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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?
Jesus quotes the OT, and many people make an argument that goes as such:
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'.
Ok, first we snip the inflammatory spam, then we look at the quote taken out of context:
OK, mark, now that you've copied, it, can I assume that you've read it? What part of it do you not understand?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.
Then the Popes dire warning regarding the dangers of Modernists like Theistic Evolutionists:
1. Christian culture......ors and dangers of error.Humani Generis
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?
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.
And now your down to spam and flaming ad hominem attacks which is where you always end up.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
Which, as you are hopefully starting to see, never says anything against the Pope's support for 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.
All truth is God's word, and so God can't be conspiring against himself.
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.
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 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?
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.
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.
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.
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)
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
None of the Lexicons or bible verses support your equation based definition of day. Why don't you stop pretending they do?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.
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.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.
So shouldn't you be careful you aren't twisting the meaning of 2Peter as well?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)
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?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.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.
You don't get to call something literal when you don't even understand the difference between literal and real.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.
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?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 isGod 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.
Isn't repeating the question asking you to answer it?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.
How I argue is by taking your arguments apart and keeping on the subject when you try to wriggle out with personal accusations.That's what your doing, whether you represent a group or stand alone that is how you argue.
Euphemism? I know some people consider it an extended metaphor or allegory. Doesn't change my argument, it isn't literal.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.
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.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.
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.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.
I was addressing your ad hom that my interpretation is based on Darwin.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 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.I don't know what your saying here and I'm not entirely sure you do either.
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.
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/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.
If you want to build on that I seriously suggest you look into the distinctions I have been making between real and literal.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
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