An PLEASE why do you keep blaming BOOSH? He hasn't been president for years. It's OBOMA who keeps us in the ME.
There is no Statute of Limitations on War Crimes and Mass Murder. Bush, as Klinton, as Bush I, as Reagan, as Nixon, as LBJ, are all WAR CRIMINALS who have used the U.S. Military as a private army to enforce the edicts of the Bilderberg cabal and specifically the House of Rotchild.
I think, if anything, the current little suppurating pustule in the Whore House is no different that his predecessor - he is in fact worse, but that does excuse the action of the Killer Chimperor.
As for the Bible I do not degrade, disparage, or attack other religions. I will entertain factual criticisms e.g., the multiple times the text of the Bible has been edited and rearranged to support political agendas - such as the Scofield Bowlderization, the monkeyshines with the King James translation, the council of Nicea etc., .... However, that is an academic dispute and should not be confused with gratuitous and mean spirited attacks on others' beliefs.
However, that is an academic dispute should not be confused with gratuitous and mean spirited attacks on others' beliefs.
point well taken, however, i would like to see a disputation of what P&T presented in this video. are the stories in the OT of Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, and Moses parting the Red Sea factual (or possible?) or are they allegories?
However, that is an academic dispute should not be confused with gratuitous and mean spirited attacks on others' beliefs.
point well taken, however, i would like to see a disputation of what P&T presented in this video. are the stories in the OT of Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, and Moses parting the Red Sea factual (or possible?) or are they allegories?
My personal opinion is that legends and myths (including some religious works) have generally had, at some point, a basis in fact i.e., they are representations of actual events. What makes it tricky is that we have no other good contemporaneous works to truly support or refute those events. The other problem of course is that they occurred so long ago that it is possible (I think likely) that they have become distorted and garbled being passed down through time.
As for the specific events mentioned I think it could be a mixture of allegory and and factual and that the two have become conflated through time.
It is interesting, and seldom commented on, that other people are mentioned in the tale of Adam and Eve.
Noah's Ark - I suspect some factual basis. There are flood legends on both sides of the Atlantic. I suspect that there may have been a boat, or boats, that were prepared to weather the storm. Beyond that, on a factual not theological basis, there is not really enough to say more. Charles Berlitz, the heir to the Berlitz language school fortune, was able in his linguistic research find the syllabic group "atl" in words meaning water in 20 languages on both sides of the Atlantic.
The parting of the Red Sea is an interesting one. I have not read a lot on it but did skim a recent article that put forth the idea that there was a scientific basis upon which to explain it. Personally I leave it in the "I don't know" box.
The problem with such as Penn and Teller, and their fellow "skeptics", is that they are just as dogmatic in their rejection as the supporters are in their affirmation.
The Bible said that God "prepared" the creature, so in doing so I'm sure he protected Jonah.
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights"
This is a literal account of a man. It foreshadows the true account of Christ's 3 days and 3 nights in "the belly of the earth".
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40 (NIV)
Here is the same verse again in the King James version
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40 (KJV)
The historical accuracy of Jonah is important for it foreshadows Christ’s own death and resurrection. Christ would not associate the most important event in history (his being raised from the dead) with a mere fairy tale.
The whale is not the hero of the story, nor is the cross victorious over the power of Christ. Our attention should be drawn to what happened next, the bodily resurrection from death to life. The book of Jonah is about God and Jonah, not the whale (or fish) and Jonah.
Those who scoff at, doubt or otherwise ridicule the book of Jonah are in actuality doubting Christ's own integrity. Jesus believed and taught that Jonah was a real person, and that the events described in the Bible really did happen to him.
I believe the account of Jonah as literal history, but more importantly Christ believed it.
The story is not a parable or a dream but rather an accurate depiction of a real encounter. If you doubt the book of Jonah, or any of the Bible you will not be able to defend your faith with authority.
Christ read with authority not as the scribes.
In the Book of Jonah, God shows his mercy and also his authority as Creator over all living creatures. The Bible tells us that "God prepared the fish" and "the Lord spoke unto the fish..." and the animal obeyed God. In the end, even though Jonah disobeyed his commands, God spared Jonah's life. And in the beautiful language of the "King James Bible" the whale "vomited out Jonah upon the dry land"
For those seeking extra-biblical evidence, there are many well documented accounts of men and animals being swallowed alive by whales. Though these accounts do give the story of Jonah more credibility we must remember to trust the Bible first and foremost.
It does not matter if other recorded accounts exist or not. They are irrelevant as the Bible says it happened and Jesus has shown us that we can trust God's word.
Jonah is also mentioned in Luke 11:30.
"As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. (30)For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. (31)The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one [9] greater than Solomon is here. (32)The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." Luke 11:30-32
Those who scoff at, doubt or otherwise ridicule the book of Jonah are in actuality doubting Christ's own integrity.
scoff at or ridicule, i get. what i don't get is why it's wrong to doubt or question when it is sage and prudent to do this with all other search for information in life. why is belief in the bible the one exception? how does one come to truth and conviction without first doing his/her own search and interrogatory?
I think all people have doubts. Even one of the Lord's disciples (Thomas) had doubts.* I think that belief in the Bible is based on faith. I had an old man ask me once long ago if I believed that the Bible was true, that it was all true. And I told him that I did--I also was quick to say that I didn't understand all of it but I believed it. I explained that we needed something to base our lives on, something we could believe in. And if I just accepted some things in it while doubting things that maybe I wish weren't there I might just as well throw it all off over the bank.
John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.
For those with faith, no explanation is necessary. For those without, no explanation is possible. –Thomas Aquinas
Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservations. --Elton Trueblood
Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God. --Blaise Pascal
God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him --Hudson Taylor
We often think of great faith as something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live day by day trusting Him. It is trusting Him so much that we look at every problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life. --Rick Joyner
I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with the mind. --Saint Bernard
Those who scoff at, doubt or otherwise ridicule the book of Jonah are in actuality doubting Christ's own integrity.
scoff at or ridicule, i get. what i don't get is why it's wrong to doubt or question when it is sage and prudent to do this with all other search for information in life. why is belief in the bible the one exception? how does one come to truth and conviction without first doing his/her own search and interrogatory?
That was a debate I had with my friend the late Reverend Bob Cryder (how I miss his wisdom - even though we did not always agree).
What we did agree upon was that the stories and laws handed down in the Bible were meant to be understood not robotically mouthed. If one acts and believes devoid of the reason we were given then we are not living up to the standards expected. All of the primary laws of the Bible can be justified and understood purely by reason and without having to resort to arbitrary dictat - "thou shalt believe now shut thine pie hole." Examples might be: "thou shalt not commit murder," "thou shalt not commit adultery." In the first example we are obviously cutting the common bond and infringing upon the rights of another, and in the second we are sundering trust (among other things).
As for the stories in the Bible it is hard to say on a lot, and here I am a bit of a heretic - if not in spirit then intellectually, in that, particularly the "Old Testament" appears to have been derived from even older works that were kept in the libraries of Egypt. The actual age of the "Old Testament" is very uncertain, and neither is it certain that it has been transmitted accurately through the ages. So, I am careful in my pronouncements both from not wishing to offend others, and simply because we do not know.
There is perhaps the greatest mystery of the Bible - Where did it come from, and when?