• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

YECs, please explain Gen 3:15 to me.

Siyha

Puppy Surprise
Mar 13, 2009
354
24
✟23,138.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private

I think you have misunderstood me. I almost entirely agree with you here. The overwhelming majority of the Old Testament is grounded in actual history. There is great parallels and themes through each era and despite the hundreds of years between the writings of these texts, and the various authors used for them - this is a testament to God's workmanship through the authors!

But these are all narratives that demand historical value to be of value. Where we differ in opinion is that you believe this to be true of the opening chapters of Genesis, and I believe it not to be true. A big part of this is the ancient near eastern histories and religions. I believe in this thread, I showed how the creation account of Genesis 1 works well under the view that it uses ancient near eastern cosmogynies to speak a powerful truth of Yahweh over the ANE pantheon (may have been another thread, too many pages to scroll through and look )

The opening chapters of Genesis serve the function of establishing a theological framework for the historical narratives to take place.

Perhaps I can give you an example with something from outside Genesis.

In the majority of ancient near eastern religions, the ruler of the gods (the king, the high god, etc..) was a storm god, similar to zeus. He fought with lightning, and appeared in theophanies as fire, whirlwind, storms, even earth quakes. The storm god (for references to two major ones, see Marduk or Baal-hadad), is challenged by the sea god for rulership over the pantheon and creation. So the storm god fights it off. In about half the accounts he defeats the sea god with an arrow, and the rest are mixed, such as Baal who used dual weilding maces (must have been tier 13 to defeat Yamm).

Now come to Psalm 77. The author is expressing how great Yahweh is. He exclaims his powers and refers to historical events, but watch what happens come verse 15.


to express the exodus in as powerful a way as he can think of, he uses the storm god story to convey Yahweh's power. It would be easy to assume this is simply a reference to the parting of the red sea, but the arrows, the whirlwind, the whole thing screams Marduk! The epic storm, all of it points to Marduk's battle with Tiamat. Yet here the author is attributing these actions to Yahweh, and using them as metaphor, sandwiched between the begininning and the end of the exodus.

Myth not only can be used to express truth, but on occasion it actually is used to express truth in the Bible.

Since we seem to be coming at an impass, for the sake of the thread we should step back and talk again when we encounter each other in another thread in the future. I hope you reply with your thoughts on this post, but unless you have a specific question for me, I probably won't post anymore, and let you have the last word.
 
Upvote 0

juvenissun

... and God saw that it was good.
Apr 5, 2007
25,452
805
73
Chicago
✟138,626.00
Country
United States
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married

It is the same situation:

The serpent is a snake; Adam is a man: both are literally true.
Serpent represents satan; Adam represents mankind: Both are interpretations and could be disagreed upon.

So, Gen3:15 is literally true, and it could be interpreted in theology.

I think I do not have to explain my answer to the OP anymore.
 
Upvote 0

juvenissun

... and God saw that it was good.
Apr 5, 2007
25,452
805
73
Chicago
✟138,626.00
Country
United States
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married

Pick up one way. And it would be literally true.

It is not as easy as it sounds. For example, how would one feel if "heel" in the verse is replaced by toe or leg?
 
Upvote 0

Hentenza

I will fear no evil for You are with me
Site Supporter
Mar 27, 2007
35,663
4,428
On the bus to Heaven
✟98,298.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
 
Upvote 0

Papias

Listening to TW4
Dec 22, 2005
3,967
988
59
✟64,806.00
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Hentenza wrote:
So I take it that your issue here is with the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters? I don't think you can deny that the earth was without form and void at some point.


The earth was never covered completely with water, as in Waterworld. The earth aggregated from rubble in the disk that would form the solar system, and due to the gravitational energy of this, was initially molten rock/metal. The metal sank to the center because it was more dense, and after the rock cooled, the earth was dry rock, with all water vaporized into the atmosphere, and with early geologic processes making some areas higher than other (ocean basins). As the earth cooled further, the water condensed out, raining for thousands of years to fill the oceans. The actual progression of events was the opposite of what is in Genesis. (Genesis starts with all water, and forms areas of dry land in the water, the actual history starts with all dry land, and forms areas of water on the dry land.)

rcorlew wrote:

God does not use metaphors to describe the spiritual, He uses nature and history as clear indicators to be clearly understood so as no one would have an excuse. The Old Testament is God using actual events to foreshadow the redemption to come.


