Yeah, but we already knew that

jmharris23

Moderator
Awesome avatar pic. Time spent like in that pic is truth, reality, quality, and worth the time and energy.

Thank you and I don't disagree with any of that. I am a blessed man.
 

ky55

Senior Member

atlashunter

Senior Member
I'm no so sure they did.
Many of the ancient Jews were worshiping many different gods and multiple gods too.

The god of Abraham was one of a pantheon of Babylonian gods. It took time to transition from polytheism to monotheism.

Would you take a knife to your johnson over a story you believed was just allegory?
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
The god of Abraham was one of a pantheon of Babylonian gods. It took time to transition from polytheism to monotheism.

Would you take a knife to your johnson over a story you believed was just allegory?

Lolol, no, but...
It is not like every Jew since Adam believed in and followed ONE god. (Plus we know Adam was not the start of the culture)And they were slicing and dicing before any written Torah. They borrowed it from the Egyptians and the practice is believed to be 15,000 years old. No history book needed for people to do WHACKy things.
 

atlashunter

Senior Member
Lolol, no, but...
It is not like every Jew since Adam believed in and followed ONE god. (Plus we know Adam was not the start of the culture)And they were slicing and dicing before any written Torah. They borrowed it from the Egyptians and the practice is believed to be 15,000 years old. No history book needed for people to do WHACKy things.

Whatever they believed I think the point is it was taken as literally true, not as a story made up to teach a lesson like Aesop's fables.
 

WaltL1

Senior Member
If I didn't believe it were true then I would be agnostic at best.
So you completely tie the validity of the Bible and the existence of the Christian God together?
Reason I'm asking is because even after I rejected the Bible as being "true" I still wrestled for a long period of time with the question "if I reject the Bible how can I still believe in God"? I couldn't think of anything I "knew" and couldn't find anything out about God that didn't originate from it.
 

jmharris23

Moderator
So you completely tie the validity of the Bible and the existence of the Christian God together?
Reason I'm asking is because even after I rejected the Bible as being "true" I still wrestled for a long period of time with the question "if I reject the Bible how can I still believe in God"? I couldn't think of anything I "knew" and couldn't find anything out about God that didn't originate from it.

Yes, that's right, I view them as completely tied together.
 

WaltL1

Senior Member
Yes, that's right, I view them as completely tied together.
Thanks.
That's where I ended up too but obviously with different results :bounce:
 

jmharris23

Moderator
Thanks.
That's where I ended up too but obviously with different results :bounce:

Yep....very different. :D

Honestly though, I would rather someone dismiss it out of hand rather than twist it as some kind of "good" book full of moral niceties.
 

WaltL1

Senior Member
Yep....very different. :D

Honestly though, I would rather someone dismiss it out of hand rather than twist it as some kind of "good" book full of moral niceties.
That was actually an issue I thought about. It always bothered me that what I was being taught seemed to be the "nice" or "pretty picture" version of the Bible as opposed to the accurate version of the Bible.
 

atlashunter

Senior Member
Yep....very different. :D

Honestly though, I would rather someone dismiss it out of hand rather than twist it as some kind of "good" book full of moral niceties.

I agree. I don't think it fits that role very well anyway. Many apologists defend against moral attacks on the bible with divine command theory. Take out the divine commander and that opens up a lot of problems. I can pick some good parts out of it but I think there are better sources for that once it's rendered a secular good book.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
Whatever they believed I think the point is it was taken as literally true, not as a story made up to teach a lesson like Aesop's fables.

I kinda sorta agree but I think all that belief took place after the Torah was being followed for a good while.
Before that there had to be a lot of Jews that were one generation after the slaves in Egypt that realized their parents before them were not slaves to Egypt and their grandparents were not slaves to Egypt so the Exodus was a fable.
 

centerpin fan

Senior Member
Honestly though, I would rather someone dismiss it out of hand rather than twist it as some kind of "good" book full of moral niceties.

I agree. I don't think it fits that role very well anyway.

I have kind of a morbid curiosity about the Christian Left. I agree with them on almost nothing, but I do follow certain websites. I mention them because they seem to never tire of stripping the Bible of any divine influence and promote the idea of the Bible as just a book with good moral principles. These moral principles seem to be concentrated in Jesus' words (the "red letters".) Paul and the OT don't get nearly the same respect.
 
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