Re: tsunami impact on animals

Your last sentence isn't entirely clear. The Nag Hammadi texts of course do tell us how the writers _of those texts_ understood the OT. Whether or not they (a) understood them correctly or (b) understood them the way Jesus did is of course another matter.

That is why comparing the texts is so important to widen the scope of inquiry to be sure you are getting the intent of the writers. If a basic theological idea exists in the Zend Avesta and in genesis, and in the NT and in the nag hammadi texts I can safely assume it is a core religious idea. For example, I haven't entered the thread in which someone asked about the absence of night in a redeemed world. The battle between light and darkness (dualism) can be found in its earliest form in the Vedas. It travels to Persia with Zoroaster and pops up in the OT, the NT, the Kabbalah and the NG texts. I can safely assume this is a core theological idea and I can track its development in the texts from the Indus Valley to Persia to Jerusalem with the return of the exiles and determine it is not an abberation in theological thought. I can compare the texts this way to find out where they agree and when I find agreement across them all, this is a core religious idea. The paper True Rel!
igion I keep mentioning (sorry) interprets two stories in genesis. The stories are important because one is the proper attitude of an individual in the face of God (and Adam's fall) and the other is the proper attitude of a family or a tribe in the face of God, respectively the personal and communal aspects of religion.
If you think I'm wrong on a point, please argue it. I would appreciate that.

rich
Received on Wed Jan 12 07:46:24 2005