J. E. HILL ASKS AND ANSWERS IN SKEPTICAL REVIEW ARTICLE
"Are there great differences separating the Genesis creation and other creation myths, and is the Genesis account really the closest to the Big Bang?" —JEHill
In this article in The Skeptical Review, John Hill goes over lots of material. After reading this material, you should have no doubt that 1) there is very little difference between many creation myths from that era and place (specially between the myths that the Bible borrowed from and Bible mythology itself) and 2) the Genesis account in the Bible bears almost no comparison to what we know about the undeniable evidence for the Big Bang.
Speaking of Bible mythology, may I also refer you to 101 Myths of the Bible: How Ancient Scribes Invented Biblical History by Gary Greenberg.
Then, if you find Greenberg's book interesting, as any open-minded curious person will find it, you may also be interested in one or more of the following books which you will find on the Amazon website on the same page as 101 Myths under "Customers who bought this item also bought"
Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard E. Friedman
The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read by Tim C. Leedom
Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of the Christian Myth by Burton L. Mack
The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe
The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Acharya S
And if you take all the evidence in this post seriously into account, you will have little trouble understanding why a Bush who takes the Bible literally could also be easily misled by Cheney and Perle and the mythology of Iraq they handed Bush. If Bush were a real president, rather than the worst presidential pretender in the history of American presidents, Bush would be a "burning Bush" indeed, thinking how his advisers misled him into his horrible blunder. He's either "burning" or in on and part of the Big Lie itself. Finally consider how JFK reacted after the Bay of Pigs, how he got very serious about his mistake and how he handled the error in a much more forceful manner.
3 comments:
Sounds like you have read alot of books. I wonder if any of those authors know the secrets of life? I wonder if they will have uncomprehendable peace when their on their death bed? Can they lead us TO the truth or AWAY from it? No one can prove to you that God exists, not me or any other human on the planet. There is only one way, that is by YOUR choice. You will die, it will be forever, your choice remains as long as you have breath. There is something on the inside of you that seeks the truth, God put that there as a kind of a compass to lead you back to him. People enjoy mocking the Bible because it convinces them that their right, therfore, that voice (or compass) can turn away and we can all return to our self indulged, purposeless, temporary lives. God wants better for you (remember He made you, unless you made yourself...didnt think so....)He loves you, He finds pleasure in you. He is a God of wrath. Now is the time of grace, you can chose freely. I urge you to read the Bible. Forget what you have read that is against it. With an open mind start in the book of John. Remember, the sum of your life is a mysterious number of days, of witch there is now one less than yesterday. You can call me personally if you want to respectfully encounter truth. I would love to talk with you. Jeff Devine 843 324 1609
Many scientists are approaching having the answer to the "secrets of life".
These commentaries by devineallthetime are full of unsubstantiated, purely personal claims about what is inside and outside of him (and by the psychological process of projection he also imagines in and out of all of us). None of his claims are provable or capable of being proven. They are the same kinds of personal and unprovable claims I have heard inmates of asylums make when I worked as a volunteer in mental hospitals. His statements are a projection of a purely personal and imagined mythology.
The most interesting thing devineallthetime reveals about himself is when he tell us that without his mythological god he thinks that the real world is "self-indulged, purposeless, temporary." Yes, of course, it's temporary; it's our mortality, but he's the one that makes his life "purposeless" and self-indulgent. I'm certainly not purposeless or overly self-indulgent. I am, however, human and can be selfish and wrong-headed at times. Who is perfect?
What a sad reflectiion, though, Mr. devineallthetime casts on what believers think of the natural world we're born to live in. They must imagine a god in order to give meaning to their otherwise meaningless lives or even to be a decent and law-abiding human being, I guess. And think of all the fear his statements reveal, because what he tries to tell us, he is also scaring himself with. It's pretty frightening to think what a monster devineallthetime might be if he didn't project an imaginary cop-in-the-sky to make himself behave. Boy, does he ever reveal his potential criminal tendencies by what he tells us about his insides. Thank goodness I don't need some cop in the sky to make me be a normal human being. Sad, sad, sad....
The terribly disrespectful thing about devineallthetime's commentaries is his attempt to project his own fears about himself, his god, his future life onto all the rest of us. Sadly, the portrait he reveals of what is inside of him is a portrait of a person riddled with fear and unconscious doubt and bound by his fears to a totally mythological answer to his fears. This condition, unfortunately is the condition of so many religious people who's reason and spirit were beaten down by fear as children until they can no longer think rationally about the natural world. In order to remain sane they must live in a world of wishful thinking.
I love to see when hosts of their own sites comment on the comments (thats what makes good blogs). As a unique individual, I respect your point of view and thankyou for a comment back. There is a term called "chasing rabbits", thats when a subject is debated in detail, from different points of view and I suppose 10 life times would'nt be enough to run down our ever elusive furry conclusion. So, my friend, I will leave you with honest truths, of which I think are universal and apply to all mankind. I want not to debate, but to share, you can poke holes in them if you like, but if you savor the mystery and awesomeness of these things I think your mortality may be rewarded. 1) Among the vastness of the universe, we are merly observers. As the occupants of just one planet, surley we should stand in humble amazment at our gallactical surroundings. On any given night (with the exeption of the moon) we see things we will never touch, never control, we did not design, did not make. Yeah, we give them names and have theorys about them, but as a 6' man on a shiny dot in a little galaxy, should we cast our tiny voices into the great unknown of space with such judgement and convivtion that a thought from a finite temporary human being has solved the greatest mystery of the largest and most ancient thing to ever exist, or should we respect the position we are in? The universe is not ours, nor the Earth. They were before us, they will be after us. They go on, day to day, with no help from us, yet we are ever reminded of its goodness when we eat of her fruit and animals, when we enjoy her beauty. You can say to me (a man) "there is no God", thats fine, but go out on a clear night, gaze into unknown and cast a voice at the entire universe of which we have found no end, and there throw your judgments into the mighty night sky. My friend, I say this with the upmost respect and ABSOLUTLY no decietfullness. As an athiest, you declare that you know a God has not made this, or you, or anything. As a Christian, I believe the Genesis acount, "In the beggining God made the Heavens and the Earth". God is speaking through the Bible, He is speaking through the night sky. Perhaps, instead of embracing your humanity, you could examine it, and all that is happening around you. I know your educated, and I know your a skeptic, but wont everything that man has made (including wisdom) perish some day? I beg you to seek, and the phone call offer still stands and I want you to know that every word that I wright is written FOR you not against you. -Devineallthetime
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