When God walked the earth as Jesus, he used metaphors and parables all the time to describe the spiritual. Should we not expect this same God to act similarly from the start? To assert otherwise sounds like Marcionism - separating the OT God from Jesus by claiming different behavior.

"so as no one would have an excuse" sounds like you are saying God uses entrapment to try to force people to be cast into Hell, as if that's what God wants to see. Voltaire's admonition comes to mind: "A cruel God makes a cruel man."

So you are saying that a loving, kind God made history start with an unnatural creation, and then had a talking snake trick a rib-woman into eating magical fruit, which would make him mad at us for something our distant ancestor did, then arranged all archeological, paleontological, and scientific evidence from dozens of scientific fields tell a different story, so that we would have no excuse for using our minds, and thus God would get to condemn us to eternal, writhing torture under his loving, watchful eye?

And when told that story, we wonder why thinking people are leaving Christianity in droves?

Papias
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Siyha

Puppy Surprise
Mar 13, 2009
354
24
✟23,138.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
 
Upvote 0

gluadys

Legend
Mar 2, 2004
12,958
682
Toronto
✟39,020.00
Faith
Protestant
Politics
CA-NDP
 
Upvote 0

Hentenza

I will fear no evil for You are with me
Site Supporter
Mar 27, 2007
35,663
4,428
On the bus to Heaven
✟98,298.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
 
Upvote 0

Siyha

Puppy Surprise
Mar 13, 2009
354
24
✟23,138.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private

Rib woman... tee hee!
Oh I like this game!

Christians believe that Jesus commanded them to be cannibals and eat his zombie flesh so they could live forever.
 
Upvote 0

Hentenza

I will fear no evil for You are with me
Site Supporter
Mar 27, 2007
35,663
4,428
On the bus to Heaven
✟98,298.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
No, I don't take issue with that. You seem to miss my point. I have posted a lot of material in this thread in my discussion with rcorlew. Perhaps you should read threads before posting in them.

Yes, I do confess that I have not read the entire thread. Time is a bit tight for me. Perhaps you could point to your post that addresses my line of argument. Thanks.
 
Upvote 0

Siyha

Puppy Surprise
Mar 13, 2009
354
24
✟23,138.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private

verse 2 is an a-typical description of the ancient near eastern original state of the world. The formless and void earth is the state the ancient near eastern gods began creating from. If you look at the ancient world philosophies, you will see that creation ex nihlo doesn't exist outside judaism. Everything has existed for all time, but in a chaotic void - without order and purpose. The gods would then take that chaotic void and order it, name it, and give it function. Water is synonymous with chaos in the ancient world, which is why in this formless void, water is present. The chaotic void IS water. Whats great about the Hebrew account of creation is that Yahweh "one ups" the ANE gods by CREATING the formless void that the other gods only started with.

Perhaps we should be focusing on what the text says, rather than what you think it says.
 
Upvote 0

Hentenza

I will fear no evil for You are with me
Site Supporter
Mar 27, 2007
35,663
4,428
On the bus to Heaven
✟98,298.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others

The key portion is not that it was the Spirit, breath, or wind but of the Spirit, breath, or wind of God (אֱלֹהִ֔י&#1501 hovering over the waters. It doesn't change the exegesis of the passage unless you remove אֱלֹהִ֔ים.
 
Upvote 0

Hentenza

I will fear no evil for You are with me
Site Supporter
Mar 27, 2007
35,663
4,428
On the bus to Heaven
✟98,298.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others

If that is the case then the text speaks nothing about near eastern gods or philosophies.
 
Upvote 0

philadiddle

Drumming circles around you
Dec 23, 2004
3,719
56
44
Canada
Visit site
✟4,522.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
If that is the case then the text speaks nothing about near eastern gods or philosophies.
But that is what the immediate audience would have been familiar with so it is directly speaking to those things.
 
Upvote 0

Papias

Listening to TW4
Dec 22, 2005
3,967
988
59
✟64,806.00
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Hentenza wrote:
Verse 2 does not say that the earth was fully covered in water but that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

Verse 2 is the intial state, on day 1. On day 3, in verse 9-11, the story makes a big show of making the new fangled "dry land". So yes, at verse 2 there was no dry land, just as there were no humans. Do you think that at verse 2 there were humans because verse 2 does not say that there were not humans yet?


There is no time given from verse 1 to verse 2 so Genesis does not teach against the progression of events. One would have to read that into the text.

