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Sean Faircloth:
Attack of the Theocrats!
Alexander’s piece begins its errors in its title:
The Bible explicitly says it was to save us from the original sin of the aforementioned non-existent people – so no, the idea won’t work. But Alexander’s preoccupations lie elsewhere:
So, less than the age of the Bible then. Which means it’s not based on the Bible, but on efforts to make the Bible fit with later findings. That Alexander is guilty of this will becomes clear soon:
But that’s not the Bible suggesting it; that’s some of the Bible’s earliest apologists insisting the Bible doesn’t mean what it says. In other words, it’s the “thinkers” suggesting it, not the Bible!
So have literal understandings of Genesis. And Christians have killed each other for centuries over whether this bit or that bit in doctrine is literal or not: just look at transubstantiation and consubstantiation. Meanwhile, a literal understanding of, say, the Resurrection has always been pretty much universal, and still is. But how does anyone tell which bits are which? By conceding the literal wrongness of as little as possible given the findings of science, history etc. I’m tired of theists using the fact that metaphors exist at all as a get out of jail free card for every single Biblical bit of nonsense. Are we supposed to metaphorically stone to death engaged rape victims and, if so, what does that metaphor mean?
Of course, you might argue this bit or that bit really is blatantly a metaphor because of what it says, like in this argument:
That’s just a guess: if there’s only one man in a story, he may be called “the man” whether or not he’s meant to stand for lots of men. But even if this argument worked, it would actually not be an argument for that section being metaphorical, but for its literal meaning being such and such. This is what’s wrong with theists using the “metaphor” trick: they’ve become so used to doing it without thought they might resort to it unnecessarily.
It tells the story of Adam and Eve doing that. Were all women created from the ribs of all men? This “stands for us all” stuff is blatant nonsense. In any case, Alexander can’t even keep his story straight:
But that comparison means either Adam is only one guy like Jesus or Christ represents us all like Adam, and Alexander will never conceive either of those options. Also, this definition of sin contradicts the whole of the Old Testament, which Jesus said remains valid indefinitely – and even if Christianity doesn’t agree with that, it would mean Judaism – which follows the OT – has a falsity about it Christianity doesn’t concede in itself, which seems quite anti–Semitic.
After that, the mean number of errors per paragraph escalates for the conclusion:
Going back to the evolution problem Alexander raised, where in the family tree of primates did Hell first await those who dissatisfied this still unproven god, and why – and how, given the gradualness of evolution? No primate species has first members. And why do we have responsibilities to God? Being omnipotent, He cannot be harmed. In any case, Christianity never concedes we should apologise to or otherwise make amends to those non–divine people we’ve wronged, so don’t pretend that Christianity recognises our responsibilities to our neighbours; the point of confession is that, even where we have harmed humans, it is God we need to appease. Also, “free will” is rather at odds with what we know of neurology – and again, if it’s applicable to us but not to, say, chimpanzees, how does that evolutionarily work? And as for this Christmas gift (shouldn’t it be Easter gift?) nonsense, guess what: humans haven’t really fallen, as per either a literal or figurative reading of Genesis; our ancestors were not more ethical than us. Look at the homicide rates per capita in primate species, and include humans in that analysis. Read Steven Pinker’s recent book on the decay of violence. We are not a fallen angel; we are a risen ape.
Permalink Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:13:04 UTC | #902378