(July 18, 2011 at 1:27 pm)TheCarlisle Wrote: You cannot say, "And Yahweh said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel." if Yahweh is not God. Since they are different entities, their names cannot be interchanged so lightly. God is the name of the only god in the Bible. God said that quote, not Yahweh (which I assume is also a god?).
OK, apparently I haven't been clear enough.
You do know that the OT was written in ancient Hebrew, not Jacobian English, I'm sure. The term for the ancient Hebrew god, the one you also revere, was called "YHWH", alternatively pronounced "YaHWeh" or "YeHWovaH" (Jehovah). I didn't invent the name "Yahweh". That's the name the Jews give to their god, which you claim is your god, as combined with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Now, I understand that when you say "God", you mean "Yahweh/Jesus". When a Muslim says "God", they mean "Allah". When I say "God", I mean the Creator, who likely bears no resemblance to any of the gods invented by humanity.
At this point, you may be a little confused, because to you, Yahweh/Jesus IS the Creator and therefore God. Try to think now about the Muslim who thinks Allah is the Creator and therefore God. Think about your view of his claim. Now you understand how I view your claim that Yahweh/Jesus is God.
As you view Zeus, Odin, Ra, Allah, Shiva, Chetzaquatil, etc, this is a view I share. What makes us different is that I place Yahweh and Jesus in the same mix of false idols and imaginary gods. When you understand how you view all these pagan gods, you understand how I see yours.
This gets back to your question of how I see the Bible. It's your mythology.
Quote:Anyways, when you cherry-picked the verses in Exodus, you came to the wrong conclusion. Israel was in Egypt for a much longer time than 80 or so years; which is nowhere near the time needed to build cities with even 700 people. If what you were saying was true, it would be a gaping hole in Christian history
And that's just one of many fun facts about the Bible. The thing is, few Christians read the Bible (and, I venture to speculate even fewer Catholics). Most Christians treat the Bible like a computer software license agreement. Nobody reads it. They just scroll to the bottom and click "I agree". Those who do deconvert from Christianity to atheism often cite reading the Bible as their first step to deconversion.
Quote:“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
People lived hundreds of years back then, sometimes several hundred, if the OT is to be believed. So four generations in 400 years seems... consistent.
So do you think people lived hundreds of years back then? And Jewish-Egyptian women had about 50 or so children each? Oy!
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
