Why is the earth only 6 thousand years old?

[Occams Barber]

What time zone? That would matter.

A few weeks back I saw a post where a Christian was opining on the fact that God had timed Easter to coincide with the joyous season of Spring celebrating rebirth and reawakening.

Call me evil, but I couldn't resist pointing out that, where I live, Easter actually coincides with Autumn when everything tends to shut down.

I never saw a response.

OB

 

[Tom 1]

From one of my Bible notes:

James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin was highly regarded in his day as a churchman and as a scholar. Of his many works, his treatise on chronology has proved the most durable. Based on an intricate correlation of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean histories and Holy writ, it was incorporated into an authorized version of the Bible printed in 1701, and thus came to be regarded with almost as much unquestioning reverence as the Bible itself. Having established the first day of creation as Sunday 23 October 4004 B.C. ... Ussher calculated the dates of other biblical events, concluding, for example, that Adam and Eve were driven from Paradise on Monday 10 November 4004 BC, and that the ark touched down on Mt Ararat on 5 May 1491 BC "on a Wednesday".

You see? We are primates. Says it right there in the fancy writing.

 

[Tom 1]

The guy who wrote Genisis was neither a genius nor inspired and it's obvious. They tried to say Moses wrote it to lend it authority.

When mistakenly taken to be an actual record of events the cleverness of the writing is missed. The stories are timeless, even without getting into the subtleties of the text in parts its huge influence has a lot to do with how cleverly it is written. Some of it gets under your skin without the reasons for that being obvious, like Abraham’s story. It takes some real writing skill to pack all the complexity of that into a few pages.

Not that it was just one guy who wrote it, it’s generally agreed there were three main writers, writing at different times, one of whom might well have been an educated woman in Solomon’s court, and probably more people involved in shaping up the version we have today.

 

[Occams Barber]

You see? We are primates. Says it right there in the fancy writing.

Does this mean we can now legitimately label Ussher as 'The Ape of Armagh' or the 'Vice Chimp of Trinity'? Was he in the running for Bonobo of Belfast or the Monkey of Mayo?

OB

 

[Tom 1]

Though some parts of it are good, the God of the Old Testament is evil and the language is low level, relying on objects-subjects+metaphor (lvl 3) which was cutting edge back then. The Old Testament jumped two whole levels by having its language made up of representations, so a 1:1 mapping where the words and their meaning are clear. Btw lvl 5 is the language we use now so the fact that Jesus and the Apostles were talking like that 2 millennium ago was probably blowing people's minds.

Why do you like Abraham's story? What about that one or other stories get under the skin and why? And which are the clever parts?

Like isn’t really the right word, but there’s a lot more subtlety in there than anything comparable from the time. I don’t feel like writing an adequately long response but if you want a starting point, Auerbach’s comparison with a passage from the Odyssey, in Mimesis, is as good as any.

I don’t see what is gained by comparing literature from the ancient world, in different languages, with modern English writing. What does that actually tell you? The comparison seems pointless in terms of the story’s impact and longevity. Some of today’s most successful writers (Stephen King, Hemingway, Murakami) use/used very simple structures in their writing. High level English grammar and syntax does not necessarily equal good use of English.

 

[Tom 1]

Does this mean we can now legitimately label Ussher as 'The Ape of Armagh' or the 'Vice Chimp of Trinity'? Was he in the running for Bonobo of Belfast or the Monkey of Mayo?

OB

I can better picture an orangutang wearing the silly hat and doing the important math on this. Not sure about the teeth baring, fights over bananas and orgies tho, although I have heard a few things about seminaries, so you could be on to something.

 

[Kylie]

Im not comparing their language but their minds. There's so much to gain cause people's writings reveal their minds. So it tells me what level of thought people were capable of back millenia ago, today, or in the future. Its metacognition, that means thinking about thinking.

To a degree, but it depends on us having relevant context as well.

