(October 10, 2015 at 2:52 pm)Randys brother Wrote:(October 10, 2015 at 2:33 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: You apparently didn't listen to a word I said. All your article does is criticize Finkelstein for being a skeptic, and implies that he's a Minimalist even though he is not, says he is not, and disagrees with the Minimalists on numerous accounts. The only serious scholar quoted in your referenced article is Kenneth Kitchen, an Evangelical Christian and Biblical Literalist. That's exactly the opposite of what I meant when I said that you need to look to sources outside your original frame of reference.
You also clearly didn't watch Dr. Finkelstein's video, in which he explains several of the problems with the Tel Dan find, of which the author is apparently unaware, as referenced by the article you cited.
Edit to Add: Seriously, in reference to a guy who lives and works every day in the Holy Land, you referenced these guys:
Apologetics Press
230 Landmark Drive
Montgomery, Alabama 36117
U.S.A.
Think on that for a little bit. No joke. Not being mean. I want you to really consider your biases.
(Another Google Maps photo of the place.)
And that's still a NO!
Why no? Why would you prefer to keep hearing the same thing, over and over, from people who will only ever agree with you because they started out with the same pre-suppositions that you did?
Why are you afraid to even look with an honest heart and an open mind, at what others have to say about it? ("Others" = experts in the field who are not just fellow Evangelicals. They may be Jews or Christians, but Evangelicals have a very particular skew to the way they look at things, because they make it a philosophical point to never agree with anything which might challenge what they already think is true. That's not scholarship, and it's not honesty.)
If you say "no" when you're shown that something you claimed is not a normal view of that subject, but only the view of one particular small sect (on the global scale, Evangelicals are small; they're only dominant in the deep south of the USA, where I am from), then you are willfully closing your mind and surrendering your intellectual honesty. To do that is to choose willful ignorance... on purpose.
That's madness! You must be smarter than that. You must! I have faith in you. I hope it is not misplaced.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
