RE: Incredulous Logic
September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am
(This post was last modified: September 7, 2011 at 10:44 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Ryft, continuing on from your verse, and assuming that Jeremiah was written sometime in the 6th century BC, what do you imagine those laws that the verse is describing are?
I understand that interpreting verses such as Jer 33:25 today, and specifically from a point of strong faith (and an apparent need to make it reasonable) as somehow related to our current understanding of the cosmos is a common thread in apologetics. However, the verse you've quoted is literally drawing authority, (and giving assurance) from laws which we now understand to be incorrect. It's akin to saying "I who have created the earth as an island amidst the waters, under the firmament which I have left openings in to provide light, have made this promise". If you wanted to take a look at the cosmology and science that we find reference to in the OT you may want to have a look at the link below. Jeremiah specifically would have had access to this information as he is said to have lived in the zenith of Chaldean science. Before and during Babylonian occupation, and of course he was an educated man (from a land-owning family), a priest, or prophetic minister of some sort. It would be difficult to translate the influence of Babylonian (and especially Chaldean) science out of the OT, as it is leveraged in just about any statement of material knowledge in the text. It was the best science of the time, and obviously known the authors. If you were to argue that Jeremiah had no laws in mind it becomes an empty statement, and an empty promise.
I understand that you have interpreted this in some general sort of way that would appear to be in concordance (or at least not contradictory) with the physics and cosmology of today, but it clearly would not, and could not have been. I'm of the opinion that this amounts to little more than quote mining.
http://www.astro.uu.nl/~vgent/babylon/babybibl.htm
I understand that interpreting verses such as Jer 33:25 today, and specifically from a point of strong faith (and an apparent need to make it reasonable) as somehow related to our current understanding of the cosmos is a common thread in apologetics. However, the verse you've quoted is literally drawing authority, (and giving assurance) from laws which we now understand to be incorrect. It's akin to saying "I who have created the earth as an island amidst the waters, under the firmament which I have left openings in to provide light, have made this promise". If you wanted to take a look at the cosmology and science that we find reference to in the OT you may want to have a look at the link below. Jeremiah specifically would have had access to this information as he is said to have lived in the zenith of Chaldean science. Before and during Babylonian occupation, and of course he was an educated man (from a land-owning family), a priest, or prophetic minister of some sort. It would be difficult to translate the influence of Babylonian (and especially Chaldean) science out of the OT, as it is leveraged in just about any statement of material knowledge in the text. It was the best science of the time, and obviously known the authors. If you were to argue that Jeremiah had no laws in mind it becomes an empty statement, and an empty promise.
I understand that you have interpreted this in some general sort of way that would appear to be in concordance (or at least not contradictory) with the physics and cosmology of today, but it clearly would not, and could not have been. I'm of the opinion that this amounts to little more than quote mining.
http://www.astro.uu.nl/~vgent/babylon/babybibl.htm
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