historia wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 2:16 pm
Miles wrote: ↑Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:34 pm
My guess is that the writer of 27 never heard of verse 26. After all its format is quite different---a heavily indented block rather than the border-to-border format like the rest of the chapter in many Bibles.
The difference between the plural usage in v. 26 and the singular usage in v. 27 certainly raises the possibility that there are two different layers to the story.
However, I've not seen scholars suggest, as you have here, that that the author of v. 27 is different from that of the rest of the story. If anything, the hypothesis usually runs the other way around: i.e., v. 26 may contain the vestige of any earlier form of the story.
The fact that v. 27 is poetic (hence the formatting in modern bibles) doesn't, in itself, mean it was composed by a different author, and v. 27's use of the singular is more in keeping with the rest of the story.
Sorry, but I fail to see the poetry, as evidently do other modern bibles, such as the 2020 American Standard Bible.
Genesis 1:26-29
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that [a]moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food:
Miles wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:01 pm
historia wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:34 pm
Jews today interpret this as a reference to angels (which, ontologically, are not that different from gods)
If they're ontologically no different than gods, just how do they differ?
Generally speaking, the gods were thought of as independent agents. By contrast, in late-Jewish and Christian thought, angels are considered to be servants and messengers of God.
So these other divine beings, not being independent agents, are what, demigods, angels, and demons?
Miles wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:01 pm
And speaking of gods, why would god,
thee omnipotent being, need assistance from the other gods to create humans?
It's unlikely the original author thought of Elohim (= God) as omnipotent. Nevertheless, in the final form of the story, God alone creates mankind.
So what does one do with:
Genesis 1:26
And God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; . . . .
"Pick and choose" to ignore it?
Miles wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:01 pm
With more than 45,000 denominations globally, it says that choosing a denomination is pretty much a crap-shoot. And because so many denominations claim to be the only way to salvation it would appear to be critical crap-shoot
This is an old atheist trope that really should be retired.
Thing is, the source here isn't atheistic but Christian centered. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity, the linked source, is "an academic research center that monitors worldwide demographic trends in Christianity that serve churches, mission agencies, NGOs, and others."
The term "denomination" as used by the article you cited (or rather the source the article itself cites for this number) does not mean what your argument here assumes it means. Moreover, most Protestant denominations don't consider their organization to be the "only way to salvation."
Which is why I said "many" and not "most." And how do you know that term "denomination" used by the article I cited does not mean what my argument here assumes it means? If there are two different definitions of "denomination" and you can show we are using two different definitions please do so.
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