11 Arguments Against Theism

chopitdown wrote:

again, are you going to address what you're talking about or are you just going to post 666 in other languages?

As long as you are going to conveniently change words and pick and choose metaphors, then what I say is irrelevant.

Why are some passages metaphorical and others not?

Why is Noah a metaphorical story, but Christ is not?

Oh, by zee way, Noah's ark was originally alot older

7 days!

[edit] Mesopotamian flood stories
The majority of modern Biblical scholars accept the thesis that the Biblical flood story is linked to a cycle of Assyro-Babylonian mythology with which it shares many features. The Mesopotamian flood-myth had a very long currency—the last known retelling dates from the 3rd century BC. A substantial number of the original Sumerian, Akkadian and Assyrian texts, written in cuneiform, have been recovered by archaeologists, but the task of recovering more tablets continues, as does the translation of extant tablets.

The earliest of these extant tablets, the epic of Atrahasis, can be dated by colophon (scribal identification) to the reign of Hammurabi's great-grandson, Ammi-Saduqa (1646–1626 BC). Written in Akkadian (the language of ancient Babylon), it tells how the god Enki warns the hero Atrahasis ("Extremely Wise") of Shuruppak to dismantle his house (which is made of reeds) and build a boat to escape a flood with which the god Enlil, angered by the noise of the cities, plans to wipe out mankind. The boat is to have a roof "like Apsu" (the underworld ocean of freshwater of which Enki is lord), upper and lower decks, and must be sealed with bitumen. Atrahasis boards the boat with his family and animals and seals the door. The storm and flood begin. Even the gods are afraid. "Bodies clog the river like dragonflies." After seven days the flood ends and Atrahasis offers sacrifices. Enlil is furious, but Enki, the friend of mankind, defies him - "I made sure life was preserved" - and eventually Enki and Enlil agree on other measures for controlling the human population. The story also exists in a later Assyrian version.[20]

The story of Ziusudra is told in the Sumerian language in the fragmentary Eridu Genesis, which can be dated from its script to the late 17th century BC. It tells how Enki warns Ziusudra (meaning "he saw life," in reference to the gift of immortality given him by the gods), king of Shuruppak, of the gods' decision to destroy mankind with a flood—the passage describing why the gods have decided this is lost. Enki instructs Ziusudra to build a large boat—the text describing the instructions is also lost. After a flood of seven days, Ziusudra makes appropriate sacrifices and prostrations to An (sky-god) and Enlil (chief of the gods), and is given eternal life in Dilmun, the Sumerian Eden.[21]

The story of Utnapishtim (a translation of "Ziusudra" into Akkadian), an episode in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, is known from first millennium copies and is probably derived from the Atrahasis story.[22][23] Ellil, (the equivalent of Enlil), chief of the gods, wishes to destroy mankind with a flood. Utnapishtim, king of Shurrupak, is warned by the god Ea (equivalent to Enki) to tear down his house of reeds and use the materials to build an ark and load it with gold, silver, and the seed of all living creatures and all his craftsmen. After a storm lasting seven days, and a further twelve days on the waters, the ship grounds on Mount Nizir; after seven more days Utnapishtim sends out a dove, which returns, then a swallow, which also returns, and finally a raven, which does not come back. Utnapishtim then makes offerings (by sevens) to the gods, and the gods smell the roasting meat and gather "like flies." Ellil is angry that any human has escaped, but Ea upbraids him, saying, "How couldst thou without thought send a deluge? On the sinner let his sin rest, on the wrongdoer rest his misdeed. Forbear, let it not be done, have mercy, [That men perish not]." Utnapishtim and his wife are then given the gift of immortality and sent to dwell "afar off at the mouth of the rivers."[24]

In the 3rd century BC Berossus, a high priest of the temple of Marduk in Babylon, wrote a history of Mesopotamia in Greek for Antiochus Soter (323–261 BC). Berossus's Babyloniaka has not survived, but the 3rd/4th century Christian historian Eusebius retells from it the legend of Xisuthrus, the Greek version of Ziusudra, and essentially the same story. Eusebius concludes that the vessel was still to be seen "in the Corcyræan Mountains of Armenia; and the people scrape off the bitumen, with which it had been outwardly coated, and make use of it by way of an alexipharmic and amulet."[25]

chopitdown wrote:

b/c i said so. Seems to work for your opinions and what you say.

I'm not getting into this with you. I've told you places to look for information if you're really interested in it; I'm not getting sucked into another debate where we can find out who can cut and paste more, b/c you'll win that contest.

Dude, I always back my posts up, you are the one that never answers my questions, lol.

Find yourself a mirror to bitch at.

chopitdown wrote:

if you disagree with my answers it doesn't mean I don't answer them and sometimes I don't have time to go back to see if you've asked a question b/c quite frankly, this board and appeasing you isn't near the top of my priority list.

I asked before how to you take literally the Noah's Ark story, when it's nearly identical to several stories prior to Christianity, dating back as far as 1800 B.C.E.

Honestly, if all these Gods flooded the earth, there wouldn't be much left.

Shit, the earth was flooded before Yahweh even created it.

I also aksed, if you have religious experiences, how do you know your not tryp'ing?

deadnothingbetter wrote:

if you've read it than you understand this simple little concept. it's not theology or anything.

read songs of solomons and you know that it's poetry. read i corinthians and you know that it is a letter. read revelations and you know that it is a prophetic book. read whatever your favorite book it is your reading and if it's about psychology. then what do you guess???? it's a book about psychology. go figure.

No way man, Solomon's song was a mycology guide for picking Fly Agarius a.k.a. Amanita Muscaria.