[JoeSchem]

From The Cydonia Files: A Daily Journal of Science and the Supernatural from a Christian Viewpoint

[blam]

Bump for later read.

[dirtboy]

Since the first century AD, we have no record of major cities -- indeed, whole nations -- being destroyed by meteor showers or volcanic eruptions.

I disagree. Meteor impacts don't happen that often, but if the Tunguska event of 1908 had occurred in a populated area, it could have destroyed a city. As for volcanoes, within the last century a city was destroyed by an eruption - St. Pierre in 1902, killed 29,000 people, which is comparable to a major eruption in ancient times. Also, don't forget the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 - 60,000 people killed and the city was practically destroyed - so we have had plenty of catastrophies over the last 2,000 years...

[Blood of Tyrants]

And it probably doesn't bother some here about how incredibly lucky Moses and the Jews were to have the comet pass by and part the Red Sea exactly at the time they needed it and then dissappear just as soon as the last person cleared the sea.

[Grut]

Immanuel Velikovsky is to astronomy as Michael Bellesiles is to history.

[Sabertooth]

BTTT

[Junior]

Bump.

[Publius6961]

I think it odd that Velikovsky is quoted only in those areas where proof is inconclusive or speculative.
He never seems to get credit for continental drift and Plate tectonics, which are accepted unquestioningly today, and which he described in detail decades before it became respectable.

[Alex Murphy]

The problem with this kind of approach is not that it "de-miraculizes" these Biblical/historical events, but that it "de-ethicizes" them. What makes the Biblical events unique is not the WAY in which they happened, but the WHY. Ethics, not Physics, is the trigger for the events recorded in the Bible. Without it, the Bible becomes just a book of predictions like the World Series book from Back to the Future Pt 2. Bibical judgement alwayscomes with a warning and a way out.

Case in point: Egypt didn't suffer plagues because it was unlucky enough to build downwind from some volcano - it suffered them because of their immorality, their idolatry, and specifically because of Pharoah's stubbornness. Pharoah was asked ten times to "Let My people go" - ten chances to stop the progressive, punative plagues. Those plagues demonstrated conclusively that the Egyptian gods were impotent at best, and wholly false at the worst, while clearly demonstrating that the God of Moses was alive and more powerful. Pharoah refused to obey God. Pharoah received a consolation prize - free swimming lessons.

Perhaps instead of asking the old undergrad question "If God is all-powerful, can God make a rock so big that even He cannot move it?", we should move on to the grad school follow-up "If God is all-knowing, would He know better?"

[mlocher]

the almighty god is the creator of everything in this universe. mankind understands more of his environment than he did 5 thousand years ago. as we understand things, we tend to explain them in an understandable way. hence, we have science and use it as a tool to understand and explain our environ, and even sometimes have the audacity to predict future events.

5 thousand years ago man did not have science to rely on, or had very little science, and gave credit where it was due when something cataclysmic happened -- credit to god.

the real issue is not how we explain it, but rather who we believe is ultimately responsible for it.

[boris]

Velikovsky was a complete kook. Asimov finished him off long ago.

He stands as a monument to what happens when an "expert" in one field becomes so filled with hubris that he believes himself master of all fields.

One of his innumerable errors was to believe ancient myths and legends as literally true--down to the letter.

A second error was in trying to force-fit every event in the past to fit his idealized time-line.

All he did was make a laughingstock of himself--not to mention his believers.

--Boris

[SunkenCiv]

Another suspended member, V related topic.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

just an update -- this topic is from 2001.

Catastrophism ping list

· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic ·

[SunkenCiv]

· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic ·