Re: Firmament and the Water above was [asa] Re: Slug

And may I be so presumptuous as to try to summarize the thread, as someone suggested ought to be done as we wrap up a phase of the discussion?
Here's my take:

1) All sacred documents ought to be evaluated with the same objective criteria, be it the Bible, the text of the Mormons, or Glenn's tale of the green slug.
2) A sacred document with no historical or physical statement or any reference to a document with such a statement leads to an untestable subjective position, essentially that of Gould's NOMA that separates religion from any practical reality.
3) The Bible's account of the Incarnation and Jesus' death and resurrection is the core historical reality of the Christian faith.
4) The historical content of Gen. 1-11 is where the differences of opinion are in this thread. None of the positions below appear to be able to conclusively prove or disprove the validity of the Bible as a whole.
a) those who claim any degree of historical content differ widely on just what that content is and how it relates to scientific observations. These concordist discussions will continue forever. Unfortunately, the wide range of possible interpretations diminishes the impact of any one of them. However, at the very least, the understanding of these passages in the context of the culture in which they occurred is the right starting point, though possibly not the whole story.
b) those who claim no clear historical content need a sound justification for rejecting the physical history of what at the very least appears to be an historical account while accepting the theological message and yet avoiding the pitfall of arbitrarily picking and choosing interpretations to justify a presupposition of accuracy.

The discussions are very helpful and should/will continue. But maybe after a pause for fresh air.

Randy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack Haas" <haas.john@comcast.net>

Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 11:16 AM
Subject: Re: Firmament and the Water above was [asa] Re: Slug

> Glen:
>
> I think that Bill and all are saying is that its time to take a break
> from the topic. Now if we could do the
> same with the Re: Episc..... a breath of fresh air might appear.
>
> Jack Haas
>

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Received on Tue Jun 20 12:04:54 2006