Originally posted by: Smilin
Originally posted by: Infohawk
Are you comparing these theories with creationism?
Sorry, I gave you a roundabout answer before.
No, I'm not at all comparing creationism with those theories. Creationism is a belief, not a theory or fact at all. There is no comparison.
I happen to buy into it though. I have never really found anything in the Bible that conflicted with evolution. God creating the earth in seven days can be viewed as a metaphor. It is also a story that was told long ago and handed down by word of mouth for many generations before it was ever printed. It's exact meaning may be lost if it was ever understood at all. It could have been a very exact telling of the creation of the world at one time but the listener lacked comprehension and told it as best he could. I think this happens a lot in the bible.
Pluck someone out of a primitive and isolated culture in todays world (say a South American rainforest tribe) and let him observe you at this very moment. Put him back into his society and let him explain what you are doing. Now let that explanation get passed down through hundreds of generations and then finally written out. What you might end up with is something along the lines of "He sat in front of a beast (living thing) with seven eyes (perfect vision, all knowing)." What you were really doing is looking some crap up on the internet.
The original documents in the Hebrew and Aramaic languages were recorded by God?s human secretaries, from Moses in 1513 B.C.E. down to shortly after 443 B.C.E. As far as is known today, none of these original writings are now in existence. However, from the beginning, great care was exercised in preserving the inspired writings, including authorized copies of them. About 642 B.C.E., in King Josiah?s time, ?the very book of the law? of Moses, doubtless the original copy, was found stored away in the house of Jehovah. It had by this time been faithfully preserved for 871 years. Bible writer Jeremiah manifested such great interest in this discovery that he made written record of it at 2 Kings 22:8-10, and about the year 460 B.C.E., Ezra again referred to the same incident. (2 Chron. 34:14-18)
From Ezra?s time forward, there was an increased demand for copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. Not all the Jews returned to Jerusalem and Palestine in the restoration of 537 B.C.E. and thereafter. Instead, thousands remained in Babylon, while others migrated for business and other reasons, with the result that they were to be found in most of the large commercial centers of the ancient world. Many Jews would make annual pilgrimages back to Jerusalem for the various temple festivals, and there they would share in the worship conducted in Biblical Hebrew. In Ezra?s time the Jews in these many faraway lands used local assembly places known as synagogues, where readings and discussions of the Hebrew Scriptures took place. Because of the many scattered places of worship, copyists had to multiply the supply of handwritten manuscripts.
These synagogues usually had a storage room known as the genizah. In the course of time, the Jews placed in the genizah discarded manuscripts that had become torn or worn with age, replacing them with new ones for current synagogue use. From time to time, the contents of the genizah would be solemnly buried in the earth, in order that the text?containing the holy name of Jehovah?might not be desecrated. Over the centuries, thousands of old Hebrew Bible manuscripts disappeared from use in this way. However, the well-stocked genizah of the synagogue in Old Cairo was spared this treatment, probably because it was walled up and forgotten until the middle of the 19th century. In 1890, when the synagogue was being repaired, the contents of the genizah were reexamined and its treasures were gradually either sold or donated. From this source, fairly complete manuscripts and thousands of fragments (some said to be of the sixth century C.E.) have found their way to Cambridge University Library and other libraries of Europe and America.
5 Today, in various libraries of the world, there have been counted and cataloged perhaps 6,000 manuscripts of all or portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Until recently there were no such manuscripts (except for a few fragments) older than the tenth century C.E. Then, in 1947, in the area of the Dead Sea, there was discovered a scroll of the book of Isaiah, and in subsequent years additional priceless scrolls of the Hebrew Scriptures came to light as caves in the Dead Sea area surrendered rich treasures of manuscripts that had been hidden for nearly 1,900 years. Experts have now dated some of these as having been copied in the last few centuries B.C.E. The comparative study of the approximately 6,000 manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures gives a sound basis for establishing the Hebrew text and reveals faithfulness in the transmission of the text.
don't assume the bible is just big talk from stupid ancient times. fact is, they were much smarter then than we are now. from the ancient egyptians, phonecians, babylonians, and hebrews alot of our modern day stuff is atributed. just because you can use the internet to look up porn, doesn't mean we're more advanced for it. if you jump up eleven steps from the first, and i jump up one from there then of course i'll be higher than you, but i have the hindsight of your knowledge to make such a transition with ease. the bible was well documented and well kept. you gotta do research before you blurt out crap, please.
Facebook
Twitter