Atheist Bible Study 1: Genesis

[GrandizerII]

I had to read a retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh as a kid (it was part of a subject back in high school in my homecountry), and the flood narrative is indeed very, very similar to the account in Genesis.

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There are many ways to study writings, including textual criticism and sharing one's personal thoughts on what they just read.

I disagree. If you do not know where the text comes from, who wrote it, when, the type of literature and that it is different then the rest of the book of Genesis, you can't possible just read it and think you can understand it.

I'm not sure how any of that has to do with whether the first passages in Genesis should be taken "literally" or allegorically.

What you just said is how we get YEC.

Or OEC ... or theistic evolution ...

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Vulcan, I'm ready to move on to the next passage soon. If you still want to do Genesis 1, you can still do that even after we've moved on to Genesis 2.

Belaqua and other interested parties, you can start anytime with your studying/analysis/commentary on Adam and Eve.

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I do not trust the NIV. I've heard from Biblical scholars that the NIV translators were evangelically biased and used some funny business to cover up the difficult verses. In older versions of the NIV on Genesis 1:14 they used the word expanse when firmament may be more accurate. In ancient Mesopotamia the sky was viewed as a solid dome that held back water. I just checked and they changed it to "vault" in the current version. I admit it's easy to read but I no longer trust it based on what several scholars have said.

Yeah, it's "vault" now ... which isn't too misleading, honestly. But I see what you mean, and I've taken that into account, of course.