> My dear Michael, > > I couldn't disagree with you more, and I don't believe you really believe > this. If you follow this logic then you must take everything in the Bible as > literal truth. Or is there there some kind of equation you must follow where it can be 10 > or 20 or 30 percent invention and the remainder literal truth and still remain viable? My argument was based on the contribution that the Torah has had to the worlds cultural existence. It said nothing about literal truth. My personal view is that the Torah is true, but the truth is not as clear cut as you may think as some of the elements in it are metaphysical and can't be discussed in the same light. Did Jacob wrestle with an Angel all night? I say yes. Others will say no. Does it matter if I believe it to be true? No. The Torah says respect your parents. Should I take that literally?
> Where is the dividing line between history and fiction? ..between fairy tale > and fact? Good question. Most of the discipline of anthropology was based on proving the Torah wrong and whoops, they found all of the sites mentioned. Does that make the Torah fiction? Does it mean that the physical stuff can be proven but not the metaphysical? Can you prove (or disprove) the metaphysical? Does the existence or mere mention of the metaphysical have to automatically be fiction? > One can draw the same moral lessons from a piece of fiction as from a piece > of "fact". Maybe, but most of those pieces of fiction that have nice moral lessons to draw have a literary basis in... guess what....the Torah. > The distance between me and a fiction is no greater than that between me and > history given that it is in the past and cannot be reached. And it may be > even greater depending on the loving care with which the lesson is > transmitted. History should be learned from. > And the value of your life or mine or anyone else's is not determined by any > external measure, > but shines forth gradually in the context of our families, our work, our > societies and the good things we leave behind. The value of a life, a > society and a civilisation comes from the inside alone. Meaning arises in > our web of what you call connectedness and is not dependent on the > intellectual or historical accuracy of our religious texts! This is an individual value call and I'm glad you have a standard to live by. My standard is connected to the standard of my people going back thousands of years and connected to God as we believe it. I'm not knocking your standard nor trying to force mine onto you. It also does not mean that your standard is superior in any way to mine. It's yours. > regards, > > Patrick > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 2:47 PM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Re: Israel/Arab Conflict 101: The history of Israel > > > > > > It means that everything from the existence of the Jews (with all the > > biological evidence of our connectedness) to Christianity to > > Islam itself to > > the constitution of most governments have no basis at all. It > > means that > > everything that we've built up in civilization is based on > > delusions and > > that we have no purpose in existence other than to eat and die. > > > ______________________________________________________________________ Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
