Mythology and the Bible

Joshua 10: 12-13

12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon."
13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on [2] its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.


What would happen if Earth stopped spinning?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/happen-earth-stopped-spinning-110010477.html

 

Physical impossibilities aside, it is HILARIOUS that Christians think that something like this could happen without ANY other historical source witnessing and recording it. And let's appreciate the hilarity that the ONLY source that Joshua appeals to . . . is a non-biblical source.

 

Nothing is beyond Gods ability to accomplish. If he can stop the earth from spinning, he can also stop everything from flying apart.

 

So God could accomplish his goals without ordering the murder of children, as he does in the Bible? That would make his infanticide purely recreational. Why are you okay with that?

 

I don't critique the work or will of God by my or anyone else's review.

 

God could have just stopped the rest of the universe from revolving around the Earth. People will just say God can do what he wants. Pointing to science doesn't really help.

The real question is why did no one else on the planet Earth noticed the 36 hour day?

A better interpretation of the passage is that the skies were clear and there was a full moon high the sky which lit the night allowing for the 36-hour day.

 

Yes. Because you, by your own admission, refuse to question your beliefs or apply reason to your beliefs. I don't.

 

Problem with that "interpretation" is that the Bible explicitly states that the sun stopped in the middle of the sky.

 

Why do you insist on a literal interpretation?

 

I don't have a belief to question. I know that God lives. I know this from the visitation of his spirit. The Bible is someone else's testimony of their relationship with God. If one of them says that God stopped the sun, I have to take it at face value as I know no different. Maybe God paused the entire solar system. Who knows. Knowing that God is a God of miracles, I have no reason to believe that it is all make believe as you suggest.

 

I don't believe you have a choice in that.

Once one starts review, things get crazy.

In this case, God stopped Earth from spinning so that Joshua could more easily continue his genocide for profit.

Then, we get the new religion of the NT, where God is love, help foreigners, the poor, the sick, the prisoners - or you will go to hell. As reported by Matthew.

And, for decades now, Christians, the USA, and others are fine with Israel getting on with its genocide in the ME!!

 

Frankly, I don't care if someone thinks their god changed the physics by which this universe works.

But, I do see it as important when religion is used to justify the denial of human rights to an entire population - especially including slaughter of men, women and children.

Living by the god of Joshua is not excusable in light of the New Testament's documented message from what is assumed to be the same god.

More thought than that IS required.

 

And this god just decided to stop doing things like that as soon as people had the capability of physically documenting it.... lol. Because what would be the fun if you had to stop sending people to hell for not believing in things without evidence?

 

Because the official document of a perfect god ought not to be full of bullshit.

 

I'm not sure what that means. But it might have something to do with the crucifixion of Jesus and dissolution and scattering of Israel to the four quarters of the earth two thousand years ago.

 

But... we are dealing with an Intelligence that has Infinite Technological Capability.....

www.CarbonBias.blogspot.ca/

 

Who believes it is "the official document of a perfect god"? Never heard that one before. Did you just make it up?

 

"Stopped" is based off a 3D human concept. Possibly it didn't stop but a time-space manipulation which human science has no knowledge about by far.

 

OR

It didn't happen at all and is just a myth.

 

I was curious about the book of Jasher so I found this Wikipedia article which offers several ideas about what it is

It also suggests that the account is a poetic description of a prolonged battle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Jasher_(biblical_book)

The book of Joshua was probably written almost a thousand years after the events it describes so it is probably based on an oral tradition or perhaps older books, like the mysterious Book of Jasher. One can only speculate since no one really knows what the book of Jasher is. . It is unlikely that the events of the book of Joshua happened the way it is described at all. Not only did the sun not literally stand still but the conquest of Canaan likely took several centuries.

The problem, I guess, is that many of us were taught to understand the Bible by people who have turned off critical thinking in favour of credulity. Or we know people who interpret it this way. So if the Bible says it happened that way it must’ve happened that way. The lack of curiosity in these interpretations really does a dis-service to these ancient texts. To understand ancient writings a person really has to work hard to understand the mindset of people who lived during the era after the Babylonian exile when most of the Old Testament books were compiled.


Personally, I like threads like this one because it does call out bible literalists and asks them to do the thinking they have chosen not to do on their own.
You also have to wonder what value a story like the book of Joshua has for the average person seeking religious enlightenment. I am always reminded of settlers in the West Bank who refer to the promise of this ancient tribal god as justification for driving out the current residents. It also reminds me of the Boers in South Africa who also believed this promise extended to them taking over the lands of the Bantu and the Zulu.

 

Literally, and many say, that God spoke to Job from a whirlwind. But when I read Job, I think the whirlwind was the somewhat furious, round and round debate he was having with the Priests who came to sit with him and attempt to console him in his misery and grief by counseling and lecturing him. So in it all he heard the voice of God. That's just my opinion as reading it is how it made me feel and think in consideration. I'm not a traditional biblical stooge.

 

I see more people turning off critical thinking in favor of ridicule. In fact, as you can see in this thread, these people are unwilling to allow anything but a literal interpretation. They've turned off all critical thinking in favor of ridicule.

Most writing of that time, and we have a lot of it, involves clay tablets which fit in the palm of your hand. The bloviation taught in most writing classes nowadays would not occur.

Eventually a new form of writing appeared in scrolls which allows a lot more to be written down. At a certain point, these clay tablets were compiled into the "books" you read now. If you wonder why they are all the same length, it was because the scrolls were able to be made a certain length. The medium of writing dictated how the writing was done. The compilation is obvious and the Bible does not deny it. Basically, everything, good and bad, went into the scrolls as long as God was in at least part of the subject.

The Bible is not a history book - it says so at least 10 ten times. Yet, those who want to ridicule it insist on reading it like a history book. This is called intellectual dishonesty.

 

lol... um... I guess you're not familiar with what the bible is in Christian theology?

 

I am very familiar with what the Bible is in multiple Christian theologies. "The official document of a perfect god" is not in any Christian theology I know of. Which Christian theology are you thinking of?

 

I don't see why y'all don't let people believe what they want. Live and let live.