In the Samson thread, it's noted that the story includes a number of improbable elements: he killed a lion with his bare hands, single-handedly killed thirty men of Ashkelon, found three hundred foxes and tied them together, and killed a thousand men with a donkey bone. Since each of these must be true individually for the story to be true as a whole (at least in a literalist sense), the probability of the whole story being true is the individual probabilities multiplied together.
Taken in a literal way, which Bible story requires the most outrageous set of contingent probabilities? Is Samson the worst?
Most improbable Bible story?
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Post #31
This I must agree with. To declare something like a man waving a staff and parting the red sea plausible, I would personally have to either 1) be aware of a physical mechanism which could accomplish this or 2) see it myself.SallyF wrote:Moses and all the amazing tricks he performed with his magic wand are right up there on the improbable list too.
I may be wrong that it's implausible precisely because I don't have all the information, and yes, I have seen things I can't explain scientifically.
However, I have to go with what I know. I have to go on the information I have, rather than just trusting anything I'm told happened, or every scammer who tells me a volcano is coming just walks off with my money. I think it's implausible that a volcano is coming to my state of Colorado, and if the caldera under Yellowstone erupts, there will be no bloody point to volcano insurance as I will be superdead.
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Post #32
Emphasis MINEPurple Knight wrote:
This I must agree with. To declare something like a man waving a staff and parting the red sea plausible, I would personally have to either 1) be aware of a physical mechanism which could accomplish this ....
In other words, assess all information on a presumption in the truth of naturalism.
Limiting what is possible or plausible to what one has personally seen or experienced seems to me the very defintion of igorance. If mankind had had that attitude we would still be living in caves. Indeed all scientific enquiry is based on the premise that there are realities that exist beyond our present sphere of understanding and experience.Purple Knight wrote:...or 2) see it myself.
JW
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Post #34
You forgot to include the necessity of falsificationism in the philosophy of science.JehovahsWitness wrote:Limiting what is possible or plausible to what one has personally seen or experienced seems to me the very defintion of igorance. If mankind had had that attitude we would still be living in caves. Indeed all scientific enquiry is based on the premise that there are realities that exist beyond our present sphere of understanding and experience.
Re: Most improbable Bible story?
Post #35Difflugia wrote: In the Samson thread, it's noted that the story includes a number of improbable elements: he killed a lion with his bare hands, single-handedly killed thirty men of Ashkelon, found three hundred foxes and tied them together, and killed a thousand men with a donkey bone. Since each of these must be true individually for the story to be true as a whole (at least in a literalist sense), the probability of the whole story being true is the individual probabilities multiplied together.
Taken in a literal way, which Bible story requires the most outrageous set of contingent probabilities? Is Samson the worst?
It takes a plethora of outrageous contingent probabilities to get to this …
There are SO many improbable/impossible/absurd biblical stories, it's a real task to try and determine the worst.
But we can possibly narrow it down by examining those that that certain Christians have tossed out of their belief balloons as difficult ballast.
"God" … just whatever humans imagine it to be.
"Scripture" … just whatever humans write it to be.
"Scripture" … just whatever humans write it to be.
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Re: Most improbable Bible story?
Post #36[Replying to post 1 by Difflugia]
Most improbable? How about the entire book of Genesis? Is there any evidence that every story in that book is not just pure fantasy? Bible historians say that Job is the oldest book in the bible so the supposed events in Genesis were written thousands of years after they supposedly occurred.
Most improbable? How about the entire book of Genesis? Is there any evidence that every story in that book is not just pure fantasy? Bible historians say that Job is the oldest book in the bible so the supposed events in Genesis were written thousands of years after they supposedly occurred.