(December 7, 2011 at 1:56 am)Stimbo Wrote: Agreed. Barre, you might be better off trying to float this on some xtian forum. Around here the first step would have to be to demonstrate why we should take anything from the bible seriously, before disappearing down the rabbit hole chasing after some esoteric spiritual meaning of the story. Not all of us automatically buy into the veracity of holy books, especially when the text is known to be filled with inaccuracies. distortions and pure fantasy. Hardly a reliable source of information.
I for one do not think that the Bible is "Holy." I treat the writings contained in the Bible as I would any other ancient writing. Also, as "Canon" is a religious notion, I do not accept the common "inside/outside the Bible" dichotomy as methodologically irrelevant. Also, the talk of wanting "proof" in research that involves empirical data can only generate theses that are judged by degrees of probability. This is because someone can introduce new, relevant data, or one might advance new arguments that either increase or decrease the probability assessment of a given thesis.
