Schroeder said:
well if it doresnt you can chose what is and isnt cant you.
No you can't. We spend a lot of time discussing science and scripture here---two topics that require a lot of study to understand them well.
We don't often discuss literature, yet the bible is a library containing many literary forms. Literature is another topic that takes a lot of study to understand it well. You cannot pick and choose what style of literature a part of scripture is as if you were drawing a name from a hat. There is a whole school of study called form criticism which is devoted to studying the distinguishing marks of various kinds of literature.
First of there is no need to look at the times and how stories where written or the biblical literary geners, it was written by the Spirit, which does not speak in literary genres, it only speaks TRUTH.
TRUTH is conveyed in literature through some literary form or genre. Since many literary genres are used in scripture, and since the Spirit inspired them, it follows that the Spirit inspired the poetry, parables, prophetic oracles, gospels, epistles, etc. that are found in the scriptures. (These are examples of some of the genres found in the bible.) So, yes, the Spirit does speak in literary genres--many of them. And what the Spirit says in these various literary forms is, indeed, truth.
that is why i said it will tell you if it is truth or story or anology ect. you seem to think it was written by man in his view and at his discretion.
Scripture was written by men (mostly, one of the anonymous authors may have been a women.) Biblical authors were real authors, not secretaries taking dictation. They were moved/inspired by the Spirit to write and they did write.
so you can not sgow me were it states it is a myth with a lesson in it. i taught that would be the case. of course it is a old story abraham was around a bit after the flood, do you not think all the flood stories from most cultures is from all the earlier dicedents of the flood.
And that is one of the reasons we can say it is a myth--because that is what an ancient culture would do with a story: tell it over and over again as a myth.
this should i think give the story credit as true factual event.
There may well have been an actual flood. But it was not a global flood as we understand "global".
Abraham wrote through the Spirit so his version relayed the True events of it.
There is no indication that Abraham ever wrote anything. One of the assumptions people make in a culture like ours where most people can read and write, is to assume that writing is the way to make sure a story is passed from one generation to another. But for most of human history it is oral tradition that was the way stories were passed on. The story of the flood we have it in Genesis came from after the reign of Solomon.
The other stories of it were close but not perfectly told. add on and such which is tipical of stories of true events and untrue events.
Since all such stories from ancient times are mythical, there is no criterion for saying one is more true than another as far as events go. But one can be truer than another in terms of what it teaches us about God, and sin and judgment and mercy. I would agree that the biblical story is truest in this regard.
If you go with your understanding of how to read scripture anything is game on how to read it. you could never no what was true or not.
We don't anyway. That is why we need grace and faith to believe what is true.
it is not the TRUTH. the ONLY TRUTH is what the Spirit spoke since he is TRUTH and only speaks in TRUTH. Other wise we can not trust any of scripture.
And we receive the truth the Spirit teaches by grace and by faith, not by knowledge that we can prove. Trust in scripture is a matter of faith.
SO WHAT. i doubt they went has far as the scripture go. you can recount Christ all the way to abraham who has a genology to Noah. And i doubt they all are real and can be shown to have been real. i dont know for certain but i fairly sure it is pretty apparent it is a myth.
In some cultures they go much further.
what do you mean not the flood story. it gives the nations or people and cities. well then written history is all just a mix of lies and truths, who is going to decide which is which.
Even a lot of what we consider history is a mix of lies and truth. As the proverb says: History is written by the victors. If we heard what others say about our history, it would look a lot different. Ask aboriginal people about the history of America since Columbus landed. Sounds a lot different than what is written in most textbooks.
IT doesnt in most maybe all, BUT God is TRUTH and speaks no LIE. the SPirit guided those who wrote it and So it is not myth at all.
That scripture is true and Spirit-guided does not exclude that some of it is myth. Myth, as a literary genre, is not the opposite of truth.
AGAIN show me where it tells you it is a mythical story to help us in life or to help us understand what God is trying to tell us.
It shows us by its form, by its content, by its relationship to other myths in the culture of the times. But that will only become obvious to one who takes the time to study ancient literature as literature.
Myth is getting truth muddled with fairytales to a point it is useless as history put maybe still good for a moral. SO i guess you think the bible is just for moral purposes and not good history. Again where are you going to decide which is which if it does not tell you clearly.
Most of the bible is not history. When it is history, it is often good history. Most of the bible is more concerned with salvation and morals than with history. There is nothing wrong with focusing on moral purposes. After all, how we live is very important to God. We need to know not only that we are to love one another, but also what loving our neighbour looks like in practice. So we know from the ten commandments, for example, that loving our neighbour means not killing or stealing or lying or committing adultury. And from the beatitudes that it does include being merciful, seeking justice and making peace. Proclaiming the gospel and teaching us to walk according to our calling are two of the most important themes in scripture, and they do not require every story in scripture to be history.
One learns which is which through prayer and study.