Why doesn't the Bible mention.............

[fishy]

Why doesn't the bible mention, aeroplanes, electricity, gunpowder, Nuclear fission, Space Shuttle. Space Stations, motorcars, aircraft carriers, vaccines, skyscrapers, cruiseliners, mosques, machine guns, nuclear weapons or billions of other things that have occurred since it was written, if it has so many prophecies in it and god knows all? Why didn't god mention any of this stuff when telling the authors what to write? Is it because god didn't know all this stuff, or he didn't tell anyone what to write, or he just doesn't exist and these are really the stories of bronze age goatherds?

 

[9Westy9]

sssh spoilers

 

[McBell]

Why doesn't the bible mention, aeroplanes, electricity, gunpowder, Nuclear fission, Space Shuttle. Space Stations, motorcars, aircraft carriers, vaccines, skyscrapers, cruiseliners, mosques, machine guns, nuclear weapons or billions of other things that have occurred since it was written, if it has so many prophecies in it and god knows all? Why didn't god mention any of this stuff when telling the authors what to write? Is it because god didn't know all this stuff, or he didn't tell anyone what to write, or he just doesn't exist and these are really the stories of bronze age goatherds?

Yeah, cause there is no way in hell it could simply be because the people who wrote the Bible did not need that information....

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Everything in the Bible assumes that nothing much will change in the world, except more of the same.
Even Jesus an the prophets show no insight into developments to come.

Anyone who tries to use the Bible as a lay out plan, for the future of the world and mankind, is in for great disappointment. Revelation gives a mystical vision of the fate of mankind, but very soon along that path passes from prediction to fantasy.

The Bible is not the future history of anything.

 

[Cesar]

Why would somebody mention Einstein's discoveries when discussing the ancient Roman civilization? Because the author was dumb and he had no idea about Einstein???

No... it's because that would be pretty irrelevant. 9Westy9, you are making a logical fallacy by imply that, somehow, the Bible authors were supposed to mention all that stuff when writing about the nature of God, humanity, sin and so on. The Bible is a record, it also contains moral teaching as well as prophecies.

What makes you think they should have included aeroplanes, electricity, gunpowder, Nuclear fission... in the Scriptures?

 

[McBell]

Everything in the Bible assumes that nothing much will change in the world, except more of the same.
Even Jesus an the prophets show no insight into developments to come.

Anyone who tries to use the Bible as a lay out plan, for the future of the world and mankind, is in for great disappointment. Revelation gives a mystical vision of the fate of mankind, but very soon along that path passes from prediction to fantasy.

The Bible is not the future history of anything.

Actually, that seems to make sense.
Especially if they also had the belief that god was never changing.

 

[4consideration]

Everything in the Bible assumes that nothing much will change in the world, except more of the same.
Even Jesus an the prophets show no insight into developments to come.

Anyone who tries to use the Bible as a lay out plan, for the future of the world and mankind, is in for great disappointment. Revelation gives a mystical vision of the fate of mankind, but very soon along that path passes from prediction to fantasy.

The Bible is not the future history of anything.

I agree.

I think that any prophecy is only as valid as it is an accurate fast-forward on the logical progression of events from the present time. While it may be accurate to say, "If we stay on the course we are on, we will end up...here." That does not mean that the outcome will remain the same with even the smallest of change of course.

Everything affects every thing else.

Even the smallest change of course, one change of heart, like a person choosing to change from a path of revenge to a path honoring Love and Peace, does actually change the world -- because it establishes a new potential.

I think that we can know about what was -- the past. We can know the Present. But, the future always exists as a potential.

When I think about omniscence of God, I only think about it in terms of an ability to know what is, and to know all potential from what is so now. However, I do not see it in a pre-determined sense because each change of heart, in so many and various areas of life, establishes new potential.

I think that it is a terrible mistake to try to use the Bible to limit or control the future. We are here to live, not fulfill the requirements or expectations of ANY story.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Why would somebody mention Einstein's discoveries when discussing the ancient Roman civilization? Because the author was dumb and he had no idea about Einstein???

No... it's because that would be pretty irrelevant. 9Westy9, you are making a logical fallacy by imply that, somehow, the Bible authors were supposed to mention all that stuff when writing about the nature of God, humanity, sin and so on. The Bible is a record, it also contains moral teaching as well as prophecies.

What makes you think they should have included aeroplanes, electricity, gunpowder, Nuclear fission... in the Scriptures?

If the Bible is God's all-encompassing revelation to society, then it stands to reason that it should touch on things like God's views on the morality and ethics of these things even if the people of the time didn't know about them.

If you don't think this is the true role of the Bible, fine, but many Christians do.

 

[Cesar]

If the Bible is God's all-encompassing revelation to society, then it stands to reason that it should touch on things like God's views on the morality and ethics of these things even if the people of the time didn't know about them.

