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  1. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    The region would have been ancient Sumer, since the oldest versions of the flood story were written in Sumerian. The Euphrates has often flooded, so yes it could have seemed to the residents of that region that the entire world was submerged when in fact it was just a local flood. Here's what...
  2. DavidSMoore

    Not even Christians believe the *edit* of creation

    Very true. And that poses an interesting dilemma. Imagine that you are a divine being who has an extremely important message that you wish to disseminate to all the peoples of the world. What would be the best method for doing that? The use of human language would seem to be one of the least...
  3. DavidSMoore

    Not even Christians believe the *edit* of creation

    You do realize that you are calling the National Council of Churches of the United States of America stupid, right? That is the organization that holds the copyright on the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition that we've been discussing. I suggest you take up your concerns about the...
  4. DavidSMoore

    Not even Christians believe the *edit* of creation

    Then it would be a shell, not a dome. @Brian2: The footnote reads: The "Or" means "Instead of", not "in addition to".
  5. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    Psalm 137 explicitly says that it was written on the banks of the Euphrates, and that the author was a captive of Babylon. That would seem to place it during the time of the Babylonian captivity-- roughly 597 BCE to 522 BCE. Does that mean that all the Psalms were written during or after the...
  6. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    Small correction. Vesto Slipher measured the spectra of several nebulae in the 1920s. At that time there was much dispute as to whether the nebulae were inside the Milky Way or outside. He found that the spectra of the nebulae were shifted-- some toward the red and some toward the blue. When...
  7. DavidSMoore

    Not even Christians believe the *edit* of creation

    It appears to me that you've cited the RSV. I'm citing the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition (NRSVue) which was published in 2019. The group that owns the copyright for that version is the National Council of Churches of the United States Of America. So it is as orthodox as any other...
  8. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    And let's not forget this passage from the story of the Passion: So the Jewish priest who was among those who arrested Jesus had a slave. That is, slavery was practiced among the Jews in the time of Jesus. At least according to this passage.
  9. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    The Catholic Church has provided the Catholic Catechism to prevent precisely that. The whole point of the Catechism is that the Pope and the Church's myriad scholars have studied and researched and interpreted every passage in the Bible-- both Old and New Testaments-- and they have laid before...
  10. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    I must not be understanding your thinking. I always assumed that the law was considered the core teaching of Yahweh. Here's a short excerpt from Zechariah: So Zechariah seems very concerned that everyone on Earth should observe Jewish festivals. I assumed that the Festival of Booths was a sort...
  11. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    @Elihoenai : But that's exactly what the Gnostic document "On The Origin Of The World" I cited does! It seems to me that you're advocating a variant of Gnosticism that has strayed from its roots. @Elihoenai : You're very good at citing passages from the Bible that support your theological...
  12. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    Yes, yes, very distressing. Could you enlighten me as to how the Elect interpret the following psalm: As I read it, if God no longer remembers the dead, then he can't forgive their sins. If the dead are cut off from his hand, then God can't resurrect them. Or what about Psalm 93:1, Psalm...
  13. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    During the Vietnam War there were many religious leaders openly opposed the government's policies. And that was a time of much anger and resentment throughout the country. There were many who felt that anyone who opposed the War-- for any reason-- was a traitor to the country. And they weren't...
  14. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    Do you understand how thoroughly depressing that sounds? Let's say that there are about 10,000 numbered in the elect. There have been over 100 billion people who have lived and died on this planet. The chance that any individual has of being one of the elect would therefore be about 0.00001%...
  15. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    I can think of many occasions when prominent Christian leaders opposed government policies. Martin Luther King Jr. is famous for having called for civil rights legislation-- and he led a movement that brought about the change he sought. There were a great many persons in and out of government at...
  16. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    Yes, I saw the movie A Civil Action many years ago. I certainly would never argue that human written and administered laws are perfect. I've been (re-)reading Peter Irons's masterful A People's History Of The Supreme Court, a book which I heartily recommend. It is replete with examples in which...
  17. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    In science it's okay to make mistakes and to be wrong. Albert Einstein was famously wrong when, in 1915, he included a special term known as the "cosmological constant" in his equations for General Relativity. He didn't want a universe that was either expanding or contracting, and yet he knew...
  18. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    In the context of that passage, yes-- I agree that the laws were given to the Israelites. But in the broader context of the Old Testament as a whole I think there's more to it than that. Here's an excerpt from Isaiah: From Isaiah's point of view the teachings of Yahweh were to be disseminated...
  19. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    I only meant to imply that there have long been discrepancies as to how that passage should be translated. But I withdraw the comment.
  20. DavidSMoore

    Morality of the Old Testament

    Miriam-Webster dictionary: 1213: 1213: Thank you for that-- I should have caught those passages. 1213: I'll address the New Testament morality in a future posting. 1213: Paying taxes is definitely NOT the same thing as slavery. The only type of society that I know of that does not...
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