Quote:
Originally posted by InfX708:
Quote:
Originally posted by rift:
[b]Genesis 8:21
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.[/b]
Number one, who ever translated this portion did a bad job, or else God wasn't talking about the desert. Maybe it's cursed for a reason other than man, which I suppose is understandable, but hardly the fault of anyone else, as no other creature is credited with having free will.

With regard to a literal interpretation of the bible vs. a parable interpretation, I tend to lean toward the parable side. Makes sense. Jesus taught in parables. You can't take the knowledge of the ancients and assume it is the same as today. Take Jonah. The only body of water near Ninevah is the Tigris river. The Tigris flows south to the Arabian gulf (I'm in Iraq, so I refer to it by the local name). It is so far in land that there is no way a whale could swim up the river to deposit a man there. Seen it with my own eyes. Not going to work, unless the flood was going on at the same time. Here's another one - what about the incestuous relationship with Cain and Abel? Both had wives, correct? Let's skip ahead to the post flood. Now we have three couples creating the entire population of the earth? I'm not about to do the math on the number of people who have ever existed vs. the chance of a genetic mutation, but it seems to me that the human species would have died out a long time ago if it descended from 3 pairs. Consider this: how good is your memory? Ever play the game "telephone"? It's hard to get a simple sentence correct when passed around a room. There was no written language back then. Is it not possible that somewhere along the line the story was embellished a bit, perhaps in order to teach a lesson? Was the world so much worse back then than it is today, and that's the reason God isn't inflicting big time punishments on people? When was the last person turned into a pillar of salt for not following God's rules? Seems to me that there's a lot of people not following God's rules and they seem to be doing just fine. Bottom line, it's a historical account to a degree, but mostly it's a work of fiction, just like the tales of other primitive people. Still goes on today. I have people telling me that there are sharks in the canal. I suppose it is possible, but highly doubtful.[/QB]
Oh man. This is getting deep. Okay dude, here we go...

1. "Whoever quoted that" was a bunch of highly trained, highly educated theologians and linguists who had exhaustive access to some of the original documents and earliest manuscripts in existence. What's your basis of knowledge?

2. You're making gigantic assumptions all over the place.
A. Jesus spoke in parables, yes. But not exclusively and not even in a majority. Only in moments when He had something to teach that required more explanation.
B. Jonah wasn't in Nineveh from the start. He was sent there and he ran away, thinking he could hide from God. Here's the text:

Jonah 1
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

3. Cain and Abel...I dont claim to have an answer to that. The Bible doesn't provide one as far as I can see, so my best guess is, God provided them wives somehow. Did He create them from dust like Adam and Eve or were they their sisters? Your guess is as good as mine.

4. The imperfect nature of man (short memory, mortality, disease, having to work for food) is a result of sin. Read the account of Adam and Eve.

5. The reason God isn't "inflicting big time punishments on people" can be summed up in one word: Jesus. Prior to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the sins of man had to be atoned for by sacrificing animals and burning them. Their spilled blood was the price for our sins. God allowed us that out. But when the sins of man continued, God's love for man (His creations) drove Him to make a sacrifice on our behalf. His Son, Jesus, became the ultimate sacrifice. His spilled blood atones for the sins of all men. All we have to do to receive that atonement and forgiveness from God is believe it with our hearts and confess it with our lips.