If Genesis is incorrect, then so could any other part of the Bible - who would decide? how would we know?Patti, much like many others at Ray's blog, seem to apply black-and-white thinking to everything. Its honest comments like these that remind me of why science can be so difficult for them to grasp. Its obvious that they fear it will entirely undermine their belief system, but thats partly due to this polarized world view coupled with an intellectual tunnel vision they seem to have.
*The virgin birth? It is critical that Jesus was born without the sin of man.
*The Resurrection? If Jesus didn't come back from the dead then we have no hope of conquering death.
Genesis stands literally and without error.
Blessings,
Patti
When I find it hard to understand why they cannot wrap their minds around simple ideas supported by an enormous amount of evidence, I need to remind myself that its difficult to stretch a mind that seems to be suffering from a mental atrophy. This is a great example of the ill effect of living in an environment that discourages independent thinking and inquiry.
~Atomic Chimp
Posts
AC,
ReplyDeleteYou hit one of my sweetspots there.
Pattie says:
"If Genesis is incorrect, then so could any other part of the Bible -who would decide? how would we know?"
She has unwittingly unraveled the whole fundie mindset in that one single sentence. Patie, WE decide. ALL WE HAVE IS Each OTHER.
Pattie, honey. Genesis is so far disproved that if you could suddenly realize the science an math behind it all, your tits would fall off.
And AC says:
"Patti, much like many others at Ray's blog, you seem to apply black-and-white thinking to everything."
Patti,
First you are born and then you die, and everything in between is negotiable. If you want to stick to this irrational belief system and follow it, you are no better than someone who runs their life by their horoscope, or some neighborhood psychic.
You said:
"If Genesis is incorrect, then so could any other part of the Bible -...."
Exactly! And there are far more "incorrect" parts of the bible than Genesis.
The historocity and the scientific value of the bible is totally flawed.
There are very few people out there claiming the earth is only six thousand years old, unlike a hundred years ago when there were quite a few christians that were supporting slavey, and opposing the women's right to vote.
There are absolutely rock solid reasons, sociologically speaking, for the values that espouse in our society.
What I don't understand is that they talk about their god being so powerful, yet their entire belief in him could be toppled by simply realizing some errors in a book. Sounds pretty fragile to me!
ReplyDeleteI try not to engage people of this sort anymore. Anyone capable of enough self-delusion to actually subscribe completely to Biblical literalism will not be swayed by rational arguments, and as they are patently absurd, there is no point in detailing their absurdities for the benefit of other readers.
ReplyDeletenonmagic,
ReplyDeleteI really don't see their belief system as being fragile because it is based entirely on the accuracy of the bible. Most Christians that interpret the bible literally already have the presupposition that the bible is the word of god and thus they will never realize an error in the book based on that presupposition.
Patti's comment was indeed telling.
ReplyDelete"If Jesus didn't come back from the dead then we have no hope of conquering death."
Translation:
We're gonna die and that's all the reason we need to believe that a legend is fact and to live our lives on that basis.
And it has to be this particular legend; none of the thousands of similar legends will do because they're wrong. The Wiccans are wrong, the Hindus are wrong, the Catholics were wrong from the git-go, the Muslims are wrongitty-wrong-wrong, and the Jews are right but not right enough to make the difference.
How do we know this? It's all explained by this book which isn't legend but fact. Real fact, with science and stuff. Believe it and you'll live forever. Don't believe it and you'll also live forever but you won't enjoy it.