Comments on: Cretin Museum http://scarson.stblogs.com/2007/06/02/cretin-museum/ Meandering thoughts about philosophy, religion, morality, politics, Greek and Latin literature, and anything else I can think of to avoid doing any real work Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:24:51 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 By: scarson http://scarson.stblogs.com/2007/06/02/cretin-museum/comment-page-1/#comment-785 scarson Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:11:31 +0000 http://scarson.stblogs.com/2007/06/02/cretin-museum/#comment-785 Maybe I shouldn't have said "quite clearly". But you have to be willing to play the fundamentalist interpretive game. There are two ground rules: (1) the Bible is literally true (2) everything in the Bible is consistent with what we can observe today. To take an example of how to play the game: we can see dinosaur fossils today, but the Bible nowhere says that God caused dinosaurs to evolve or even to exist. Therefore, God put those fossils there to test our faith (this is a response that was actually given to me by a fundamentalist when I asked him about the fossil record). OK, so, apply the rules to the present case: humans eat animals today, but the Bible nowhere says that humans can <i>not</i> eat meat, nor does it say that humans only began to eat meat at the Fall as a consequence of sin. Therefore etc. etc. I admit that it can be a fun game if you're willing to exploit the rules, you know, like the way soccer players will move up to force an offsides call against their opponent. Maybe I shouldn’t have said “quite clearly”.

But you have to be willing to play the fundamentalist interpretive game. There are two ground rules:

(1) the Bible is literally true
(2) everything in the Bible is consistent with what we can observe today.

To take an example of how to play the game: we can see dinosaur fossils today, but the Bible nowhere says that God caused dinosaurs to evolve or even to exist. Therefore, God put those fossils there to test our faith (this is a response that was actually given to me by a fundamentalist when I asked him about the fossil record).

OK, so, apply the rules to the present case: humans eat animals today, but the Bible nowhere says that humans can not eat meat, nor does it say that humans only began to eat meat at the Fall as a consequence of sin. Therefore etc. etc.

I admit that it can be a fun game if you’re willing to exploit the rules, you know, like the way soccer players will move up to force an offsides call against their opponent.

]]> By: thedivinelamp http://scarson.stblogs.com/2007/06/02/cretin-museum/comment-page-1/#comment-784 thedivinelamp Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:21:52 +0000 http://scarson.stblogs.com/2007/06/02/cretin-museum/#comment-784 Nice title! I've actually read some creationist commentaries on the Bible that go to unbelievable extremes, but that statement about plants is way out there. <i>It’s worth pointing out, just for fun, that the book of Genesis says quite clearly that humans were given some of the animals to eat for food even before the Fall, even though, according to the museum, animals are just as “alive” as human beings. So much for that part of the theory.</i> Are you sure about this? I don't recall any such passage. Nice title! I’ve actually read some creationist commentaries on the Bible that go to unbelievable extremes, but that statement about plants is way out there.

It’s worth pointing out, just for fun, that the book of Genesis says quite clearly that humans were given some of the animals to eat for food even before the Fall, even though, according to the museum, animals are just as “alive” as human beings. So much for that part of the theory.

Are you sure about this? I don’t recall any such passage.

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