(October 16, 2018 at 4:39 pm)Grandizer Wrote:(October 16, 2018 at 4:23 pm)SteveII Wrote: Wait, if the first chapter of Genesis 1 is a different genre (poetry) than the rest of Genesis; meant to be sung/chanted with nice, grand, metered verses that repeat phrases in a much older dialect of Hebrew; has similar elements to other religions--so may be a distinction to some of those; that does not affect anything? I really can't believe you just said that understanding the provenance of the text has nothing to do with the question of literal or allegorical. What is this thread for? You don't even understand what it is you are attempting. Anything that follows from a 5th grade reading of an English translation is meaningless.
Here we go with your mantra again. I don't understand anything, clearly.
Poetry is not the same as allegory. Poetry can still be taken literally.
And Genesis 2 (excluding the first 3 verses) is in prose form.
And I did not say (but expressed doubt) that a historical understanding of the origins of these passages had anything to say about whether it should be taken literally or not.
But do go on being the dramatic fruitcake that you are.
I'm just saying that your "Bible Study" is really "let's just read it". Hermeneutics, textual criticism, exegesis be damned! No wonder there is such a disconnect between what most atheists think Christians believe and what they actually believe. I have to thank you for making that clear to me.
You didn't even discuss who might have written it and when. How can you come to any conclusions whatsoever as to the meaning--BECAUSE in 100% of all cases of something written, the meaning the author intended and the context he which it was written is the most two most important pieces of the puzzle.
