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No, it was an embellishment used to make a philosophical point while telling about a historic event. Which seems to have confused you into thinking the embellishment was the point of the account when it was not.The cause was an epidemic, the effect was a mythological explanation that fit into the ancient Hebrew world view of a people, a god, and a covenant.
Anyone ever play the telephone game? 8 people later, and the story is mangled.
Now do it with thousands of years and millions of ignorant and superstitious people of different languages.
there could barley be anything less logical than your claim ...
What confused me was why would God punish the innocent and not the guilty. Regardless of the accuracy of the account, that is the obvious point of the story: God punishes the people of Israel and doesn't judge their individual guilt or innocence. Exactly 180 degrees different from the NT.No, it was an embellishment used to make a philosophical point while telling about a historic event. Which seems to have confused you into thinking the embellishment was the point of the account when it was not.
No that is exactly how they did it. Doesn't mean it is accurate history and not fantasy. The Hebrews borrowed many of their myths from the other cultures around them.It's just common sense. How else do you believe men passed down knowledge 6000 years ago if not through stories and oral traditions?
According to you. Not me.What confused me was why would God punish the innocent and not the guilty. Regardless of the accuracy of the account, that is the obvious point of the story: God punishes the people of Israel and doesn't judge their individual guilt or innocence. Exactly 180 degrees different from the NT.
I dunno, man knowing right from wrong and rationalizing he didn’t do wrong when he did seems to be spot on to me.No that is exactly how they did it. Doesn't mean it is accurate history and not fantasy. The Hebrews borrowed many of their myths from the other cultures around them.
By contrast the Sumerians had a written language by the time of Adam and Eve.
there could barley be anything less logical than your claim ...
The Sumerians also had agriculture, irrigation and sailboats by then.
Every culture had it's creation myths.. Sumer's was just a thousand years before the Hebrews.
not sure you related to the highlite - by the time of a&e - what could that possibly mean ...
the motivation is not a myth, self determination - than - servitude and denial the true meaning than that of the desert.
clue us your reasoning the contemporary a&e as opposed to all other literature ever written on the subject ... the dawn of mankind.
Barley?
It means that the mythos of Sumer is a thousand years older than Abraham.
Surely you don't take Genesis literally.
Didn't you write this?what is barley - 1.5 million years before sumer ... what has irrigation and sailboats have to do w/ religion.
the motivation by the desert to portray servitude and denial than self determination is not a myth the true goal sought by a&e for remission as equals. neither is dna - metaphysical evolution.
you gona be their slave if you make it there. the "promised" land.
I just read what is written. If God meant something different you'd think he might have said something different. He knew people like you would put their own interpretation on his words but no where does he say that is OK.According to you. Not me.
People know what the society says are right and wrong but, alas, life is shades of grey.I dunno, man knowing right from wrong and rationalizing he didn’t do wrong when he did seems to be spot on to me.
So we agree that man defined God, not the other way around?What's your point? Seems like a normal process to me.
The Bible was probably written in Babylon, a few centuries before the common era. Moses was, at least partially, a mythical character whose legends were passed down orally. His association with Egypt is iffy since the Exodus legend was just what the Jews of Babylon needed to justify their return to Judah and resume running things there.The first five books of the Bible (known as the Torah) were written by Moses - an adopted son of the king of Egypt - in approximately 1400 B.C.. These five books focus on the beginning of the nation of Israel; but the first 11 chapters of the Torah records the history that all nations have in common. These allegorical accounts of the history of the world had been passed down from generation to generation orally for thousands of years. Moses did not really write the first 11 chapters of the Bible. Moses was the first Hebrew to record them.
What is this "great migration from the cradle of civilization"? What is the evidence other than your allegorical interpretations?Approximately 800 years before Moses recorded the allegorical accounts of the history of the world. The Chinese recorded this history as symbols in the Chinese language. They drew pictures to express words or ideas. Simple pictures were combined to make more complex thoughts. They used well known history and common everyday things to make a word so people could easily remember it. The account of Genesis found it's way into the Chinese written language because the Chinese had migrated from the cradle of civilization. Prior to this migration they all shared a common history and religion.
The Bible even explains how it was possible for the Chinese to record the account of Genesis 800 years before Moses recorded it. The account of the Tower of Babel was the allegorical account of the great migration from Mesopotamia. This also explains why all ancient cultures have an account of a great flood. Because they all shared a common history and religion before the great migration from the cradle of civilization.
So if you start from the belief that the first eleven chapters of the Torah are an allegorical account of world history before the great migration from Mesopotamia - which was an actual historical event - then the first eleven chapters of the Torah takes on new meaning. Seen in this light these accounts should be viewed less like fairy tales and more like how important information was passed down in ancient times. Just as the Chinese used well known history and everyday things as symbols in their written language to make words easier to remember, ancient man used stories to pass down historical events and important knowledge to future generations. Interspersed in these allegorical accounts of history are wisdoms that they deemed important enough to pass down and remember. Such as man knows right from wrong and when he violates it, rather than abandoning the concept of right and wrong he rationalizes he didn't do wrong. Most people don't even realize this wisdom is in the Torah because they read it critically instead of searching for the wisdom that ancient man knew and found important enough to include in his account of world history.
You have to keep in mind that these accounts are 6,000 years old and were passed down orally from one generation to the next for thousands of years. Surely ancient man believed these accounts were of the utmost importance otherwise they would not have been passed down for thousands of years before they were recorded in writing. You shouldn't view these accounts using the context of the modern world. Unfortunately, you are so far removed from these events that you have lost all original meaning. If you were to ask almost any Jew what the Tower of Babel was about he would have no clue that it was the allegorical account of the great migration from the cradle of civilization. That is not intended to be a criticism. It is intended to be an illustration of just how difficult a task it is to discover the original meaning from ancient accounts from 6,000 years ago. You read these texts like they were written yesterday looking for ways to discredit them and make ourselves feel superior rather than seeking the original meaning and wisdom. Shame on you.
Yeah, I seriously doubt that.those were a time when purity would stand the test of time .