If you don't think this is the true role of the Bible, fine, but many Christians do.

Since when does God have the moral obligation to explain and 'touch' whatever has been or will ever be created? Did He comment on the usefulness (or worse, "wickedness") of the wheel, which was already in use at Jesus' time? Of course not. It doesn't have any inherent sinfulness although it may have been made in order to violate the Law of God. For instance, the devices which Catholicism used to torture people were not in accordance with God's commandments in the Bible. However, the devices themselves are not moral or immoral - it's illogical to assume that.

So, again, we exist for the glory of God, Who created us in our image. God doesn't live for us and the Bible is His divine revelation about Himself (the Creator) and the creation. The Bible is not a manual used for building airplanes or bridges. Even so, we can judge ig some things which people have created are beneficial or not, but they still aren't morally good or immoral - they're not humans, who can indeed be immoral (not objects).

 

[Renji]

Why doesn't the bible mention, aeroplanes, electricity, gunpowder, Nuclear fission, Space Shuttle. Space Stations, motorcars, aircraft carriers, vaccines, skyscrapers, cruiseliners, mosques, machine guns, nuclear weapons or billions of other things that have occurred since it was written, if it has so many prophecies in it and god knows all? Why didn't god mention any of this stuff when telling the authors what to write? Is it because god didn't know all this stuff, or he didn't tell anyone what to write, or he just doesn't exist and these are really the stories of bronze age goatherds?

Do you think that people way, way back can understand such technology?

 

[BruceDLimber]

Even Jesus an [sic] the prophets show no insight into developments to come.

EXCEPT, of course, that both the Jewish and Christian scriptures contain time prophecies which gave the exact year of the beginnings of the Baha'i Faith--using two very different calendars, yet!--, which IOV then constituted the Return of the Christ Spirit.

You can see the details here:

Click on one of the following to navigate further down this page Religious Unity

Peace,

Bruce

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Since when does God have the moral obligation to explain and 'touch' whatever has been or will ever be created? Did He comment on the usefulness (or worse, "wickedness") of the wheel, which was already in use at Jesus' time? Of course not. It doesn't have any inherent sinfulness although it may have been made in order to violate the Law of God. For instance, the devices which Catholicism used to torture people were not in accordance with God's commandments in the Bible. However, the devices themselves are not moral or immoral - it's illogical to assume that.

So, again, we exist for the glory of God, Who created us in our image. God doesn't live for us and the Bible is His divine revelation about Himself (the Creator) and the creation. The Bible is not a manual used for building airplanes or bridges. Even so, we can judge it some things which people have created are beneficial or not, but they still aren't morally good or immoral - they're not humans, who can indeed be immoral (not objects).

It just strikes me as strange that a God who knows everything that has happened and wil ever happen would hand down a set of revelations that are austensibly for all people and all ages from that point forward, but phrase things only in terms that are relevant to the specific age and people he first gave the revelation to. Why would a limitless God choose to limit himself in this way?

And it's not just a matter of technology. We've had many issues over the years where people have looked to the Bible for guidance and found either nothing or conflicting advice. Is Arianism heresy? Is Protestantism? Is slavery moral? Are men and women equal? Are loving unions between members of the same sex holy?

The Bible gives vague, conflicting or otherwise poor guidance on these issues. This undermines the claim that it contains the guidance of an all-knowing god.

 

[Cesar]

It just strikes me as strange that a God who knows everything that has happened and wil ever happen would hand down a set of revelations that are austensibly for all people and all ages from that point forward, but phrase things only in terms that are relevant to the specific age and people he first gave the revelation to. Why would a limitless God choose to limit himself in this way?

And it's not just a matter of technology. We've had many issues over the years where people have looked to the Bible for guidance and found either nothing or conflicting advice. Is Arianism heresy? Is Protestantism? Is slavery moral? Are men and women equal? Are loving unions between members of the same sex holy?

The Bible gives vague, conflicting or otherwise poor guidance on these issues. This undermines the claim that it contains the guidance of an all-knowing god.

Why should He have expressed Himself in an incomprehensible way? Jesus, for instance, used those parables (containing metaphors which are a bit hard for us to understand today) so that the people listening to Him would understand. You don't talk or write so that nobody will get your point. However, we do need hermeneutics in order to understand the context and thus the meaning. Still, murder, lust, lying, stealing, taking God's name in vain, disbelief, trying to derive meaning,truth,morality,justice from yourself as their origin and so on are sins for all people, but He was addressing a particular audience that wasn't omniscient.

Now, it's only natural that one should find apparent contradictions in the Bible. After all, it was written at various times in the past by people living in different cultures, who used different words and metaphors. This is where hermeneutics comes in to solve the problems.
There are lots of people, however, that derive teaching which are not found in the Bible. For instance, you have some neo-Protestants who don't believe in the Trinity although the Bible does establish that, as well as the Church Fathers. Or, you have all those moronic pastors that claim that God lives for us and we should pray that our will be done. Such people who are in error have a very poor education regarding the Scriptures, so they just mix their ideas with Christianity or simply invent new ones.


