Biblical Tall Tales

It's a morality play, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The numbers also vary depending on the translation and source material, as low as 70 in some versions.It's also funny that the actual event, the alleged looking into the Ark, is not documented anywhere in the story. There is no mention of who looked, how many people looked, why they looked (were they just checking to see if the Tablets which were actually the important part were still there?) or any other details. There is also the classic "proof" by something totally unrelated. "Thet thar rock, out in the field. Yup, thet's the one."How can a rock in a field be testimony of anything?This tale has all of the hallmarks of a fireside tale, embelished and expanded, designed to explain cultural mythos and the idea that the average joe should not mess around with the realm of the priesthood.There's a good chance that there is a kernel of truth underlying the story. If the Ark really was returned, it's possible that during the interaction between the peoples, those of the village may well have caught something from the Philistine visitors. Such an event could have lead to a large death toll, particularly in relation to the village size.Coming shortly after the only significant thing to have ever happened, it is not surprising that the folk saw a connection between the arrival of the Ark and the sickness. Since there was a prohibition against looking into the Ark, the reasonable assumption for those who survived was that some person or persons unknown must have looked into the Ark.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Makes sense. So GOD guided each of the councils to create different canon. He had the Ethiopians include Enoch as Biblical Scripture but guided the western church to exclude it, and She guided the Syrian Church to exclude all of the New Testament from the Bible.Makes sense.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Nah. In most of the books additions is probably correct.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Sorry, but the Ethiopian Church and the Syrian Church may well be older than the Western Church.There is no one Bible. Canons vary. All are the product of theology, politics and culture. Which is mainstream Christianity? Why is one branch mainstream and another not mainstream? Why is one Canon better or more correct than any other?The Bible stories are just that stories. Inspired? I think so. But only when dealing with the message. They are not historical texts. They are not science texts. They were never meant to be taken or used for either of those functions. As I pointed out back in Message 45 what we find are folktales, perhaps with some nugget of fact, but that have been modified, exagerated, changed to meet the needs of the storyteller, the culture and the era.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

And the Syrian and Ethiopian Churches were not founded directly by the apostles? Come on.We don't even know where most of the original apostls went, and we don't even have a clue who was included in the second wave.You may believe that much of the Bible was meant to be history, and if you mean a cultural mythology then I'd agree with you. But that's pretty much the extent of it. We know for example that the stories of the conquest of Canaan, or the Exodus, or the Flood are definitely exagerated mythology at best. While there might be some kernel of fact in there, reality is nothing like the Biblical stories.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

No,not really. And if you want to make such an assertion you need to provide some evidence in support.As to the canopy, unless you have some evidence it exists it's just another tall tale. Same for the flood or giants or people living 900 years or bodacious tomatoes or 12 foot tall skeletons, without some evidence it's just tall tales. Well, no, that's not what the TOE says. Well there's a whole herd of folk that might question if getting married is all that smart, particularly the day you meet the chick. LOL But not only that, there is nothing in the Bible that even suggests that Adam and Eve were married and not just shacking up. Plus it was only after he'd shagged all the other beasts that GOD even got the idea of creating a woman. A god that couldn't quite figure out what Adam needed for a mate, particularly after he'd made male and female for all the other critters can't be all that bright.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion