God with naturalistic reasoning is no different then redefining God as 'being itself', an semantic equivocation from dialectical humanism known as Liberal Theology. Yet another Modernist philosophy predicated on semantical bait and switch rhetoric.

Of course not, because UCA is a conclusion, not an assumption. That's been pointed out to you many times, and by others as well.

It's a universal, a priori assumption. That's why it's called universal in the first place.

Modernism as you yourself defined it:

modernism — n modern tendencies, characteristics, thoughts, etc, or the support of thesesomething typical of contemporary life or thought See International Style a 20th-century divergence in the arts from previous traditions, esp in architecture ( capital ) RC Church the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought​


Of course - showing that we are talking about philosphical naturalism, which I and others have condemned many times. I'm not sure why you still don't see that, when it is clear from the definition.

Calling Darwinism something else doesn't change what it is. Your begging the question of proof again. You have argued using this semantical shell game and you've been refuted every single time. Not because I'm such a great debater but because your arguments are hopelessly fallacious.

And when you previously on this same thread accused me of that, I kindly asked for you to point out where I made an ad hominem attack, so that I could apologize, and you admitted that I did not do so on this thread. Can you point out a place now, or is this more of you empty insults?

I already have, every time you have resorted to them in this thread and in this post. I clearly identify the ad hominems and asking circular questions doesn't absolve you from the fact that fallacious arguments are arguments that never happened. Like begging the question of proof, if it's a fallacious rhetorical device like the one you just used it's just dismissed.

More empty insults. This section is especially funny since you have been avoiding the actual dictionary defintions again and again on this thread, and making up your own definitions.

Your arguments fell faster then any of the Theistic Evolutionist arguments I had to deal with on here. The reason is that you locked yourself into a standard, RCC doctrine and dogma. That's something no self respecting Theistic Evolutionist would ever do, just like they never admit or acknowledge definitions or standards of evidence. Because if they do the inverse logic is intuitively obvious, a null hypothesis emerges and Creation as history becomes a valid alternative to atheistic materialism. That's something the directors and producers of the Darwinian theater of the mind would never allow.

Never the less a gentlemanly response Papias, my compliments on your civility. If you can make some progress on substantive standards and definitions you might relieve your burden from fallacious rhetoric but one step at a time.

Grace and peace,
Mark
 
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Sayre

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Well no, that's really not what we're saying. We're just pointing out that Christ claims the OT is true, and that he's using these specific passages as examples of certain things. So if the passages never really happened then Christ would be rather mistaken, wouldn't he?

I agree that Christ considered the OT to be true. But true is not a synonym for literal history. Even in your post above you say "if they never really happened" - something that only makes sense if you are talking about literal history.

Christ agreed with the OT and agreed that it had immense value. However, I don't see Him as quoting literal history rather than quoting concepts and ideas, theology, imagery.

So the question is not "did Jesus consider the OT to be true" but "of what type of literature did Jesus consider the OT to be". Simply quoting the OT doesn't reveal this to us. Or to put this another way, Jesus quoting a concept found in the OT is not the same as Jesus believing a lie.

But until we agree that true doesn't always mean historical, then we can't even have this discussion about Jesus' beliefs.

Bless you. Thank you for being polite.
 
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Achilles6129

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I agree that Christ considered the OT to be true. But true is not a synonym for literal history. Even in your post above you say "if they never really happened" - something that only makes sense if you are talking about literal history.

Christ agreed with the OT and agreed that it had immense value. However, I don't see Him as quoting literal history rather than quoting concepts and ideas, theology, imagery.

So the question is not "did Jesus consider the OT to be true" but "of what type of literature did Jesus consider the OT to be". Simply quoting the OT doesn't reveal this to us. Or to put this another way, Jesus quoting a concept found in the OT is not the same as Jesus believing a lie.

But until we agree that true doesn't always mean historical, then we can't even have this discussion about Jesus' beliefs.

Bless you. Thank you for being polite.

I mean, if it didn't happen as described then it can't be true. For example, if the gospels say that Christ went to Bethsaida but he really didn't, then obviously those statements wouldn't be true.
 
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Sayre

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I mean, if it didn't happen as described then it can't be true. For example, if the gospels say that Christ went to Bethsaida but he really didn't, then obviously those statements wouldn't be true.

Truth depends on literary genre. What does true poetry look like? What do true parables look like? You and I aren't debating the truth of Scripture, we are debating the genre.

I claim some of the OT is allegory and what it teaches is true.
 
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mark kennedy

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Truth depends on literary genre. What does true poetry look like? What do true parables look like? You and I aren't debating the truth of Scripture, we are debating the genre.

I claim some of the OT is allegory and what it teaches is true.

What does an historical narrative look like?

