Re: [asa] getting my anecdotes straightened out

Merv:

While I agree the Bible teaches no such thing, and the result of an "unfortunate"
translation in the King James:

"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept;
and he took one of his ribs, and closed the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman,
and brought her unto the man" Genesis 2:21,22

The word used for rib here more literally means "curved".
In Ex 25:14, the sides of the Ark, are its "ribs".
Since we have all heard of the rib of a boat, one wonders whether the
translators of the KJ, ever meant the rib as a bone.

However, the next verse powerfully says,
"And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
She shall be called Woman because she has been taken out of Man."

Anyway, my only point her was to confess that I believed the very same
thing as this woman until I nearly graduated from high school, having
had no experience with female anatomy until well into my college years.
How I came to believe this is utterly lost in history. Of course, I also
had a lot of other strange ideas, like where babies came from, and I'm
certain no one taught such things to me. For the record, I believed that
somehow babies came out of the navel of woman. I didn't have a very
detailed theory. I was simply never called upon to get more detailed.
Reflecting the times, I remember in college a friend of mine consulting
an encyclopedia when his parents were away as to the nature of female
anatomy. I don't think I'd exchange such naivete for today's enlightened
views among the very young.

bill powers
White, SD

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:42:15 -0600, Merv Bitikofer <mrb22667@kansas.net> wrote:
> Can anybody remember the source of this, or discern if it is no more
> than urban legend?
>
> From the point of view of an anthropology professor, the story
> goes.... a young lady raised her hand in class and quite calmly and
> seriously informed him that it was impossible that men and women have
> the same number of ribs because the Bible teaches otherwise. The
> incredulous professor then challenges her to go examine the skeletons in
> the lab to see for herself.
>
> This was probably used in the context of belittling creationists (I
> think.). But I can't remember where I read it. I want to say in one of
> Stephen Jay Gould's books, but I'm not sure. (And Gould is generally
> more respectful towards believers though he could be feisty in his own
> right on behalf of truth and science.)
>
> Oh ---and please note; this isn't to open commentary on the anecdote
> itself. Obviously the claimed facts are all wrong and the Bible teaches
> no such thing about our rib counts today. And of course most reflective
> creationists would never make such a claim. The point of the whole
> thing is/was to illustrate a simple-minded interaction between belief
> and the self-prided hard core "scientist". I want to find the source
> to see if the alleged event is convincingly documented to have happened.
>
> --Merv
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Feb 20 09:02:04 2009