JehovahsWitness wrote:
H.sapiens wrote:
If you can't come up with
a single approach to interpretation then you are just full of beans.
What do you mean by "
a single approach to interpretation"? Can you outline
your own "single approach" so I can see how you do it right?
Thanks,
JW
it seems logical and reasonable to favor the one that harmonizes with what we know about the natural world.
JW, you interpret the phrases from Genesis to align with what we today know about the natural world, to such a degree that your interpretation says things that are quite plainly not in the text (I remember discussions about this before from you where you say that the fourth day refers not to the actual creation of stars, but just them merely being viewable from Earth).
Put yourself in the shoes of someone in say 1000 AD, to pick a year at random. That person
does not know that stars take millions, if not billions of years to form. In fact, the notion of millions/billions of years is quite alien to that person. Thus, if he reads Genesis and does what you say up above, how is he incorrect when he says that on Day 4 the stars were created, where previously they did not exist?
To put it bluntly, that person's interpretation harmonizes with what he knows about the natural world.
Ah but of course...that person's interpretation is actually incorrect. You and I know this because we're living in the year 2017 AD and our society knows a lot more about the natural world than Mr 1000 AD.
So wouldn't it seem that simply saying "Go with the interpretation that harmonizes with what we know about the natural world" is actually an intellectual dead end?
Your life is your own. Rise up and live it - Richard Rahl, Sword of Truth Book 6 "Faith of the Fallen"
I condemn all gods who dare demand my fealty, who won't look me in the face so's I know who it is I gotta fealty to. -- JoeyKnotHead
Some force seems to restrict me from buying into the apparent nonsense that others find so easy to buy into. Having no religious or supernatural beliefs of my own, I just call that force reason. -- Tired of the Nonsense