I mean, if it didn't happen as described then it can't be true. For example, if the gospels say that Christ went to Bethsaida but he really didn't, then obviously those statements wouldn't be true.

This is the primary issue, if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses had been allegories the Jews would not have existed. The key to Genesis, the framework, literary genre of Genesis is the genealogies. No Biblical scholar has ever suggested, much less defended, that it's allegory.

And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. (Mark 12:24-27)​

Understanding what the New Testament teaches regarding the Old Testament isn't difficult, you either believe it or you don't.

Grace and peace,
Mark
 
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ChetSinger

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This is the primary issue, if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses had been allegories the Jews would not have existed. The key to Genesis, the framework, literary genre of Genesis is the genealogies. No Biblical scholar has ever suggested, much less defended, that it's allegory.
And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. (Mark 12:24-27)​

I think this passage in Mark is powerful evidence of the historicity of Abraham. God is God of the living, and Christ himself used Abraham as an example of the living.
 
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Achilles6129

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Truth depends on literary genre. What does true poetry look like? What do true parables look like? You and I aren't debating the truth of Scripture, we are debating the genre.

I claim some of the OT is allegory and what it teaches is true.

Right but Christ/Paul/Peter, etc., reference the OT like it's a historical fact. So if they're making reference to mythological figures surely they should have told us ;)
 
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gluadys

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What does an historical narrative look like?


A very good question which I would like an answer to, especially from people who tell me that parts of the bible read "like a historical narrative".

I know what narrative looks like. I know what narrative prose looks like. I know what narrative poetry looks like. I do not know what historical narrative looks like.

The only way I know to determine if a narrative (whether in prose or poetic form) is historical, is to verify from an external source that the people, places and events in the narrative are/were historical realities.

It is virtually impossible to tell on textual grounds alone that a narrative is or is not a historical narrative when the writer chooses to give his story the verisimilitude of history. And a good many of us have the "historical narratives" of Shakespeare or Cecil B. DeMille in our head rather than actual history. Or take biographies. Usually they are intended to be historical, but no two biographies of the same person are alike and you can easily get completely opposite impressions of their motives and personalities from different biographers. For that matter, all historical writing is fundamentally an interpretation of history, not a mere "just the facts" record of what happened to whom or who did what.

So, go ahead, tell me what a historical narrative looks like and how you can tell on the basis of textual elements alone that it contains history.



This is the primary issue, if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses had been allegories the Jews would not have existed.

No one is claiming these persons are allegories. But the reality of the persons doesn't mean the stories about them are not not allegories or at least shot through with legendary elements.







The key to Genesis, the framework, literary genre of Genesis is the genealogies. No Biblical scholar has ever suggested, much less defended, that it's allegory.

Actually, some have. One of the most interesting interpretations I saw was that the genealogy of Abraham and his ancestors was really an itinerary of their travels through various lands.
 
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mark kennedy

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A very good question which I would like an answer to, especially from people who tell me that parts of the bible read "like a historical narrative".

I know what narrative looks like. I know what narrative prose looks like. I know what narrative poetry looks like. I do not know what historical narrative looks like.

That is actually the whole point, of course you know the difference between allegory and literal, myth and history. The concepts, the context and the content are unequivocal, even when figurative language is used.

The only way I know to determine if a narrative (whether in prose or poetic form) is historical, is to verify from an external source that the people, places and events in the narrative are/were historical realities.

That's not true, it can be a stand alone narrative and still be an historical narrative. Literature doesn't need to be confirmed as poetry by comparing it to poetry that says the same thing. There will be distinguishable features that identify a writing as being historical as opposed to allegory and you already know that, you opened the post emphasizing that you could.

It is virtually impossible to tell on textual grounds alone that a narrative is or is not a historical narrative when the writer chooses to give his story the verisimilitude of history. And a good many of us have the "historical narratives" of Shakespeare or Cecil B. DeMille in our head rather than actual history. Or take biographies. Usually they are intended to be historical, but no two biographies of the same person are alike and you can easily get completely opposite impressions of their motives and personalities from different biographers. For that matter, all historical writing is fundamentally an interpretation of history, not a mere "just the facts" record of what happened to whom or who did what.

How about the fact that cinematography and a stage play are obviously different then the work of an historian. The ancient Hebrews produced and preserved a great deal of literature, some poetic and some historical, don't pretend there is no way of telling the two literary styles apart. The genealogies, from which Genesis derives it name, should be telling you something and I think it does. Now whether or not you think that history is reliable, factual or accurate is a matter of opinion. Genesis isn't that hard to understand, you either believe it or not, trying to water it down by calling it figurative is disingenuous at best.

So, go ahead, tell me what a historical narrative looks like and how you can tell on the basis of textual elements alone that it contains history.

