"DAY" (to Ralph Nielsen)

David Court (hoover1@NETCOM.CA)
Tue, 3 Jun 1997 18:45:47 -0400 (EDT)

RALPH NIELSEN
<snip>
>The problem with creationists, both Xian and Muslim, is that they imagine
>that their "holy" books are scientific accounts, rather than ancient
>theological speculation.
>
>(DAVE 5/30) Ralph: I for one do not believe the Bible is a scientific
>account necessarily, although there may be scientific truths built into it.
>No "problem" here.
>
>The Bible states that God is the creator of all we know - that is not a
>scientific account, but is the account we are left with in Genesis - it
>states no where how he did it, but only suggests a time frame - I don't see
>anywhere here where someone would take this to be a scientific account, but,
>as usual, see how an antagonistic skeptic would like to suggest that they
>do, as his sole argument.
>
>Are you suggesting that "yom" cannot be taken in any other way, as we would
>take "day"?

RALPH 5/30
Dave, don't you have any good biblical reference books in your home
library? Begin with the HarperCollins Dictionary of the Bible. It is only
one volume. (I have the earlier edition, called Harper's Bible Dictionary.)
Look up "Day," it refers you to "Time." "Day" (p. 1072) could mean either
the term between sunrise and sunset or from sunset to sunset (Gen. 1:5)."

This is just as we use the word "day" in English. So what has this to do
with what you call "an antagonistic skeptic?" You're dodging again, aren't
you?

(DAVE 6/3) Ralph: No, not at all - I simply rejected your statement above
that I/inerrantists/creationists (the first two assumed) consider the Bible
a scientific account. I don't, many don't - and you are wrong with this
statement.
And no, I don't really have a good Bible dictionary except on CD.

Ralph
Farrell has twice at least pointed out that in the Gen. 1 creation story
the day is a 24-hour day, beginning and ending at sunset. We can't pretend
that this myth is a protoscientific account of the evolution of the
universe. It is known to scholars as the Priestly (P) account of creation.
The priests who wrote it wanted to reinforce Sabbath keeping.

(DAVE 6/3) Ralph: Acknowledged. I don't believe it is a "protoscientific
account of the evolution of the universe" - I believe it is a basic account
of the creation of the universe. I'm not "pretending" that it's scientific
at all.

Ralph
Another good book about the Bible is The Oxford Companion to the Bible,
edited by Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan. (It is available at a great
discount from Christian Book Distributors <http://www.christianbook.com>.)
I think they also have the other book as well.

(DAVE 6/3) Ralph: I will look for it next time I go over to Cameron's (the
local Bible store) - I haven't been there in ages so it will be good to take
a look.

Thanks,

Dave.

"I study to be little. You study to be great. I creep; you strut
along...Do not seek to be something. Let me be nothing, and Christ be all
in all."
- John Wesley writing to Francis Asbury