bananabrain
awkward squadnik
and in my synagogue, we hold up the Torah (pentateuch) scroll and say "this is the Torah which moses laid upon the children of israel" - which it is. however, this is hardly a statement of historically verifiable fact; it is a declaration of faith.ReligionAnalyst said:At least in the Catholic church, they hold the Bible up and say "The word of the Lord" or "The word of God" (I forget which). But, if these are the words of the Lord or of God and we can show, such as with Noah's Ark, that they could not have possibly happened, doesn't that call the whole thing into doubt?
a lot of your objections appear to stem from the idea that something "could not have possibly happened", as you put it - but this assumes, of course, that G!D either doesn't Exist, G!D Forbid, or that Divine Intervention or Communication, let alone Revelation simply couldn't happen. this is, of course, a valid point of view, but if one doesn't share it, then of course something like the flood, or, frankly, a flock of flying pink elephants appearing in the sky, could also have happened. if you a priori reject anything supernatural or miraculous, then obviously you're going to have problems with the bible. however, many - including many people here - also have problems with the unverifiable assertions that these things are not possible.
er... i don't really understand this. of course it's a text to be pored over in the smallest detail and understood, but this is not the same as *dissection*. dissection is what you are doing. it is like taking a radio apart to try and understand the musicians you are listening to on it.You say the Bible is not a library to be dissected. Yet, it seems that is what happens every week at churches around the world. Small passages are read and treated as if they are the truth.
it is a *teaching*. and what is wrong with that?What if the whole thing is just a story?
it is questions like this which, in judaism, understanding halakhah or religious law revolves around. can't work on the Sabbath? what do we mean by work, then? what happens if you do? when do you have to stop by? ...and so on.Its OK "love thy neighbor" but what if your neighbor is a real jerk that plays his music too loud when you are trying to sleep, so you can wake up and be a productive member of society while he sleeps off his hangover and lives on welfare?
not if noah's dependents numbered more than 50, which is implicit in the text. besides, if you go back far enough, we do all descend from one person.However, in the case of Noah's Ark, the lesson seems to be "be good, or God will wipe out the entire planet, except for one selected family." And, if everybody died except Noah, his wife, his sons and his daughters, then doesn't that all make us desendents of incest? Kind of a problem there, don't you think?
i find it a bit surprising that you think you can identify "tough questions for the bible" without having enough familiarity with what it contains and how it works to not know whether father christmas is mentioned in it.
b'shalom
bananabrain