Why, so you can just keep asking the question in circles? You know a little something about literature so maybe you would like to tell me, how does one discern the difference between an historical narrative and an allegory. Better yet, why don't you tell Sayre because he seems very confused. I have a hermeneutic criteria, do you?

No one is claiming these persons are allegories. But the reality of the persons doesn't mean the stories about them are not not allegories or at least shot through with legendary elements.

Ok, I know I'm reading a parable because Jesus will start off with something like, 'the kingdom of God is 'like'... 'Like' or 'as' predicate parables as comparative analogies and there are other indicators readily available in the immediate context when figurative language is being used. There is actually very little figurative language in Genesis, parallelisms certainly, but there is nothing indicating a parable. Especially when you get to the New Testament witness regarding the Patriarchs and Moses.

Actually, some have. One of the most interesting interpretations I saw was that the genealogy of Abraham and his ancestors was really an itinerary of their travels through various lands.

It's a genealogy, what lands or travels are mentioned are extraneous to that obvious fact.

No amount of rationalization will warrant dismissing the historical narratives as myth, legend or allegory. It's not only an error, it's absurd.

Have a nice day :wave:
Mark
 
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mark kennedy

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A historical narrative is simply a narrative that says it happened as history! It's not complicated. If it were a parable then it would tell you such. It does not, for very good reason - it's not parable.

Of course it's not a parable, it's obviously an historical narrative. Don't get me wrong, there is a legitimate way of taking some of the things in the early chapters of Genesis figuratively. Most Christian scholars never have but in modern times taking anything miraculous figuratively is not just fashionable, it's dogma.

Your not arguing against literary interpretation here, this absurd insistence that Genesis is a myth is pure, undiluted, presupposition.

Grace and peace,
Mark
 
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Sayre

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Right but Christ/Paul/Peter, etc., reference the OT like it's a historical fact. So if they're making reference to mythological figures surely they should have told us ;)

No and no. They reference these people, but it is up to you to demonstrate that the way they reference these people implies historical narrative. You haven't done that - you've just asserted it.

Clearly not all parables and allegorical text is clearly labeled as such or there would be a label when Jesus described Himself as the good Shephard.
 
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mark kennedy

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No and no. They reference these people, but it is up to you to demonstrate that the way they reference these people implies historical narrative. You haven't done that - you've just asserted it.

Clearly not all parables and allegorical text is clearly labeled as such or there would be a label when Jesus described Himself as the good Shephard.

The genealogies of the Old Testament and the New Testament should be giving us a clue:

Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor. (Luke 3:34)

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. (Matthew 1:2)

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28)​

Let's see, the genealogies are explicit proof of not only an historical narrative but a living history. The fact that God is the God of the living and not the dead and certainly not of myths. Then there is the resurrection of the dead at the heart of the Gospel, inextricably linked to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That not only implies historicity, those are explicit proof texts, inextricably linked to New Testament salvation.

I'm astonished, please tell me that this isn't where Theistic Evolution is trying to take us.

Grace and peace,
Mark
 
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Achilles6129

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No and no. They reference these people, but it is up to you to demonstrate that the way they reference these people implies historical narrative. You haven't done that - you've just asserted it.

Clearly not all parables and allegorical text is clearly labeled as such or there would be a label when Jesus described Himself as the good Shephard.

If what you're saying is true then ultimately everything in the Bible is possibly a "parable" or a "myth." For example, you would have to demonstrate that Christ walking on water is historical fact - I could claim it is just a parable and you couldn't refute me. The same applies to other things like Christ's resurrection from the dead, and so forth.

So this approach really makes mincemeat out of Scripture.
 
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Assyrian

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That's straight out of the Lexicon and the clear statements from Genesis as translated into the English. The only source for your interpretation your using is you, the self referential, autonomous, autocratic, authority you would seem to regard as inerrant. It's is not only sad, it is tragic what you have done to your understanding of the Scriptures based on your contempt for Bible believing Christians.
None of the Lexicons or bible verses support your equation based definition of day. Why don't you stop pretending they do?

The passage is clear, concise and opposed to the idea that the OT is a book of fables or that they are of private interpretation. No matter how many times or decisively you are refuted you still think you are superior simply because your an evolutionist.
And yet Peter only describes his eyewitness report of the transfiguration as not being a cleverly devised fable. You have made no attempt at defending you claims with an exegesis of the passage or to defend you misunderstanding of 'private interpretation', just a hand waving 'inextricably linked' and ad hom accusations.

Peter, speaking of the Pauline epistles warns against those who would twist the meaning:
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16)​
So shouldn't you be careful you aren't twisting the meaning of 2Peter as well?

