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I've talked to people of the younger generations (in the USA) who are not even aware that there is anything other than fundamentalist literalism. Either the Ear

by api 6y ago

I've talked to people of the younger generations (in the USA) who are not even aware that there is anything other than fundamentalist literalism. Either the Earth is 6000 years old and Jonah literally rode in the belly of a whale, or there is no God. This sets up a situation where you have to be willfully ignorant or lie to defend the existence of God, since this stuff is bollocks. In reality fundamentalist literalism is a relatively recent (19th century) theological development, but it's taken over completely in many US denominations. A further wedge has been driven by the total politicization of religion. Many also believe that you must be a far-right Republican to be a Christian. If you'd asked me as a teenager or early 20-something what it meant to be a Christian I'd have thought "you have to support the military and vote Republican."

luxuryballs 6y ago
Well given the logical definition of God 6 day creation and riding in a whale are not a problem at all, anything is possible. I never saw a 6000 year old Earth in the Bible though.
- kaybe 6y ago
  The idea is to assume we have an unbroken record of genealogy in the bible and add up all the lifetimes of people mentioned, which gives the ~6000 years. [0] I'm not sure whether there is any basis for this assumption in the text though.. [0] https://creation.com/6000-years https://creation.com/6000-years
  - luxuryballs 6y ago
    Yeah I don’t think there is, and doesn’t need to be either. If you believe it’s the Word of God then it’s got just what it was suppose to have in it, nothing more and nothing less. Most of the debated things are just not that important on the scale with things that are cut and dry, by design. It’s like the science thing, there is science in the Bible, but the Bible is not a science book. Science is more of a way to describe the function of the lego blocks that make up the world around us, the Bible is more concerned with how the lego blocks came about and what the cosmic purpose of them is. Which is why science and Bible are never at odds, just like how metaphysics is never at odds with physics. Or how things like gravity and light are well beyond the scope of biological evolution.
pbourke 6y ago
> In reality fundamentalist literalism is a relatively recent (19th century) theological development I was under the impression that it began with the Protestant Reformation - specifically Calvinism (16th century)
- api 6y ago
  Hmm... my answer may have been US-centric. I was thinking of this kind of thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals Early 20th century though, but the antecedents go back to the 19th. This is regarded by some as the foundational text of 20th century American fundamentalism. Written and published by an oil tycoon, of course.

by api 6y ago

luxuryballs 6y ago

Well given the logical definition of God 6 day creation and riding in a whale are not a problem at all, anything is possible. I never saw a 6000 year old Earth in the Bible though.

kaybe 6y ago
The idea is to assume we have an unbroken record of genealogy in the bible and add up all the lifetimes of people mentioned, which gives the ~6000 years. [0] I'm not sure whether there is any basis for this assumption in the text though.. [0] https://creation.com/6000-years https://creation.com/6000-years
- luxuryballs 6y ago
  Yeah I don’t think there is, and doesn’t need to be either. If you believe it’s the Word of God then it’s got just what it was suppose to have in it, nothing more and nothing less. Most of the debated things are just not that important on the scale with things that are cut and dry, by design. It’s like the science thing, there is science in the Bible, but the Bible is not a science book. Science is more of a way to describe the function of the lego blocks that make up the world around us, the Bible is more concerned with how the lego blocks came about and what the cosmic purpose of them is. Which is why science and Bible are never at odds, just like how metaphysics is never at odds with physics. Or how things like gravity and light are well beyond the scope of biological evolution.

pbourke 6y ago

> In reality fundamentalist literalism is a relatively recent (19th century) theological development I was under the impression that it began with the Protestant Reformation - specifically Calvinism (16th century)

api 6y ago
Hmm... my answer may have been US-centric. I was thinking of this kind of thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals Early 20th century though, but the antecedents go back to the 19th. This is regarded by some as the foundational text of 20th century American fundamentalism. Written and published by an oil tycoon, of course.