LittleNipper wrote:9 `And I, lo, I am establishing My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, 10 and with every living creature which [is] with you, among fowl, among cattle, and among every beast of the earth with you, from all who are going out of the ark -- to every beast of the earth.
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco - To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
ludwigm wrote:...which is the reason no legendary animals exist today.
I know a Tibetan woman who categorically refuses to believe that thunder and lightning is caused by electricity in the atmosphere, claiming that it comes from dragons (the Tibetan word for "thunder" literally means "dragon thunder" or "dragon roar"). A friend of mine pressed her on this point, asking if she'd ever seen a dragon. She said yes.
Genesis 9:18-29 The 3 sons of Noah went out of the ark. Ham was the father of Canaan. And Noah worked the ground and planted grape vines. And Noah made wine from the grapes and became drunk. And Canaan found his grandfather unclothed and took sexual advantage of Noah... And Ham saw what had happened to Noah. And told his two brothers. They went in so as to not bring more shame on their Father. And Noah awoke and realized what Ham's son had done. and declared a curse on Canaan. He would be a servant to his uncles. Noah said Shem and Japheth are blessed of God. Noah lived another 350 years after the Great Flood and died. Noah lived a total of 950 years.
18 And the sons of Noah who are going out of the ark are Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is father of Canaan.
19 These three [are] sons of Noah, and from these hath all the earth been overspread.
20 And Noah remaineth a man of the ground, and planteth a vineyard,
21 and drinketh of the wine, and is drunken, and uncovereth himself in the midst of the tent.
22 And Ham, father of Canaan, seeth the nakedness of his father, and declareth to his two brethren without.
23 And Shem taketh -- Japheth also -- the garment, and they place on the shoulder of them both, and go backward, and cover the nakedness of their father; and their faces [are] backward, and their father's nakedness they have not seen.
24 And Noah awaketh from his wine, and knoweth that which his young son hath done to him,
25 and saith: `Cursed [is] Canaan, Servant of servants he is to his brethren.'
26 And he saith: `Blessed of Jehovah my God [is] Shem, And Canaan is servant to him.
27 God doth give beauty to Japheth, And he dwelleth in tents of Shem, And Canaan is servant to him.'
28 And Noah liveth after the deluge three hundred and fifty years;
29 and all the days of Noah are nine hundred and fifty years, and he dieth.
Genesis 10 Young's Literal Translation (YLT) Here we see the early generations of the three sons of Noah. Ham becomes the father to the Canaanites they settle around the area where Sodom is built. Ham's son Cush begat Nimrod a hunter hero and he founded Babel & Nineveh among other cities. Shem's grandsons witness the land divided --- possibly the continental split (see verse 25).
1 And these [are] births of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and born to them are sons after the deluge.
2 `Sons of Japheth [are] Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3 And sons of Gomer [are] Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 And sons of Javan [are] Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5 By these have the isles of the nations been parted in their lands, each by his tongue, by their families, in their nations.
6 And sons of Ham [are] Cush, and Mitzraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7 And sons of Cush [are] Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah; and sons of Raamah [are] Sheba and Dedan.
8 And Cush hath begotten Nimrod;
9 he hath begun to be a hero in the land; he hath been a hero in hunting before Jehovah; therefore it is said, `As Nimrod the hero [in] hunting before Jehovah.'
10 And the first part of his kingdom is Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar;
11 from that land he hath gone out to Asshur, and buildeth Nineveh, even the broad places of the city, and Calah,
12 and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah; it [is] the great city.
13 And Mitzraim hath begotten the Ludim, and the Anamim, and the Lehabim, and the Naphtuhim,
14 and the Pathrusim, and the Casluhim, (whence have come out Philistim,) and the Caphtorim.
15 And Canaan hath begotten Sidon his first-born, and Heth,
16 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,
17 and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18 and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterwards have the families of the Canaanite been scattered.
19 And the border of the Canaanite is from Sidon, [in] thy coming towards Gerar, unto Gaza; [in] thy coming towards Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, unto Lasha.
20 These [are] sons of Ham, by their families, by their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.
21 As to Shem, father of all sons of Eber, brother of Japheth the elder, he hath also begotten:
22 Sons of Shem [are] Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
23 And sons of Aram [are] Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24 And Arphaxad hath begotten Salah, and Salah hath begotten Eber.
25 And to Eber have two sons been born; the name of the one [is] Peleg (for in his days hath the earth been divided,) and his brother's name [is] Joktan.
26 And Joktan hath begotten Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
27 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28 and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab; all these [are] sons of Joktan;
30 and their dwelling is from Mesha, [in] thy coming towards Sephar, a mount of the east.
31 These [are] sons of Shem, by their families, by their tongues, in their lands, by their nations.
32 These [are] families of the sons of Noah, by their births, in their nations, and by these have the nations been parted in the earth after the deluge.
gdemetz wrote:He is not really addressing the points; just rewriting the Bible.
Not rewriting, only providing my Christian understanding of the Bible. The verses are clearly there for anyone to read. If there is some confusion or someone disagrees, they can ask a questions or provide what they see the scripture saying. So far, either one must accept a literal understanding or one must reject a literal understand. If God provided a non-literal understanding of His Word, then one needs to provide a reason why God would bother to provide a seeming literal history.
Genesis 11:1-9 We read that the entire world all spoke the same and fully understood each other's communications. The people began to move eastward to an area they called Shinar (meaning country of 2 rivers). They began to contemplate the creation of a city that they might construct themselves out of materials they formed themselves. And they imagined building a high place they believed would reach heaven. They saw themselves as great, wise, and of one mind. They didn't want to spread out but remain all together with an objective (not to be scattered). God could see the goal of the people and understood their heart. God knew that they would become corrupt in their imaginings faster if they were allowed to continue this project. So God changed the way everyone spoke and this caused the people to spread away fom one another. The city was left unfinished. So the city was called Babel because of what God did to the speech of man. Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
1 And the whole earth is of one pronunciation, and of the same words,
2 and it cometh to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwell there;
3 and they say each one to his neighbour, `Give help, let us make bricks, and burn [them] thoroughly:' and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen hath been to them for mortar.
4 And they say, `Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.'
5 And Jehovah cometh down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have builded;
6 and Jehovah saith, `Lo, the people [is] one, and one pronunciation [is] to them all, and this it hath dreamed of doing; and now, nothing is restrained from them of that which they have purposed to do.
7 Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.'
8 And Jehovah doth scatter them from thence over the face of all the earth, and they cease to build the city;
9 therefore hath [one] called its name Babel, for there hath Jehovah mingled the pronunciation of all the earth, and from thence hath Jehovah scattered them over the face of all the earth.
LittleNipper wrote:If God provided a non-literal understanding of His Word, then one needs to provide a reason why God would bother to provide a seeming literal history.
What is your evidence that "God...provide[s] a seeming[ly] literal history" in the Bible? What is your evidence that the narrative in e.g. Genesis is supposed to be interpreted as a literal history?
Bear in mind that the Midrash and really just the entire tradition of Biblical exegesis, in Jesus' day, interpreted Genesis allegorically.
