Posted on 02/27/2002 12:58:33 PM PST by JediGirl
When reading a novel, you already know that it is fiction. Even if it is inspired by actual events, a novel is fiction. This means that the text is classified as being in the fiction narrative genre. When reading a children's fiction book to a child, it generally carries more than just an entertainment value; there is usually an accompanying educational element within the story. Such books can sometimes be ended with the popular phrase "The moral of the story is..." as a way of emphasizing an underlying principle that was intended to be communicated in the book.
The ever popular story The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a classic case of a story that was designed with the intention of supplying an underlying principle: avoid setting off false alarms because if you do, you risk encountering a lack of response from others when it is time to set off the real alarm. While the story is disturbingly entertaining, there is no claim of the story being a factual account of an actual incident. If it was related to an actual event, then the genre classification of the story would be a historical narrative.
Role of Allegory
Ancient Hebrew education system was non-existent, as was the case with most ancient ethnic groups and civilizations. The method of education most predominate was through the use of allegory. The advantages of allegory included:
In our current literalistic culture grounded in an era of instant information, the role of allegory has been reduced to cliches. Interest in the arts and theatre is not as prevalent as it was in the past due to the interpretive skills required of the audience. We don't want to have to figure out the message...we want it delivered up front and with utmost clarity. This affects how we interpret ancient literature and artwork.........
Thus, it is believed that the first Genesis account was written during the second exilic era (when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem).
This idea is further bolstered by the inclusion in the first Genesis account of the story of the 'Nephilim'--the offspring of fallen angels and human women. The account of the Nephilim is very, very similar to Persian, Zoroastrian, Babylonian, Kurdish and Sumerian legends, not Egyptian.
In the Persian myths, they are the Djinn or Ifrit that was incorporated in the Koran.
These similarities have caused me to believe that the story of the 'Djinn' and Genesis I came from the same place: Somewhere in the north of what is now Iraq.
Don't forget to visit the Crevo List for all the latest!
01: Site that debunks virtually all of creationism's fallacies. Excellent resource.
02: Creation "Science" Debunked.
03: Creationi sm and Pseudo Science. Familiar cartoon then lots of links.
04: The SKEPTIC annotated bibliography. Amazingly great meta-site!
05: The Evidence for Human Evolution. For the "no evidence" crowd.
06: Massi ve mega-site with thousands of links on evolution, creationism, young earth, etc..
07: Another amazing site full of links debunking creationism.
08: Creationism and Pseudo Science. Great cartoon!
09: Glenn R. Morton's site about creationism's fallacies. Another jennyp contribution.
11: Is Evolution Science?. Successful PREDICTIONS of evolution (Moonman62).
12: Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution. On point and well-written.
13: Frequently Asked But Never Answered Questions. A creationist nightmare!
14: DARWIN, FULL TEXT OF HIS WRITINGS. The original ee-voe-lou-shunist.
The foregoing was just a tiny sample. So that everyone will have access to the accumulated "Creationism vs. Evolution" threads which have previously appeared on FreeRepublic, plus links to hundreds of sites with a vast amount of information on this topic, here's Junior's massive work, available for all to review: The Ultimate Creation vs. Evolution Resource [ver 15].
You would have to consider when the Hebrews, or Isrealites, actually came into being, which would have been after these "pagan" cultures were already established in Egypt, the Chaldees, Greece, etc. and had developed many of their myths. Consider that Abraham came from the Ur of the Chaldees, which was a thriving culture long before the Isrealites became as numberless as the stars.
One thing about that, though, is that he left Ur and went to Haran, where he stayed some years with his mothers relatives. Remember that the Hebrews have always (as far as we know) figured descent as from the mother.
Now what is myth? The dictionary definition of a myth would be stories about gods. So then you have to ask the next question. What is a god?
--Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
This suggests that it was not until the era of 1100-1300 AD that the present custom of requiring a Jewish MOTHER, not father...became the rule...and that this was in part because of persecution and scattering of small populations, declining literacy and moral standards, crime, rape, incest, leading to doubt as to who WAS the father, etc.
Any such person (ie Ezra) would have been a mere editor and redactor, of epic poetry and legends, stories handed down for centuries and millennia. There is nothing to say that Hebrews per se would have had to be the originators of these oral histories: --they would have simply adopted, adapted, and/or translated this literature of nearby more advanced peoples...just as the Bible stories today are in the hands of remote tribes in Africa or New Guinea and there are being passed on as oral history.
In fact, the Hebrew language of the book is far more antique than the 5th century date would indicate: persons who look at the language tend to say it was put into virtually its exact present words in the TENTH century BC, not the fifth.
It is a hobgoblin of small minds to claim that whenever an editor of some ancient work supplies the modern terms for cities or states, therefore the book must date from now. The Living Bible says that Paul preached in "Turkey"! Does that mean that Paul lived in the last century or two?
As place names changed, or as other spots with similar names that might cause confusion arose...the editor would have used terms, or even changed names, to make clear what city or country was meant, at least unless the term was so antique that he himself was at a loss. All of this argues FOR, not against, the antiquity of the document.
On another thread 3 or 4 days ago, I state that the mere fact that Genesis says that when Abraham arrived in Israel, "the Amorite was in the land,"...that ALONE would establish that we are dealing with a string of history going back to the very time itself. The Amorites were so forgotten, that no one living in David's or Ezra's or Jesus' time, much less the KJV era or Jefferson's day-- would have had any idea who or what they were.
Only very recent archaeology, well within my lifetime, established who and where they were, and that they ruled suddenly from about BC 2210 to BC 2020, then vanished without trace.
This both dates Abraham quite securely, and also rules out that the [Abraham/Genesis] story was written from scratch at any time much after BC 1900. Everything subsequent to that must be rather incidental literary redaction.
The Old Testament knows virtually nothing of allegory. When it even comes close, the characteristics are worn on the sleeve — as is a trademark of the genre (cf. Ezekiel 17).
By starkest contrast, not only do Genesis 1 and 2 bear none of those marks, but (1) they are written in standard, richly-attested Hebrew prose style; (2) chapters 1 and 2 flow seamlessly into chapters 3-10, and 11-50 — chapters which no responsible Hebrew student would brand as "allegory" on the evidence; and (3) they are frequently and consistently referred to in both Old and New Testaments as narratives of historical events (e.g. Exodus 20:9-11, Matthew 19:4-6).
And this idea that Moses — or even, if one were to insist, "the editor(s)" — somehow patched on Genesis 2, as if the reader had not read Genesis 1 and could not be counted on to remember the concise and plain timeframe provided as a framework to Genesis 2.... Well, it's discouraging. It's discouraging because it assumes that those who would read such a suggestion will be unreflecting and stupid enough to believe it. And it's discouraging because too many have borne out that assumption.
Articles like this are old, worn-out rabbit trails. Good heavens,they're even posted with "dead end" signs! They convince only those who have moral, spiritual, personal problems with the infinite/Personal God revealed in Scripture. They have nothing to do with the evidence.
Dan
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