i tell ya, to be a paticapant on a debate forum, you sure do know how to run and hide when the debate doesnt go your way. why dont you just honestly admit that you simply DONT KNOW and bow out gracefully.
Who Wrote Genesis?
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I do know some of them, when it's time for you to know, you will know. It's not my decision and it is not up for debate.
kiwimac
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As a Christian living today there are a number of voices who claim to be speaking for all of us, they assail science and insist that we must literally accept every word in the Bible as true. In doing so they fail both themselves and others for much in the Bible is parable or metaphor. When we, as Christians, insist that parable must be accepted as literally true we put a stumbling block of, well, biblical proportions in the way of earnest seekers.
It is for such seekers that I write this article.
Should you happen to visit the Answers in Genesis site you will find, among other things the following comment,
"... We return to the question which forms the title of this article. Should Genesis be taken literally?
Answer: If we apply the normal principles of biblical exegesis (ignoring pressure to make the text conform to the evolutionary prejudices of our age), it is overwhelmingly obvious that Genesis was meant to be taken in a straightforward, obvious sense as an authentic, literal, historical record of what actually happened..."
But are they right?
Modern science shows that the earth is billions of years in age, it comes to this conclusion in a number of ways and I recommend the following site for information even a non-scientist can understand, http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html .
Is there then a meeting place between science and the Book of Genesis? Yes, there is and it comes from the understanding that Genesis is not a science text-book, that it was written in order to understand, not HOW the world came to be but WHY.
Genesis 1 & 2 are parables, they are parables about why there is an earth, why humans and animals and plants share it in common and why there is pain and suffering in the world. Parables are stories which may or may not be literally true but which imparts to us an important spiritual truth. In the New Testament we have parables such as the Good Samaritan, the evil vine-dressers; the parable of the prodigal son.
None of those New Testament stories are literal fact but they are true in a deeper, more meaningful way. So it is with the parables of Genesis 1 & 2. In them we are not being told that the world was created in six days, six thousand years ago. We are, however, being told that the world was created by God's intention, that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God and that God is a close to us as a friend who walks and talks with us in the cool of the day.
Adam and Eve, the Fall, the Serpent, Noah and his Ark may or may not be literal truth but they are markers of ultimate truth, of truth which can be held only in the imagination, of truth which can only be shown in images and symbols.
Genesis can only be understood in that it is our story, each of us is Adam, each of us is Eve, we misunderstand the Genesis parables when we fail to realize that they are addressed to US individually. Genesis, then, is our unique, individual story told as parable it is not some pre-scientific attempt to explain how all things came to be but rather a profound series of meditations on why things should be in the first place.
Once we realize this, we can see there are no contradictions, can be no contradictions between the findings of science and God's word to us in Genesis. Let us happily give up our insistence on a literal Genesis and seek the deeper, religious truths that await us there
It is for such seekers that I write this article.
Should you happen to visit the Answers in Genesis site you will find, among other things the following comment,
"... We return to the question which forms the title of this article. Should Genesis be taken literally?
Answer: If we apply the normal principles of biblical exegesis (ignoring pressure to make the text conform to the evolutionary prejudices of our age), it is overwhelmingly obvious that Genesis was meant to be taken in a straightforward, obvious sense as an authentic, literal, historical record of what actually happened..."
But are they right?
Modern science shows that the earth is billions of years in age, it comes to this conclusion in a number of ways and I recommend the following site for information even a non-scientist can understand, http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html .
Is there then a meeting place between science and the Book of Genesis? Yes, there is and it comes from the understanding that Genesis is not a science text-book, that it was written in order to understand, not HOW the world came to be but WHY.
Genesis 1 & 2 are parables, they are parables about why there is an earth, why humans and animals and plants share it in common and why there is pain and suffering in the world. Parables are stories which may or may not be literally true but which imparts to us an important spiritual truth. In the New Testament we have parables such as the Good Samaritan, the evil vine-dressers; the parable of the prodigal son.
None of those New Testament stories are literal fact but they are true in a deeper, more meaningful way. So it is with the parables of Genesis 1 & 2. In them we are not being told that the world was created in six days, six thousand years ago. We are, however, being told that the world was created by God's intention, that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God and that God is a close to us as a friend who walks and talks with us in the cool of the day.
Adam and Eve, the Fall, the Serpent, Noah and his Ark may or may not be literal truth but they are markers of ultimate truth, of truth which can be held only in the imagination, of truth which can only be shown in images and symbols.
Genesis can only be understood in that it is our story, each of us is Adam, each of us is Eve, we misunderstand the Genesis parables when we fail to realize that they are addressed to US individually. Genesis, then, is our unique, individual story told as parable it is not some pre-scientific attempt to explain how all things came to be but rather a profound series of meditations on why things should be in the first place.
Once we realize this, we can see there are no contradictions, can be no contradictions between the findings of science and God's word to us in Genesis. Let us happily give up our insistence on a literal Genesis and seek the deeper, religious truths that await us there
So does Scripture "shows that the earth is billions of years in age, " when you read it correctly. Genesis 1:1 is talking about the first earth and heaven age, the BEGINNING. Genesis 1:2 tells what happened to end that first earth and heaven age.
it could have come to him thru some of his own family members or thru the many other thousands of family heads of the isrealites,
remember he wrote genesis after he had lead the isrealites out of egypt and while they were in the wilderness.
the bible does not contradict the idea that the earth is billions of years old.
The original language that the bible was written in was hebrew, not english and so to understand the bible we must understand the hebrew language.
In genesis, the hebrew word translated 'day' is 'Yom'. Yom is word that 'represents time'...it is NOT time 'specific' so Genesis is not saying there were 'six 24 hour days' but rather it says there were 'six ages of time' in which the earth was prepared. If you read Genesis 2:4 you'll see that all six 'days' are called just 'one' day.....this is because the word YOM means 'time' but not a specific length of time.
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