Reading about the Old Testament

[realexplodingcat]

So I jumped the gun and started cruising the internet for critical analysis of the Old Testament...

So I jumped the gun and started cruising the internet for critical analysis of the Old Testament, the study of which I hadn't intended to start yet, and came across this gem. Granted, considering the site that published it, I knew what I was getting into, but it's a good example of why studying the Bible will make me crazy. If I want to read any analysis, I'm going to have weed out the copious amount of pseudo-science written by "religious scholars" whose work is damaged by strict adherence to their faith. Reading their stuff provides me with what I can only call Hair Pulling WTF?!?!? Moments in which they toss out all common sense in order to fit the square peg of evidence into the round hole of their faith.

Take, for example, the link above--a document discussing the true nature of the "behemoth and leviathan" that appear from time to time in the Bible. After offering and arguing against several interpretations, ranging from borrowed mythology, figurative symbols, to hyperbolic descriptions of ordinary animals, the analysis comes to the undeniable conclusion that dinosaurs still walked the Earth at this time (about 1000 BC). In support of this conclusion, we are given two Hair Pulling WTF?!?!? Moments.

1. Moses wrote: “For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is (Exodus 20:11). Man, according to Christ, existed “from the beginning of the creation” (Mark 10.6; cf. Matthew 19:4). So did the dinosaurs.

WTF?!?!? Obviously I'm not a fan of creationist theory. But this is just silly. One of the arguments against the time-line purported by creationists is the fossil record of other extinct animals. However, religious "scholars" used to claim that dinosaurs never existed and God placed those fossils in the ground at the time of creation to tempt and beguile man. But now this writer has decided that the "behemoth and leviathan" are Biblical evidence for the existence of dinosaurs and that God put both man and living dinosaurs on the Earth at the same time because those quotes above imply that all creatures were created at the same time, in the beginning. I could go on...but I'd just be repeating what you can find elsewhere in this classic argument between Creationists and Evolutionists.

2. Referring to ancient Indian petroglyphs in the Hava Supai area of the Grand Canyon: In the book, The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible, there is a reproduction of the Hava Supai dinosaur petroglyph, side-by-side with a representation from the evolutionists’ texts of the dinosaur known as Edmontosaurus. The two are indistinguishable. And that, in this context, raises an important question: How could Indians draw such accurate pictures of a creature they never had seen?

WTF?!?!? Let me ask this, how can modern paleontologist accurately draw such pictures of creatures THEY have never seen?!? Is it not a fact that no modern scientist has seen a dinosaur? So, how the hell did the modern scientist and his artist draw such an accurate picture of the Edmontosaurus to which the Indian petroglyph is compared?

I rest my case.

Comments

[drcuriosity]

I've seen a dinosaur. But it was only a little one. You make valid points. Good luck in fossicking through the rhetoric.
("Fossicking" is a neat word, isn't it?)

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

What an adorable little dinosaur! I gotta remember that word, Fossicking. Very neat. They got words for everything these days.

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Are you looking for historical analysis? If so, a friend of mine is reading a couple of books that might interest you if you'd like the titles. I can also point you to two courses if you wanted.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

Actually, yes. That would be helpful. One of my favorite literary subjects is ancient literature and using it to learn about ancient cultures. The Bible is really no different than any other ancient culture's collection of oral and written records, but I haven't been exposed to much analysis that approaches it as such.

[javafiend.livejournal.com]

http://objective.jesussave.us/kidz.html
Scary brainwashing stuff, which is sadly unironic. The depiction of the atheist is my favorite.

[evilcresyluna.livejournal.com]

hmm, one of me friends told me that was yet another parody. which would be good, because I really want this mug:
http://www.cafeshops.com/objectivemin.2016558

[javafiend.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a parody... then I looked at other parts of the site. Eek. Otherwise, I would have bought that mug, too. ^_^

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

I can't tell if these are tears of joy or tears of despair on my face. That page was so genuinely funny...until I looked at the rest of the site...

Advanced Witnessing?

[terrapingardens.livejournal.com]

Very advanced witnessing techniques are needed for these grouches.

Aside from the fact that atheists are some of the happiest people I know, I am afraid to ask what an advanced witnessing technique is. Are there, like, black belts in witnessing?

Re: Advanced Witnessing?

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

That's a frightening thought. Would they learn from Grand Masters so skilled they convince people to convert by looking at them sternly? Oh yeah...and who employ thumbscrews and iron maidens.