Summations Only

We already knew that some people don't believe it's a myth and that some people don't believe God is nuts. Your interpretation of the stories isn't the only possible interpretation.

Well, we could say 500 mauled. Or a thousand mauled. There is a point where rational has to factor in.
If in recorded history no bear as ever attacked a group with 9 or more it sounds suspect.
If we think hmm, did the boys all lay down and wait for their turn to get mauled? Then maybe you can say two bears mauled 42 kids. But if we think logically as a bear is mauling the shit out of one boy, the others are running away. I think we might be closer to a rational and logical thought.

I'm not completely comfortable with the term myth, but so far I have not said anything about the term one way or another.

The fact that God honored the casting of lots in some circumstances as reported in the Bible is the evidence. He honored it by having the lot fall on Jonah in the example you referred to for starters. Jonah's presence was the cause of the dangerous storm and God showed them that. There are also instances where He didn't honor it, such as where the enemies of Israel cast lots concerning their conquests of Israel, though I'd have to look that up. I think the last mention of casting of lots was the selection of the apostle to replace Judas. This was really not a right use of the practice, however, because God had chosen Paul for that role, but they were still with one foot in their old Jewish customs and one foot barely out into the freedom of Christ by Whom believers have access to God through prayer. I can only suggest that the practice stopped historically after the New Testament as the only evidence that it is not in favor for Christians. Being "in the Bible" says nothing about whether a practice is approved by God or not, you have to understand the context to determine that. All those practices were forbidden by God in His Law, and the people were punished for practicing them. Oh no you couldn't, not if you have a functioning brain cell left in your "noodle." What is the matter with all you Bible debunkers, you have an amazing inability to sort things into their right contexts. Harry Potter is about the evil forces that God clearly condemns in the Bible. No more so than people today, even in the civilized west and we're probably much worse than any of the Bible people, certainly God's people; the heathen are something else. The rampant occultism of Harry Potter may be taken as an example, since you lump the occult in with superstition. And since you include the consulting of oracles in your definition of superstition I'd point out that the Astrology Column in every newspaper and over the internet is an example of it here in the supposedly civilized west which has supposedly given up on superstitions.. The seventies brought us an enormous influx of the influences of the Eastern Religions such as Hinduism with its strong belief in astrology as well as the tarot cards and I Ching oracles. Don't tell me those haven't influenced a whole generation of Americans. I bet if you were honest you could find some superstitions in your own behavior. My mother threw salt over her shoulder, even though I don't think she totally believed in it -- she felt it as a sort of "just in case" but that is what superstition is all about. I can't remember the point of that now, something to do with luck when something considered to be bad luck occurred, also knocking on wood and all that. And again, the RC Church still honors "relics" and sells indulgences and counts repetitive prayers, which, as I said, are true examples of superstition.You want to accuse someone of superstition, don't look at the Bible, look at modern America.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Faith,
Just show where god decried casting lots wasn't all random chance and when he decided from now on they are random chance.
Then we get....you believe the Jonah fairy tale.
There are planes of logic and if a person chooses to dismiss all logic, then it's impossible to discuss.
Casting lots not being all random chance at one undetermined time, but now are random chance. Then Jonah being a true story. These cross a logic line for me.
You waved goodbye to logic. As a point of note. Every evil spirit with a known cause in the bible comes from god. And the biblical god is doing all the killing and satan has a hand in very little. Are you sure you don't have the two mixed up?Edited by Golffly, : No reason given.

Yes I believe all the Bible, including the account of Jonah, and so did Jesus so those who believe in Him certainly have no good reason to discount it. I have no problem believing what I know fits with God's power and will and mercy that His word tells me occurred. You believe the modernist, or postmodernist, lies so you call truth a fairy tale. Nobody will ever be able to help you out of that prejudice as long as you like it so much.Nothing is ever random chance really, it's just that we can't see the big picture so to us it appears as random chance and we have to accept that because we can't see it any other way. But in reality nothing is really random chance. The Bible makes that clear but in our experience we can never see how things will play out or why. so random chance is the default view for us. But sometimes you can see the link between cause and effect and at least we know that God shows us some links we have no ability to see on our own. Jonah's presence WAS the cause of the storm and God used the casting of lots to show this to the others on the ship with Jonah. We're supposed to use the Bible to learn things that are beyond our natural capacities, but you judge it by those deficient capacities instead, no way to learn anything. You are invoking some kind of hyperCalvinism here. Satan is always the agent of sin and wrongful killing, but God does judge humanity by the death penalty among other things. God is in charge of everything of course, including the evil spirits. They can't do any more than God permits them to do. So what?Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Faith,
You have a tenuous grasp on reality.
That long diatribe you just wrote comes without a shred of evidence, nor does it come with the embarrassment a rational person would have stating that type of absurdity.
The whole point of the "casting lots" was to show biblical writers are superstitious. Every other god/religion of the time believed in casting lots as well. So the superstition was typical of any non-existent god. The bible is not unique that way but typical that way.
The fact ancients also bought into fortune telling, astrology and necromancy ( says nothing about god by the way) but merely shows they were clearly superstitious.
So unknowingly, superstitious ancients are who you want to believe. And you'd be hilarious playing a board game with! This type of absurd thinking makes me ponder how people function on a day to day basis.

sorry but absolutely nothing in your post is related to the questions I asked.Is it possible that people have accumulated additional data since the story was written?Is there some reason to think the author should know about the additional data?

Golly gee whiz, you just understand EVERYTHING don't you? No ability to think biblically, totally unteachable. Do I recall correctly that you used to think you were a Christian? No way Jose, you obviously never had a clue.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Data in regards to what exactly?
You might have to restate your question somehow because I really think I have answered. The fact "absolutely nothing" is related to the question you ask.... well I don't understand the question.

From what you have written so far to my posts, I consider it a compliment that you think I have no clue. If you ever thought I had a clue, I would worry that I was losing objectivity and logical thought.

More utter nonsense Faith. If he was a member of any chapter of Club Christian, even the unrecognized non-apostolic chapters of Club Christian then he was a Christian.When you keep posting such utterly silly nonsense and outright falsehoods as is your wont how can you expect anyone to take anything you say seriously.In addition, what would that have to do with whether or not the Bible the inerrant word of God or is it the words of men?What does thinking biblically even mean? How is that different than thinking or being honest about what is actually written?

Surely most people recognize Harry Potter as fiction. Again, most of that is known to be stupidity.I'm not sure what your point is. Nobody is saying that superstition is absent today. You are the one on the hook for claiming that the people in the Bible were not superstititious. That's exactly the way my lucky cat's eye marble used to work!!Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

It would probably help if you read in context, NN, since all those remarks of mine are specific answers to Golffly.

Gosharoony Jar Man, if you don't have any notion how GF is not thinking biblically I can't help you, but then I've never had any doubts that you don't have a clue about thinking biblically either.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.