biblical evidences,

[kryptic]

????
Any evidences of biblical stories?
Fact or fable?

[jno]

kryptic, there was a particular flood when the sea poured very rapidly into the Black Sea (which used to be a freshwater lake) as levels rose after the ice age, about 7000BC. Divers have found drowned villages on what would have been the original shoreline. It made its way into Babylonian legend as well as the Bible. Not surprisingly, the event lingered on in folk memory until finally written down - not at all an unusual thing in those days, and could easily have happened to Jesus' life too. As for the ark, I have no idea if that's based on anything or not; as I said, archaeological evidence seldom bears out specific incidents like that.

[Zabadak]

Kryptic: Read A History of the World in 10½ Chapters Julian Barnes for the definitive answer: apparently they grew tired of an endless diet of gopher wood.

[kryptic]

From my own laymans reading of the OT Judaism was a horrible, vile religion. Funny how it takes my christian friend a lot of explaining to me that in fact it was a loving peacful faith and that the god it portrays is in fact an omnibenevolent being with our best interests at heart. You wouldnt beleive the hoops he jumps through to rationalize the barbarity of the bible.

[beso]

Zabadak

A hypothesis is disproved by a single example, so critique is allowed to be selective. Those who make the claim of the divinity of the book are not allowed to overlook what they find inconvenient.

Remember that the Book is portrayed as the advice from God and a manual for humanity. A book upheld as morals should contain only worthy morals. Anything that fails that description is testimony to the worthlessness of the book and there is plenty of it.

[beso]

Yes jno. Ancient stories can be the basis of folklore. Surviving so many generations is bound to lead to severe exaggeration. In itself this is quite harmless.

However the claim that the culmination of such ancient corrupted stories represents the pinnacle of our moral potential is clearly ridiculous.

[beso]

Judaism was and still is a vile religion.

It shares the same roots with Islam and Christianity. All those who worship Abraham's Monster have blood on their hands.

[Zabadak]

Quite right, Beso. So if you hypothesise that the Bible is about genocide and animal sacrifice, then there are plenty of counter examples to show that it's much more complex than that. If you stipulate that there is no historical evidence for any of the Bible events, then a single example (I cited the Cyrus cylinder, but there are hosts of others) is enough to disprove your ridiculous assertion.
The Bible as a record of people trying to understand what God wants and put it into practice is a most formidable collection of historical data. That it doesn't deliver a coherent, monolithic formula is one of its great strengths.

[Zabadak]

Beo //Judaism was and still is a vile religion// Which version?

[beso]

My hypothesis is that the Bible is just a book and I provide evidence for that. My conclusion is that is unworthy of having an exalted place in modern society.

The onus to prove otherwise is on those who claim it is manual for humanity.

[beso]

No Fezzy. He offers his virgin daughters but the Sods refuse eventually accepting his housekeeper. By morning she is dead.

Then he hacks her body to pieces and sends the parts far and wide to the leaders of the Hebrew settlements and says "look what they have done".

Then Lot proceeded to impregnate his daughters and they bore him sons.

Lot is later upheld as an example of a great man.

[Zabadak]

Beso As I recall, this thread is about whether there are any proofs for the Biblical stories. Your answer, that there are none, is clearly ridiculous and should be withdrawn. The Bible is a collection so works, some historical, some fanciful, many poetic or theological. Whether it is worthy of respect or not is a matter of personal taste and can neither be proved or disproved.

[Zabadak]

Beso: where is Lot cited as a great man? He and uncle Abraham are not portrayed as perfect exemplars, and often got things wrong. That's the point of this kind of story.

[beso]

Fair enough. There are places mentioned in the Bible that do exist.

However that are many, many aspects of the Bible that have absolutely zero corroborating evidence. Moreover it is not even self consistent with many conflicting statements.

[beso]

Don't know the verse where Lot is exemplified. Unfortunately "lot" is in a lot of pages.

However consider how his wife was turned to a pillar of salt for simply looking back while he lived a great life despite committing incest and offering women to rapists.

[beso]

Typically, Zab questions the trivialities and overlooks that Lot impregnated his daughters.

Yet the Hebrews murdered the people living in their "Promised Land: for the same.

[kryptic]

Zabadak, the bible doesnt call Lot a great man but it does call him a righteous man (2 peter 2:7) http://www.biblegatew...20Peter+2&version=NIV
I personally dont know anyone who considers anyone righteous after offering their daughters to be gang raped.

[beso]

Little wonder that priests r00ting choirboys is looked on by the church as a misdemeanour.