Yes it is absurd. I would have thought by now you'd be able to distinguish between events being real and descriptions of events being literal or figurative. Christ really created the heavens and the earth, but that doesn't tell us whether the descriptions of his work of creation are real or figurative.
So Christ literally created the heavens and the earth but the Genesis account of creation is figurative? That's what happens when you take the Scriptures out of their proper context and try to make them mean whatever you want them to mean. Christ is Creator just as Christ is Savior, you don't have to be a walking lexicon to know that Christ is both literally. It would be the height of absurdity to suggest otherwise, much less argue the point.
Goodness Mark not even an attempt to understand what I wrote. How can you refute something when you don't know what you are talking about?

You don't get to call something figurative just because you don't believe it. Creation and salvation are inextricably linked and I don't need your permission to make that connection, Christian scholars always have and always will.
You don't get to call something literal when you don't even understand the difference between literal and real.

It has everything to do with an obsession with your Darwinian naturalistic assumptions. You never discuss anything else, argue incessantly against Creation against bible believing Christians and reject any definition or interpretation that does not line up with your presupposition.

Classic Darwinian rhetoric.

The clear meaning of the text is
God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (Gen. 1:8)​
Day means day in Genesis 1, that's the clear meaning. You like to twist the wording around, make some twisted paraphrase into a strawman and pretend to be arguing something substantive.
Still no sign of you claim the day is defined by the equation "evening plus morning equals day". I can see why you want to change the subject to "Darwinian naturalistic assumptions", but wouldn't it be better to be honest and admit the equation based definition is simply a mistake?

No your not asking me anything, your repeating the question again and again, begging the question on your hands and knees. Once again you have resorted to redundant, fallacious rhetoric. Which means you have nothing else.
Isn't repeating the question asking you to answer it?

That's what your doing, whether you represent a group or stand alone that is how you argue.
How I argue is by taking your arguments apart and keeping on the subject when you try to wriggle out with personal accusations.

The Good Shepherd isn't a parable, it's more of a euphemism and you know that. The argument is little more then childish mockery, nothing that can be taken seriously or mistaken for a substantive argument.
Euphemism? I know some people consider it an extended metaphor or allegory. Doesn't change my argument, it isn't literal.

Picking up some clutch phrases from Biologos I see. The hermeneutic principles I'm using are sound and they are not post enlightenment, it's what Hebrew and Christian scholars uniformly teach regarding Genesis. Day means day in Genesis 1. You can get an occasional figurative interpretation of the word, it's a minority opinion but never the less a substantive one when argued substantively.
Shernren here on CF actually. And the elevation of literal meaning as the only worthwhile truth dismissing figurative and metaphor as worthless is very post enlightenment/modernist.

Your trying to make it the only interpretation possible because you say so, that's not scholarship, that's having far too high an opinion of yourself.
Lol. Actually I am happy with there being many different ways to interpret Genesis. Once Christians realise there are other interpretation there is simply no reason to hang on to scientifically bankrupt Creationism. It is creationists who have to insist there is only one interpretation and that Genesis has to be literal.

Then say that dude, your entitled to your opinion, it's even a reasonable interpretation when argued properly from positive proofs. Resorting to fallacious logic is always a mistake no matter what you think, believe or defend intellectually. Instead of arguing against Creation you should be arguing in favor of your interpretation, these ad hominem attacks are telling me you don't have the courage of your convictions. If your convinced of your interpretation explain it clearly, concisely and move on. What your doing in this thread has been an exercise in trolling tactics and it's a shame really, I would have enjoyed exploring the alternative reading had it been presented in a gentlemanly fashion.
I was addressing your ad hom that my interpretation is based on Darwin.

I don't know what your saying here and I'm not entirely sure you do either.
I was discussing with Sayre how fear pays a large part in Creationists' unwillingnesss to examine their own beliefs. You assumed fear must be 'fear of the Lord' and I pointed out there were fears in the bible the Lord is not pleased with.

Why don't you drop back and punt, I'm not trying to be factitious here, it's a serious word of advice. Taking day literally in Genesis 1 has been the majority view in the Church traditionally but alternative views do exist.
There are also warnings from time to time against taking Genesis too literally. Not just in Christian scholarship but Francis Bacon warned strenuously against making selected texts from Scripture into a natural theology.

You could develop and intelligent and well organized defense of your interpretation and world view, I'm not patronizing you, I almost did it myself. I don't agree with it but there is a way of developing the arguments that doesn't twist the Scriptures around like metal in a train wreck.

I know you probably don't care but this is the last time I'm going to offer you this olive branch.
Appreciate the olive branch Mark. If you want to look to some of my ideas I've linked to my Simian in the Temple blog in http://www.christianforums.com/t7792111/

You can let me help you or your not going to like where this goes. I've already made the connection between creation and salvation from classic Christian apologetics in a way you cannot defend against.

Do what you think is right but whether you believe it or not, you've lost this debate and there is a much better way.

Grace and peace,
Mark
If you want to build on that I seriously suggest you look into the distinctions I have been making between real and literal.
 
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