Hold on. So you are saying that you read stories in your Bible as non-sequential, unless the text says one verse is before another? You feel fine just taking all the verses in the Bible that don't say they are before or after other events and just picking and choosing where you'd like them? I'm sorry, but that sounds like Mad Libs or some similar game we'd do as kids to make funny stories. There are places all through whichever Bible you choose (your shorter Bible or my longer Bible) where that approach would play havoc with making any sense of the Bible. Even there in Genesis, so Gen 26:12 may be after Gen 26:19, and so on, scrambling much of the Bible as you see fit? Really?

Second, there are many theories as to how the earth was formed. Tis the nature of forensic sciences.

Come on - there is a consensus among geologists about how the earth formed, it's as controversial as how the sun is powered. It's 3rd grade science. Here is a reference, but one isn't really needed:

The Earth's early evolution -- Bowring and Housh 269 (5230): 1535 -- Science

Christians saying things like "there are many theories about how the earth was formed" as if there are many that significantly disagree with each other that are seriously being considered by scientists makes Christianity look ignorant and out of date. I don't think we want to do that.

Papias
 
Upvote 0
A

AnswersInHovind

Guest
Upvote 0

Dark_Lite

Chewbacha
Feb 14, 2002
18,333
973
✟52,995.00
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Single

No, what YECs usually do is make an inane claim in an attempt to disprove something like stellar evolution, and then assume that somehow magically disproves or even has anything to do with biological evolution. Papias is citing a source about the formation of the earth, not anything to do with biological evolution. Do not make the mistake of assuming that "the evolution of the earth" refers to biological evolution. It's all about context. Just because the word evolution is used does not mean it's got anything to do with biological evolution. In the most general sense, evolution just means change. Stellar evolution: How a star changes over its lifetime, or how stars in the universe came to be. Evolution of the earth: How the earth has changed since its formation 4.5 billion years ago.
 
Upvote 0
A

AnswersInHovind

Guest

I think thats the point. All the "evolutionary" theories in each science depend on each other for validity. If you can show a lack of geological evolution, there is no time for biological evolution to happen. There is no "evolution" process in the scriptures. There is an "as is" creation. BAM! God made it.... just like that. Sure things have changed since then, but not in the "evolving" sense. It wasn't that they were progressing to a new state of existence like evolution wants everything to do every million years.
 
Upvote 0

Papias

Listening to TW4
Dec 22, 2005
3,967
988
59
✟64,806.00
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
AnsersinJHovind wrote:

OK, so let me get this straight - you are saying that YEC's dispute any use of the word "evolution" in any way? Let's look at the definition:





Biological Evolution is #3, but here you are disputing that anything changes over time in any scientific field? Wow.



What TE's object to is when YEC's dispute other cases of things changing over time in other scientific fields, and think that somehow because the same word (evolution) is used, that they can say this is evidence against biological evolution.

AIH wrote:
All the "evolutionary" theories in each science depend on each other for validity. If you can show a lack of geological evolution, there is no time for biological evolution to happen.

OK, maybe we are onto a reason why YEC's dispute so many other scientific fields here. It's all an attempt to confirm a literal reading of their chosen Bible, which, when the metaphorical sections are taken literally, doesn't match the real world.

However, geological changes and the age of the earth are very well established, again based on multiple lines of evidence, by geologists who were Christians, and supported by geologists who are Christians today. Same for astronomy, physics, and so many other sciences that YEC's attack. Because they are each established by multiple internal lines of evidence, they don't depend on each other. That's why these attacks are so futile, and why they only serve to destroy Christianity by making Christianity look deluded.

I think AIH's last point shows a fundamental misunderstanding about science - that all the fields depend on each other and hence are all holding each other up by the bootstraps, and none are based on reality. If that were the case, then science would be just a house of cards, where realizing that even one is false would result in them all coming down. In fact, the opposite is true - each is established by many, many independent supports from the evidence from reality, and an error in one would not affect the others. Now that I see that, it makes sense to see why YEC's would think their actions may actually help, when in fact they are making more atheists than Dawkins could ever dream of reaching himself.

Papias
 
Upvote 0
A

AnswersInHovind

Guest

I'm not saying science is a house of cards, but the comparison is not far off. All fields of academics continue to build off of past work. Philosophy, psychiatry, even theology and scholastics. Science is no exception. The current models are based on systems of thinking that have been around for a while. What I think creationism is trying to show is that the science itself isn't bad, but the early foundations its built on are false, and without those foundations, things like evolution become pure speculation.
 
Upvote 0