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Evolution as a theory of creation is a JOKE

Nathan Poe

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You've met your match with this KJVO --- I'll send you back to school in a hurry.

Only if he needs to add a new definition for "pride."

This KJVO would make Peter S Ruckman and Gail A Riplinger blush.

As well as many Christians -- embarassment has that effect.
 
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Nathan Poe

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As I have pointed out, the parables of Jesus weren't something that He just sat and thought up.

Let's assume I missed that for a reason besides lack of interest. Link, please?


I believe those things He talked about really happened.

Otherwise they would mean nothing to you, right? There's no way a literalist can learn anything from something that's not literal.

I will say this much for you, AV -- you've illustrated Matthew 13:13-14 perfectly.

Same with the book of Proverbs.

Since proverbs means pro [with] verba [words] --- Solomon isn't just making these up.

They are things he actually experienced in real life.

And when in his real life did he encounter Latin grammar?
 
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AV1611VET

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Let's assume I missed that for a reason besides lack of interest. Link, please?
Link to what? The Bible --- or me saying that before?
 
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Cabal

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And when in his real life did he encounter Latin grammar?

I guess around the same time he was studying the theory of evolution. Y'know, because neither of them are in the Bible, so he must have known about them.
 
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BananaSlug

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As I have pointed out, the parables of Jesus weren't something that He just sat and thought up.

I believe those things He talked about really happened.


The parables of Jesus, found in the synoptic gospels, embody much of Jesus' teaching. Jesus' parables are quite simple, memorable stories, often with humble imagery, each with a single message. Jesus, for example, likened the Kingdom of God to leaven (an image usually meant as corruption) or a mustard seed. Like his aphorisms, Jesus' parables were often surprising and paradoxical. The parable of the good Samaritan, for example, turned expectations on their head with the despised Samaritan proving to be the wounded man's neighbor. The parables were simple and memorable enough to survive in an oral tradition before being written down years after Jesus' death.
His parables are sometimes interpreted as allegories in Christian tradition and, rarely, in the gospels themselves. In such an allegory, each element corresponds metaphorically to a class of people (e.g., false Christians), a heavenly reward, or some other topic. The Gospel of John includes allegories but no parables.


What is a parable? A parable is a word-picture which uses an image or story to illustrate a truth or lesson. It creates a mini-drama in picture language that describes the reality being illustrated. It shows a likeness between the image of an illustration and the object being portrayed. It defines the unknown by using the known. It helps the listener to discover the deeper meaning and underlying truth of the reality being portrayed. It can be a figure of speech or comparison, such as "the kingdom of God ..is like a mustard seed ..or like yeast" (Luke 13:19, 21).More commonly it is a short story told to bring out a lesson or moral. Jesus used simple stories or images to convey important truths about God and his kingdom, and lessons pertaining to the way of life and happiness which God has for us. They commonly feature examples or illustrations from daily life in ancient Palestine, such as mustard seeds and fig trees, wineskins and oil lamps, money and treasure, stewards, workers, judges, and homemakers, wedding parties and children's games. Jesus' audience would be very familiar with these illustrations of everyday life. Today we have to do some "homework" to understand the social customs described.

So AV, when Jesus said it was easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, what did he mean? What type of needle was he talking about? Even though Christ's parables could have actually happened why do you think every parable had to have actually happened? Do you not think Jesus was smart enough to tell a fictional story to get across a greater spiritual truth?
 
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AV1611VET

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So AV, when Jesus said it was easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, what did he mean? What type of needle was he talking about?
Just that.

When the city gates were shut and locked, those outside the gates still had access through a much smaller door, made for human traffic. That door is what Jesus is referring to as "the eye of a needle".

A security guard can tell you, for instance, that when the gates are closed to freight trucks, service trucks, and contractors at night, there is a much smaller gate for employees for shift change.
Even though Christ's parables could have actually happened why do you think every parable had to have actually happened?
Why make up a story, when the real thing is so much better?
 
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Nathan Poe

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"In addition, in my studies of the parables of Jesus, Himself; I see no reason to believe that [most of] the things He talked about didn't literally come to pass."

Ok, so I was working under a mistaken assumption.
 
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Nathan Poe

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Just that.

When the city gates were shut and locked, those outside the gates still had access through a much smaller door, made for human traffic. That door is what Jesus is referring to as "the eye of a needle".

A security guard can tell you, for instance, that when the gates are closed to freight trucks, service trucks, and contractors at night, there is a much smaller gate for employees for shift change.

And just how far outside the Bible did you have to go -- as a matter of convenience -- for this interpretation?

Why make up a story, when the real thing is so much better?

Matthew 13:13-14 comes to mind -- as it does every time I read one of your posts.
 
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AV1611VET

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And just how far outside the Bible did you have to go -- as a matter of convenience -- for this interpretation?
I didn't --- it was in the footnotes.
 
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adimus

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Just that.

When the city gates were shut and locked, those outside the gates still had access through a much smaller door, made for human traffic. That door is what Jesus is referring to as "the eye of a needle".

A security guard can tell you, for instance, that when the gates are closed to freight trucks, service trucks, and contractors at night, there is a much smaller gate for employees for shift change.Why make up a story, when the real thing is so much better?

Actually the eye of the needle did not mean a small door in the wall, as is popularly taught. It means literally an eye of a needle. That teaching was a made up modern one with no evidence to support it.
 
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GhostSlug

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Just that.

When the city gates were shut and locked, those outside the gates still had access through a much smaller door, made for human traffic. That door is what Jesus is referring to as "the eye of a needle".

So are you admitting that you have a different interpretation? I thought the Bible was meant to be read literally, according to you. Are you contradicting yourself AV?

Earlier you mentioned that you KNOW Jesus wasn't speaking in parables. You claimed that his stories were literally true. Please tell me how you KNOW this. Did you speak to him directly? Or is that your interpretation? Please fill me in.
 
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gaara4158

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Actually the eye of the needle did not mean a small door in the wall, as is popularly taught. It means literally an eye of a needle. That teaching was a made up modern one with no evidence to support it.
It's actually more likely that Jesus was referring to the thick ropes used to tie boats to the dock (camilo) than an actual camel (camelo).
 
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sbvera13

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Wow Nathan Poe you are my hero! I now officially love that verse.

Matthew 13 said:
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

Jesus himself explicitly said that he is telling fictional stories in order to teach a greater truth, why he does it, and what this particular parable means!

AV can take a hike. The Bible says so.
 
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sfs

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It's actually more likely that Jesus was referring to the thick ropes used to tie boats to the dock (camilo) than an actual camel (camelo).
That's a possibility -- the words are similar in Greek and, as I understand it, the word for camel in Aramaic can also mean rope (probably made from camel's hair) -- but most scholars think that "camel" is more likely. Greek manuscripts containing kamilo instead of kamelo do exist, but they are all relatively late, suggesting that "camel" was at least the word in the original Greek text. That leaves open the possibility that the Greek word choice was based on a misunderstanding of Jesus' saying, which would have been in Aramaic, but that's pretty speculative.

Also, there are later rabbinic sayings about the difficulty in passing an elephant through the eye of a needle.
 
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sfs

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When the city gates were shut and locked, those outside the gates still had access through a much smaller door, made for human traffic. That door is what Jesus is referring to as "the eye of a needle".
This interpretation is based on no ancient evidence, and anything remotely like it was first advanced (in the suggestion that there was a particular narrow Jerusalem gate nick-named "The Eye of the Needle") in the ninth century, by someone with no direct knowledge of the Middle East (a Greek, if memory serves).

In other words, it's just something somebody made up because he didn't like what the Bible actually said.
 
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