Anyway... it's getting irrelevant to the original question.

 

[Renji]

It just strikes me as strange that a God who knows everything that has happened and wil ever happen would hand down a set of revelations that are austensibly for all people and all ages from that point forward, but phrase things only in terms that are relevant to the specific age and people he first gave the revelation to. Why would a limitless God choose to limit himself in this way?

And it's not just a matter of technology. We've had many issues over the years where people have looked to the Bible for guidance and found either nothing or conflicting advice. Is Arianism heresy? Is Protestantism? Is slavery moral? Are men and women equal? Are loving unions between members of the same sex holy?

The Bible gives vague, conflicting or otherwise poor guidance on these issues. This undermines the claim that it contains the guidance of an all-knowing god.

But it is men who wrote the Bible.. not God... And some of it (the scriptures) are written YEARS after the events have actually occurred so not all (detail by detail) can actually be written on it.

 

[fallingblood]

Yeah, cause there is no way in hell it could simply be because the people who wrote the Bible did not need that information....

Come on now. Jesus definitely would have needed to know how nuclear fission works. I mean don't we all know that type of information now?

 

[Cesar]

Come on now. Jesus definitely would have needed to know how nuclear fission works. I mean don't we all know that type of information now?

Not only that, but aren't there more people being saved due to it?

We're not claiming that technological development is bad. On the contrary - it's beneficial for us to have air conditioners, planes, vaccines and so on.

But the Bible wasn't written in order to improve our machines. It doesn't mean that they're wicked either. One point that the Bible covers is God's wrath revealed from Heaven against our total depravity and inability to do good, wrath which must be poured on somebody - either the unsaved (those dead in their sins) or Christ, Who died for the believers. That was one of the major reasons for writing the Bible - explaining man's problem with God and that God will eventually solve the problem of evil.

And that's my answer for the original question.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Not only that, but aren't there more people being saved due to it?

We're not claiming that technological development is bad. On the contrary - it's beneficial for us to have air conditioners, planes, vaccines and so on.

But the Bible wasn't written in order to improve our machines. It doesn't mean that they're wicked either. One point that the Bible covers is God's wrath revealed from Heaven against our total depravity and inability to do good, wrath which must be poured on somebody - either the unsaved (those dead in their sins) or Christ, Who died for the believers. That was one of the major reasons for writing the Bible - explaining man's problem with God and that God will eventually solve the problem of evil.

And that's my answer for the original question.

But aren't you being rather selective? The Bible talks about technology quite a bit: the Old Testament is filled with very specific advice about farming practices, manufacturing, etc., but it's just that it only deals with Bronze Age technology and nothing later. Apparently, the idea that God isn't interested in giving that sort of advice is contradicted by the actual content of the Bible.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Come on now. Jesus definitely would have needed to know how nuclear fission works. I mean don't we all know that type of information now?

Is there any particular reason why God would command his chosen people to avoid pork and keep the edges of their fields unreaped, but not, say, which sorts of fissionable materials are kosher or what the God-approved minimum altitude would be when flying over cities?

 

[Cesar]

But aren't you being rather selective? The Bible talks about technology quite a bit: the Old Testament is filled with very specific advice about farming practices, manufacturing, etc., but it's just that it only deals with Bronze Age technology and nothing later. Apparently, the idea that God isn't interested in giving that sort of advice is contradicted by the actual content of the Bible.

That He gave some pieces of advice regarding the technology that was already in use doesn't mean He is under an obligation to reveal the way in which we build motorcycles or Empires States Building.

Again, the Bible is concerned with revealing God, man's (sinful) nature, God's wrath and grace... things similar to these. The Bible doesn't and isn't concerned with touching absolutely every subject possible, ranging from mathematics to psychology and computer sciences. God reveals, amongst others, man's purpose and meaning - to glorify God, so why should He have instructed Moses on how to build a spaceship?

 

[4consideration]

Come on now. Jesus definitely would have needed to know how nuclear fission works. I mean don't we all know that type of information now?

We have no way of knowing what Jesus knew. We have stories about what he did and what he taught.

No matter how much knowledge a teacher has, isn't it a mark of a good teacher to work within the contexts, terminology and level of understanding of the students? (And, to present new contexts -- once the student has reached the level of moving on to new ones.)

An astrohysicist may have a thorough understanding of the highest level of mathematical understanding to date, but it would be ridiculous and unproductive for him to go into a 2nd grade math class and try to teach at that same level, before the students had the basics.

A scientifc context for presenting information in the Bible would have had no value, since the same level of scientific context did not yet exist in human thinking -- as far a I know.