The Anti-theist Thread

[Andúril]

Humour for the day:

Anyway, back to serious matters:

Serious matters? You're joking right?

I don't know where you get multiple headed creatures in the bible...

Forgive me, I thought I saw it in there somewhere. But seeing as you have already noted my error, I see no point in going back to edit my post.

but animal headed humanoids (and young women with fauns for breasts) are rather obviously not serious. Hebrew metaphor is odd that way.

Why not? If God can exist in your opinion, then why can't animal head humanoids exist as well? Not only have you assumed that it was indeed metaphorical speech, but you claim it is "odd". What exactly to you mean by odd?

Which means that I understand the comparison of men to lions and rocks, or of women with fawns and young birds, to be meant metaphorically. But when I get an obvious, in your face statement like 'in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth', I assume it means what it says.

So basically what you are saying is that the interpretation of biblical passages is purely subjective, and the tool that you use for discerning metaphorical speech from literal is one devised by your own mind. You say that you are using a reasonable approach, which means that you are applying what you are reading to a certain guideline - your reason, we could call it. What do you base this guideline on?

However, as noted, this is rather a difference between modern though (concerned with direct causes) and hebrew thought (concerned with ultimate causes).

So, looking at it from Hebrew thought, who was the ultimate cause in the David census issue? Chronicles says Satan was the provoker, while Samuel says God was the provoker. If your statement regarding Hebrew thought has any validitiy, then both accounts must be looked at with the same guidelines for validification. How can you say that only one of these accounts refers to Hebrew thought? Which one is it? Chronicles, where the "ultimate" cause would be Satan, or Samuel, where the "ultimate" cause would be God? It is a clear contradiction.

Also, if you admit that God was the ultimate cause (in the case of Chronicles), then God must be the ultimate cause of every action performed by entities that have free will. However, it cannot be any clearer that Satan was the provoker.

If there is any doubt as to the ultimate cause of the provocation (in Chronicles), and you attribute this to the way Hebrews thought, why is there no doubt as to the ultimate cause of the provocation in Samuel?

Aswith most of these cases, it's a matter of overinterpritation.

And as with most of the explanations, it's a matter of unsubstantiated declaration, subjective speculation, unsupported baseless assumptions, or wishful thinking.