Yes. Mythicism Is Still A Joke

[Sparko]

Yes. This is a debate forum. I encourage debate here.

Is this the room for an argument?

[Apologiaphoenix]

Is this the room for an argument?

No, it's not.

[rogue06]

[psstein]

Did he write about any long dead people who had climbed out of their graves to chit chat with the townspeople? We don't believe everything actual historians have written either.

I certainly don't believe everything written in the Bible. I'm not an inerrantist in the Chicago Statement fashion.

[JimL]

I certainly don't believe everything written in the Bible. I'm not an inerrantist in the Chicago Statement fashion.

Then you are just picking and choosing what you want to believe and what you don't want to believe. What you want to believe is not what the bible is about!

[tabibito]

Some people pick and choose sections, others pick and choose the whole. Either group might pick and choose on the basis of presupposition and what they want to believe. Alternatively, they might pick and choose on the basis of a reasoned evaluation of the available evidence.

[JimL]

Some people pick and choose sections, others pick and choose the whole. Either group might pick and choose on the basis of presupposition and what they want to believe. Alternatively, they might pick and choose on the basis of a reasoned evaluation of the available evidence.

It's either the word of god or it's not tabi, you don't get to pick and choose. If you are cherry picking what you wish to believe, and disgarding what you don't want to believe, then you are not believing the bible to be the word of god.

[Sparko]

It's either the word of god or it's not tabi, you don't get to pick and choose. If you are cherry picking what you wish to believe, and disgarding what you don't want to believe, then you are not believing the bible to be the word of god.

dang. I actually agree with JimL here.

with a few caveats:
only in regards to the autographs. Copies can contain errors.
The bible uses figurative language in places.
The bible reports what people observe and say. It can report mistakes, lies, etc.

[rogue06]

dang. I actually agree with JimL here.

with a few caveats:
only in regards to the autographs. Copies can contain errors.
The bible uses figurative language in places.
The bible reports what people observe and say. It can report mistakes, lies, etc.

And there is the fact that various portions can be translated or understood in a variety of ways. For instance, for many centuries the "firmament" was understood to be a solid structure but it could have been understood as being an expanse. We know now that the second meaning was indeed the correct one.

[psstein]

Then you are just picking and choosing what you want to believe and what you don't want to believe. What you want to believe is not what the bible is about!

If you're a fundamentalist, yes.

[Starlight]

Did he write about any long dead people who had climbed out of their graves to chit chat with the townspeople?

No, he's actually quite a good read. He was very well traveled for his day and wrote about his travels. Quite interesting. Nothing crazy like the bible.

[JimL]

No, he's actually quite a good read. He was very well traveled for his day and wrote about his travels. Quite interesting. Nothing crazy like the bible.

Of course, unlike the NT authors, Herodotus was an actual historian. Like all history, as James Joyce put it, it is fabled by the daughters of memory, and some of it is actually just made up. The New Testament on the other hand is all made up, even though the backdrop it's set in is historic. It's a myth woven into the history. In my humble opinion, of course.

[Jedidiah]

Of course, unlike the NT authors, Herodotus was an actual historian. Like all history, as James Joyce put it, it is fabled by the daughters of memory, and some of it is actually just made up. The New Testament on the other hand is all made up, even though the backdrop it's set in is historic. It's a myth woven into the history. In my humble opinion, of course.

Still no evidence, just bald assertions.

[psstein]

No, he's actually quite a good read. He was very well traveled for his day and wrote about his travels. Quite interesting. Nothing crazy like the bible.

Herodotus is not just writing about his travels and reports some really odd things, like the ants that dig for gold.

Histories 3.102-105

[2] In this sandy desert are ants,2 not as big as dogs but bigger than foxes; the Persian king has some of these, which have been caught there. These ants live underground, digging out the sand in the same way as the ants in Greece, to which they are very similar in shape, and the sand which they carry from the holes is full of gold. [3] It is for this sand that the Indians set forth into the desert. They harness three camels apiece, males on either side sharing the drawing, and a female in the middle: the man himself rides on the female, that when harnessed has been taken away from as young an offspring as may be. Their camels are as swift as horses, and much better able to bear burdens besides. I do not describe the camel's appearance to Greeks, for they know it; but I shall tell them something that they do not know concerning it: the hindlegs of the camel have four thighbones and four knee-joints; its genitals are turned towards the tail between the hindlegs. Thus and with teams so harnessed the Indians ride after the gold, being careful to be engaged in taking it when the heat is greatest; for the ants are then out of sight underground. [2] Now in these parts the sun is hottest in the morning, not at midday as elsewhere, but from sunrise to the hour of market-closing. Through these hours it is much hotter than in Hellas at noon, so that men are said to sprinkle themselves with water at this time. [3] At midday the sun's heat is nearly the same in India as elsewhere. As it goes to afternoon, the sun of India has the power of the morning sun in other lands; as day declines it becomes ever cooler, until at sunset it is exceedingly cold. So when the Indians come to the place with their sacks, they fill these with the sand and drive back as fast as possible; for the ants at once scent them out, the Persians say, and give chase. They say nothing is equal to them for speed, so that unless the Indians have a headstart while the ants were gathering, not one of them would get away. [2] They cut loose the male trace-camels, which are slower than the females, as they begin to lag, one at a time; the mares never tire, for they remember the young that they have left. Such is the tale. Most of the gold (say the Persians) is got in this way by the Indians; they dig some from mines in their country, too, but it is less abundant.

[psstein]

Of course, unlike the NT authors, Herodotus was an actual historian. Like all history, as James Joyce put it, it is fabled by the daughters of memory, and some of it is actually just made up. The New Testament on the other hand is all made up, even though the backdrop it's set in is historic. It's a myth woven into the history. In my humble opinion, of course.

So you're a mythicist.