(March 17, 2023 at 7:46 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:

(March 13, 2023 at 3:46 pm)Gwaithmir Wrote: Of course, it’s easy for us with our 21st Century, materialistic minds to dismiss the Bible as a load of rubbish. But in the actual analysis, that is exactly what the Bible turns out to be---a load of rubbish! It is a book of nonsensical, fantastic stories about talking animals, talking bushes, mythical creatures, people rising from the dead, magic and pseudo-history. It is the creation of ignorant, fallible men, reflecting the prejudices, superstitions, bad theology and fears of the times in which it was written. It promotes slavery, ethnic cleansing, race prejudice, wars of conquest, the subjugation of women, child abuse and genital mutilation. It promotes the worship and celebration of a god who is little more than an egotistical, homicidal, fear-mongering tyrant. It is a book which any reasonable, intellectually honest, and intelligent person should heartily dismiss as bad fiction. 

The hate is strong in this one.

Truth often seems hateful to the one who is wrong.

(March 19, 2023 at 7:28 pm)polymath257 Wrote:

(March 17, 2023 at 7:46 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: The hate is strong in this one.

Truth often seems hateful to the one who is wrong.

And what you perceive to be true can be distorted by your hatred.

If you agree with Gwaithmir's statements here, you would have to say that Isaac Newton and Georges Lemaître, among many others, were unintelligent.

When it comes to Newton, he pretty much originated/ revived deism, which then pretty much caused the fall of Christianity in Europe. So there is that.

Quote:Belief in God based on reason rather than revelation or the teaching of any specific religion is known as deism. The word originated in England in the early 17th century as a rejection of orthodox Christianity. Deists asserted that reason could find evidence of God in nature and that God had created the world and then left it to operate under the natural laws devised by God. By the late 18th century, deism was the dominant religious attitude among Europe’s educated classes; it was accepted by many upper-class Americans of the same era, including the first three US presidents.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictiona...ristianity.

It's clear that people who read the Bible literally, as if it were meant to be something it's not, will condemn it as bad journalism. Or if they judge that all books should be adventure stories with clear good guys and bad guys, like adolescent fiction or Tolkien.

And bigots who judge all Christians by the actions of the very worst Christians will call them all evil.

But genuine polymaths will know enough philology, hermeneutics, and theology to understand why the Bible is far more than "bad fiction." Hatred can cause people to have blind spots in their knowledge, but genuine polymaths like Newton and Lemaître had fewer blind spots than people with narrower perspectives.

Apologists inserting their own novelesque memes. Nice.

https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/...-the-bible