Re: Source Code for OS?

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Paul Schlyter wrote:

> In article <3A7F793B.20DB2313@inetnebr.com>,
> Roy and/or Janet Miller  <millers@inetnebr.com> wrote:
>
> > I can give more facts, but the short answer is this: for more
> > than two centuries, people have assumed the Bible to be unreliable,
> > but when tested it has stood.
>
> Not quite.  For instance, the universe wasn't created exactly as
> described in Genesis...
>

There are two problems with your statement. The first shows that your own
understanding of Genesis is as flawed as those who believe the universe
is only 25,000 years old. Genesis 1:1 -2:3 presents creation in two sets
of three days, the second set filling out the details of the first set,
and all leading to the seventh day as a day of rest. This account
presents the creator as El in the plural form (often seen as a plural of
majesty, but it also has other functions.) El was the supreme god of the
pantheon of the Ancient Near East, and one of the functions of the
passage is to show that El is the only true God, and the creator God.
Another function is very important, and almost never noticed by those
with a Western (read Greek) approach. A greek mindset is concerned with
origins, and how things have come to be. But if you were a former slave
in Egypt (or your father was) and you are about to invade a land where
you are out numbered, where the enemy is vastly superior to you in
technology, esp the technology of war (walled cities, and you have no
machines of war, nor the technology to construct such) what you are
interested in is can this God who is leading you in this war, lead you to
victory, or to death? In short, not a theoretical approach, but a very
pragmatic approach. What Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 shows is that in every sphere
El is the creator and master, in the air, over the sea, as well as land.
The interesting thing is that the second account (beginning at Genesis
2:4) presents a creation of one day, and the creator is still El, but
appended to El is Yahweh, the name by which El entered into covenant with
Israel. In short, the creator is the God who redeemed Israel from Egypt,
and who will lead Israel to defeat the armies of Canaan.

The other problem with your statement is that science can not make such a
statement as you have made. Since no one was there, and creation is not a
repeatable event, one cannot say for certain that the model now being
presented is what really happened. Even in my own lifetime other models
had once been taught. However unlikely (science can be as bad as religion
when it comes to orthodoxy), it is possible that a new model could
replace the current one.

But again, Genesis doesn't say HOW, it says WHO.

Roy

>
> --
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> Paul Schlyter,  Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
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