Creatio Ex Nihilo - Forming Something out of Nothing?

[Ignorant]

....To which I'm sure you expected a pat on the back while everyone simultaneously replied, "Wow, we haven't heard that one before."

I see your condescension won't let up. Fair enough. Here's what I hope you will, at some point, understand: The comment of mine which you disdain was not even directed at you, but had its own context of a conversation with esquilax in which he was confusing (probably due to my imprecise language) my distinction with an argument for a Christian God. I was not making any such argument. My comments aimed to clear that confusion while making a side comment about the different yet converging aims of the philosophical arguments of which the distinguished propositions are parts.

Then you, out of nowhere as the self-appointed expert and police of all things biblical and as your first act of dialogue with me, decided to call my attention to the background, intentions and social methods of the authors of the biblical text... because you didn't like the way I phrased my SIDE comment about the two propositions under discussion in this thread. This is extremely narcissistic behavior, and if you are not either a teenager or an undergraduate somewhere, you are certainly acting like it. Time to grow up. I will kindly remind you of my restatement:

"Seriously though [<= How did you not get that I was kidding in the previous sentence!?], I only meant to suggest that god, as the monotheistic traditions present him as having revealed himself, has this trait." - Pg. 4, post 32

Do you think that this proposition has anything to do with the identity of the biblical authors or why they wrote what they did? I'll save you the brain power. It doesn't. If an atheist says, "The revealed monotheistic religious traditions present their god as having revealed that he is eternal", please do not begin to lecture your fellow atheist about the minutiae of historical literary criticism of the religious texts. You sound like a crazy person when you do. But why stop there? Let's continue to review your unintelligible determination to educate me in biblical scholarship:

Ah, you didn't understand; my apologies if i wasn't clear. You seem to think that the Bible makes a declarative statement about the monotheistic deity of later tradition that philosophical arguments, as you say, can be stated so as to be made compatible with.

The fact is that I now see that didn't understand, but I only know that now because of your manifest resistance to rational dialogue. It is impossible to understand something irrational, and my interaction with you has been just that, irrational. I'll provide again what I said as a way of clarification:

"Seriously though, I only meant to suggest that god, as the monotheistic traditions present him as having revealed himself, has this trait." - Pg. 4, post 32

By some sort of either ignorant hermeneutic, misreading, or else plain stupidity, you interpreted that proposition to mean:

"The Bible makes a declarative statement about the monotheistic deity of later tradition that philosophical arguments, as you say, can be stated so as to be made compatible with"

Ignore for the moment the unintelligible use of language employed in this sentence (which you never clarified). Your inability to interpret human language in any consistent and rational way combined with your inability to understand the difference between a specific excerpt of the biblical text (e.g. "a declarative statement" understood according to fundamentalist hermeneutics) and an idea proposed by a religious tradition (i.e. an idea which is formed by sources of revelation, its historical experience, its liturgical actions, its customs, etc. all together) settles your intellectual approach to things squarely on the same level as the Westboro Baptists.

Like I said, of course I was oversimplifying. My opinion is only jaded by the facts that have come to light in the past 150 years thanks to new archaeological finds in the Middle East, though I'm sure you already heard all about those in 6th grade P.E. too.

Your opinion is not jaded. Your particular expression of the facts is. Your judgment that using that jaded expression to call my attention to something my words can not in any way be rationally interpreted to intend... as a spectator of that discussion... is narcissistic and irrational. Your continued attempts to hammer me with facts irrelevant to the discussion into which you inserted yourself suggests a psychological disorder.

Are you kidding? Every scholar knows that the biblical authors were myth-makers who lived in the deserts of Palestine in the iron age and herded animals. I would assume, if you have read anything on the subject, that you would know that too.

Ha! Every scholar knows that? Name five and provide citations.

That's great. Who cares if religion is fiction that simply deceives people into believing that their sacred myths are historical facts, I mean, look at that art it has produced! Wow. That's hilarious. Thanks man.

Incredible. You poor poor person. You really don't understand human interaction in any way but your own point of view, don't you? The point was: We built a giant and elaborate tomb for a 1st century Galilean fisherman who received the death penalty under the Roman empire. Given that understanding of humanity, do you think the occupations or time period of the biblical authors will matter that much? The point is that you could be ice-cream truck driver for all I know, but if you lead me to something that is true and good, I won't really care what your occupation or cultural or socioeconomic context is. I will definitely care about what you lead me to.

Finally, do you know who believes the "sacred myths" are historical facts? Fundamentalists. What have I written that would lead to to rationally conclude that this is my position? The answer is nothing.

Thanks to FatAndFaithless for pointing it out: Nestor, I am sorry if my words are abrasive and insulting. Our interaction has been extremely frustrating for me because I get the sense that you are not even attempting to rationally interpret what I am saying as well as the sense that you think you already know everything about my own philosophical and theological positions. Hopefully we can speak to each other more rationally in the future, and my own poorly used words above will remain to ensure that everyone has a chance to see my poor personal interactions. I guess all I can say is that I'll try to do better in the future, and I hope everyone will be patient with me and meet me half way.