I mean, in five thousand years, some future archaeologist might find a sign that says "Hotdogs for sale" and if all knowledge of what a hotdog actually is, they might assume we ate heated canines.

 

[Mr Laurier]

Does it matter?

Yes.
You quote somebody as an authority. You need to show that they are an authority

 

[Mr Laurier]

God didn't "leave traces of human life" lying around like some litterbug.

In addition, science can't find traces of two million Jews on a peninsula, even with the Bible having documented every place they visited in detail.

When it comes to the Bible, scientists do sloppy -- and I mean SLOPPY -- work.

And by "sloppy" you mean "Very precise". Yes?
But tell me about the peninsula with 2 million jews on it.
And why should the bible be trusted?

 

[Mr Laurier]

LOL -- science's best tools can't confirm one single miracle in the Bible.

Maybe because science can only deal with reality.
After all, science's best tools also cannot determine the temperature of the porridge Goldilocks ate.

 

[Mr Laurier]

I think the Flood had something to say about that.

As does the War of the Ring.
And the destruction of Krypton.

 

[Mr Laurier]

Interesting.

And testable. Unlike mythology

And how long did these aforementioned peoples occupy the Sinai respectively?

Some still do.

longer than forty years?

MUCH longer.
There are mining colonies in the Sinai that were under continuous use throughout the whole of the middle kingdom, old kingdom, and late period. Up to the Byzantine period. INCLUDING TWO INTERMEDIATE PERIODS.
More than 2700 years.

In addition, did their clothes and stuff wear out during their respective occupations?

Of course. Why wouldn't it?

 

[Mr Laurier]

I believe Adam wrote the first three chapters of Genesis, and he most certainly was inspired.

2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Timothy 3:16a All scripture is given by inspiration of God,

You seem to believe a lot of things that are obviously false.

 

[AV1611VET]

And by "sloppy" you mean "Very precise". Yes?

Yes -- precisely sloppy.

But tell me about the peninsula with 2 million jews on it.

You can read it in detail in the book of Numbers.

And why should the bible be trusted?

It contains Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

 

[AV1611VET]

Maybe because science can only deal with reality.

Nope.

Reality is much more than meets the eye (or nose, or nerves, or ears, or tongue).

After all, science's best tools also cannot determine the temperature of the porridge Goldilocks ate.

Too bad, so sad -- as we're fond of saying.

 

[AV1611VET]

As does the War of the Ring.
And the destruction of Krypton.

Those are fiction.

 

[AV1611VET]

You seem to believe a lot of things that are obviously false.

I somehow don't think you -- or science -- are qualified to call anything in the Bible "obviously false."

 

[Mink61]

Yes it is remarkably "SOL" given archaeologists have been excavating the Sinai for a over a century and have uncovered Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Egyptian, Iron Age, Nabatean, Roman, and Byzantine occupation but nothing of the late Bronze Age pertaining to the Exodus account.
It is far more realistic the Exodus account never occurred rather than "SOL".

Whenever I read the Bible, I always remember that "With God, ALL things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

Absence of 'evidence' is NOT necessarily 'evidence'.

 

[RileyG]

Apparently there are 9 human species that walked the earth leaving only one kind of species today. Cain left God's presence and entered Nod which had no presence of God therefore he was no longer one of the " sons of God". So I believe he joined the " others" . From there scripture tells us the " sons of God" made bad decisions by doing the same , joining with the others thus creating what scripture calls the Nephalim.

Interesting. I find the study of archaic humans fascinating and wonder how much of their DNA is in our own.

 

[sjastro]

Whenever I read the Bible, I always remember that "With God, ALL things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

Absence of 'evidence' is NOT necessarily 'evidence'.

There is the archaeological evidence from Egypt to consider which contradicts Exodus.
An mass exodus from Egypt of two million individuals representing a large percentage if not all the population of Egypt at the time would have spelt the end of Egyptian civilization.
Yet the timeline for Exodus corresponds to the 18th dynasty of Egypt when it was at its height of prosperity and military power.