Would you expect the book of Genesis to have been written in scientific language?

@count markovalley,

count markovalley wrote:

If genesis had been written in the scientific language of today ,would've anyone alive 5-6 thousand years ago been able to understand it?

Arab, South Asian and Chinese scholars perhaps. Europeans not so much - they were a bit behind the times.

http://enhg4.4t.com/b/b33/33_10.htm

http://www.chinavoc.com/history/yangshao.htm

http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/lecture_asian_civ.htm

http://www.ket.org/artofthehorse/ed/hist.htm

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@ehBeth,

what??? never met germans who lived through the war?? now that's funny!!!!

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@count markovalley,

Nothing funny about it. Nothing.

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@count markovalley,

From wikipedia article on "Who knew ?"

Quote:

Recent historical work suggests that the majority of Germans knew that Jews were being indiscriminately killed and persecuted but they did not know about the Final Solution and the specifics of the death camps. Robert Gellately, a historian at Oxford University, conducted a widely respected survey of the German media before and during the war, concluding that there was "substantial consent and active participation of large numbers of ordinary Germans" in aspects of the Holocaust, and documenting that the sight of columns of slave laborers were common, and that the basics of the concentration camps, if not the extermination camps, were widely known.The German scholar, Peter Longerich, in a study looking at what Germans knew about the mass murders concluded that: "General information concerning the mass murder of Jews was widespread in the German population."

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@count markovalley,

count markovalley wrote:

germans had absolutely no idea about the holocaust. not a single clue. some thought their jewish neighbors were leaving for israel . and because that's where they said they wanted to go and to live where they would be the happiest.

Well, I would agree that many Germans were clueless to realize that Hitler was taking the country down the road to ruin. But, since there was Krystalnacht and other forms of violence perpetrated on Jews, I believe most Germans knew that Jewish neighbors were going to something less enjoyable than a day camp. There was no Israel in 1940/41/42. And, a visa to the British Mandate of Palestine was not doable.

I have known some people that do believe that if the Nazis had not killed Jews with such relish, today many who have little love for Germany would think the country was just grand. However, that is just a delusion, in my opinion, to be in denial to how many different countries suffered under the Third Reich grandiosity, and to this day are quite reticent about Germany and Germans. Sorry, I do believe that even if Hitler had loved Jews, all the other murdering during WWII would have still resulted in Germany being just a wealthy nation today with few real friends (it almost sounds like they have become Jews themselves - ironic).

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@Foofie,

Quote:

germans had absolutely no idea about the holocaust. not a single clue.

Having been around at the time I tend to side with Foof recalling newsreels showing hundreds of thousands of ordinary Germans in their Times Square heiling Der Fuhrer railing against the Jew. They must have known

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Quote:
germans had absolutely no idea about the holocaust. not a single clue.
Having been around at the time I tend to side with Foof recalling newsreels showing hundreds of thousands of ordinary Germans in their Times Square heiling Der Fuhrer railing against the Jew. They must have known

I am not contradicting your post; however, it was not my quote you referenced.

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@Foofie,

Quote:

... my quote you referenced.

The apologies Foof at 82 of failing mem with incipient Alz's

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@count markovalley,

Genesis wasn't written 5-6000 years ago. More like 10th to 11th century BCE. And the DSS are Est. 408 BCE to 318 CE.

http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-bible-and-radiocarbon-dating-archaeology-text-and-science-thomas-e-levy-thomas-higham-2005ad.htm

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls

respectedly.

An actual god though giving its will and wisdom to Man would give it in a more universal language like mathematics. Maths were known in ancient times too.

Likelyhood a god would reveal its' will in a local language is nil.

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@HesDeltanCaptain,

I hope you don't mind my suppositions my friend,

The Torah was copied many times throughout history, you have to establish that the scrolls that were dated in your source were the originals before you can attribute an estimation to the time of the writings of Genesis.

Your other claims are very definite, what do you base your convictions upon?

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@count markovalley,

And all parts up to the creation of Adam would necessarily be in non-human terms. You would explain to an angel differently than to a human.

God created light, for example but it says 'God said..." why? Because it is 'explaining ' to humans what happened when no human was around and if they had been around what could they say scientifically or otherwise. What is conveyed is conveyed very well; God made light and He did so on purpose and with a view to the later creation of man

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@count markovalley,

But that would be the case no matter what !! How do you scientifically describe "Let there be light"-- much of how you understand it is scientific, historical, spiritual as the relevant point is being made. It is not meant as science but that does not equate to unscientific. s

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@dalehileman,

But that would make things like Plato's Timaeus beyond understanding too

What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?: Timaeus and Genesis in Counterpoint
By Jaroslav Pelikan

Actually you need the idea of myth as truth put into a form that can handle its scientific and 'above science' aspects

You want us to think God created man but He really had no more directly to do with that than with oak trees.

It's your logic and use of words that is off

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@count markovalley,

You are being very fundamentalist and it makes me smile. So everything in the world is either science or anti-science. How about if the topic itself explains science (among other things) !!

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@AugustineBrother,

Quote:

But that would make things like Plato's Timaeus beyond understanding too

Forgive Aug, no offense but that what

Quote:

What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?

But Aug I don't remember having connected 'em

Quote:

You want us to think God created man

Don'r remember saying anything like that either. Actually I am a pantheist and maintain She has existed forever in one form or another, had no need to create anythinbg

Quote:

It's your logic and use of words that is off

Mystified I can only suggest that for each comment you make reference to specific posting no.s

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@dalehileman,

Nobody ever said God has a need, in fact from Augustine to Aquinas that is explicitly denied. God created from LOve and was under no compulsion to create.

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@AugustineBrother,

the "back story" of the guy in the sky is a human invention eh?

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@farmerman,

You are at the point where you fear to even use declarative sentences. The end is near.

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@AugustineBrother,

can you merely comment on my observation? Dont worry about my fears, I can hndle them, and "fear of a god" aint one of them.

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@AugustineBrother,

Quote:

Nobody ever said God has a need

Oh I'm sure many have

Quote:

to Aquinas that is explicitly denied

Aug you might provide a link for the ignorant and lazy (me)

Quote:

under no compulsion to create

I say so too. Why should She create Herself, something already here. Animals and humanoids of course create

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Would you expect the book of Genesis to have been written in scientific language?

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