rewriting the bible part 2 - exodus

[The Inquisition]

[Aractus]

There was a old story of how the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians and how moses lead his people to freedom. 
Let's get some things things clear. They were never in Egypt nor they were slaves in Egypt. And thus the story
is fiction. The stories themselves came about in the 8th and 5th centuries B.C.E respectively. It's mythical story
telling nothing more nothing less.

I have a huge problem with your classification of "mythology" as "fiction". They do not mean the same thing, nor are the terms interchangeable.

The second thing we have no idea about is when the Exodus story was first told. Yes it was probably first written in Hebrew in the 8th-7th century BC, but that doesn't mean it wasn't written down in a prior Canaanite language first and then copied into Hebrew. And it could have been around for many centuries or even millennia before it was recorded.

A Myth has a metaphysical reality that fiction does not have. It is something that has been created by an entire group of people over time - a culture, or a tribe. It is created unconsciously, progressively, and reflects upon the beliefs and the world view of the culture from which it appears. It is definitely not fiction - fiction is a conscious creation of work, and fictional works do not even come close to being comparable with myths.

The fact that you misuse this word shows you have a very poor understanding of its meaning. Allow me to give you an example: I say to you that your consciousness does not exist. It has no physical reality, it's just a belief that you and the people you know have come to accept as true, and I say to you that it's fiction. This is why you can't confuse metaphysics with fiction. You didn't consciously invent your consciousness, and neither did anyone else, it's a metaphysical construct, but it's not fiction. Another metaphysical construct is ownership. It too has no physical reality; but it has meaning in our society. This computer is "my computer", that's how I perceive ownership, and most other people perceive physical property it in the same way: it's a shared perspective. But it only has meaning because of the beliefs by others in society that the construct exists and is valid. Would you call the concept of ownership a work of "fiction"?

All these constructs I've mentioned have different functions. For example, it is Myths themselves that provide for a religious experience, which in turn can enhance or alter a person's perceptions of self and self-worth. Fiction does not provide those functions. Myths facilitate the creation and persistence and even transformation of culture; thus largely accounting for the diversity in the world today. Fiction can not provide a comparable function to this.

[The Inquisition]

All these constructs I've mentioned have different functions. For example, it is Myths themselves that provide for a religious experience, which in turn can enhance or alter a person's perceptions of self and self-worth. Fiction does not provide those functions. Myths facilitate the creation and persistence and even transformation of culture; thus largely accounting for the diversity in the world today. Fiction can not provide a comparable function to this.

I think that that's an awfully broad brush you just painted with that statement, I think the Lord of The Rings; for example, can fulfill all of the functions you associated with myth.

[FebruaryOfReason]

[Minimalist]

No fair using facts on a fucktard like Dripshit.

[FebruaryOfReason]

No fair using facts on a fucktard like Dripshit.

I'd just like to add a caveat.

I said it was in the Bible, but I emphatically did not mean to imply that it was therefore true!

It is a fact that it is in the Bible, certainly.

[Minimalist]

Which is what I thought your point was.

One thing about Drippy.  I don't think he has ever read that fucking bible of his.  If he has, he missed a lot.  Good job pointing out another of his little fuck-ups.

[The Grand Nudger]

I have a huge problem with your classification of "mythology" as "fiction". They do not mean the same thing, nor are the terms interchangeable.

All mythology is fiction, not all fiction is mythology.  What's the problem?  

A Myth has a metaphysical reality that fiction does not have. It is something that has been created by an entire group of people over time - a culture, or a tribe. It is created unconsciously, progressively, and reflects upon the beliefs and the world view of the culture from which it appears. It is definitely not fiction - fiction is a conscious creation of work, and fictional works do not even come close to being comparable with myths.

You mean like multiple authors writing multiple fan fic star wars anthologies that each feels expresses or addresses some great "metaphysical reality" reflecting the beliefs and cultures from whence they appear?   You think that others have a misunderstanding, I think that you fail to properly appreciate fiction. You think that it can't provide what mythology, as a subset... provides (an absurd claim on it's face), my response is simply to say the names Suess, Tolkein, Dick, and Roddenberry.

[Aractus]

It has nothing to do with multiple authors or single authors. It has to do with the fact that Myths are an unconscious creation, whereas Fiction is a conscious creation.

[Wyrd of Gawd]