[QuarianRex]

Fyron:

A mythology does indeed relate the moral values of a culture.

Cultures have been extracting moral value out of everything that they can, including myths. Myths are not inherently moral though. They are pre-scientific explanations for the world. Find a dictionary. Look it up.

Your insistance that all myths are moral is a tool to 'prove' that the moral basis of religions, in this case specifically the bible, are myths and so can be easily dismissed. You cannot prove a point by using false definitions. I know that you have not used these exact words but this is the actual implication of your statements.

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The leaders themselves were guided by religious beliefs though and perhaps that is something that you are not comfortable with.

I fail to see the purpose of saying such a thing. All religious mythology was written by religious people. Care to enumerate?

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The point of saying such a thing is that historical documentation, if based on religion, is not necessarily myth. While the bible does contain myths (garden of eden, etc.) saying that "Bible = mythology", as you not so eloquently stated, is dismissive and shows your ignorance of the books actual contents.

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Both of which are well within the realms of modern comprehension and acceptance.

...and within the realms of ancient comprehension and acceptance. What is your point?

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My point is that people having visions and attributing a fortuitous storm to the power of god are events that we can accept within our modern paradigm and do not require belief in the supernatural. Belief in the supernatural may be required to justify to results but not to accept that they happened.

If you would stop being so provincial...

Is that ever the pot calling the kettle black.

Maybe you need to learn more about other cultures. Well... the Bible was written in a language steeped with metaphor, and was not actually meant to be taken wholely literally. That is just an error made by people that speak a literal language.

You seem to be quoting a post that I made in the Alien Contact thread. How amusing. Trust me, I know far more about this than you do. This seems to point to your tendancy to argue from points of authority that you don't really understand. As with any document you must know the context of the time in which it was written. Once youn understand how they were saying things you can understand what they are saying. Then you can literally interpret what is said. Its quite like learning the slang of a close dialect. Once that is done you will find many interesting bits. For example, much of the bible is filled with barbs directed at the ruling oppressors of the day.

I would greatly appreciate it if you started reading what I posted, and not what you want me to have posted.

And I would greatly appreciate it if you started reading your own Posts so that you understand what people are responding to. I even bolded some of the parts of your quote so that you could see exactly what I was refering to. Well, I guess you can lead a horse to water...

Basically, your error here is a common one of arrogance. Because you believe the Bible, and not other religious works, you refuse to see that the Bible is mythology, just like the Odyssey, the Koran, etc. You have wrongly associated the term with meaning falsehood, because you believe that other religious works are false. You have attempted to belittle them and isolate the work you believe from them to make it unique. Irregardless of any arguments about the veracity of the Bible, it is most certainly not in a separate Category as other religious works; they are all mythology. The term mythology has nothing to do with falsehood.

Where on earth did you dig up this minor rant? Please read my previous Posts and tell me where any of this applies. And who says that I an even christian? I have extensively studied christianity, hinduism, and buddhism and have lesser knowledge of many others. This, if anything, has broadened my understanding and appreciation for all religions. My argument is not that the bible is true while other religious texts are false (where you got this mistaken idea I do not know), but that your attempt to claim that all texts with religious roots (or do you just have something against the bible?) are myth is a false (and cheap) way for you to prove your point (whatever that may be). The term mythology has everything to do with falsehood. The word myth is filled with connotations of falsehood (here is the myth and here is the truth) and you are trying to play that up. I am trying isolate historical religious works from ancient fiction, since you seem to be claiming that they are one and the same.

Throwing the Odyssey into the same Category as the bible, koran, or rig veda is unwarranted as well. The Odyssey was never considered to be a religious work. It was an epic performed by bards (composed by The Bard) and in theatres. It contains religious figures, yes, but is not a religious text. That would be like saying that Marlowe's Faust is a religious text. You are trying to make new categories so that you points can be justified.

If there is an error of arrogance it does not seem to be mine.