Was Saul real king of Israel? (Scholars debate history from Bible)

Fredericksburg News ^ | 1-4-03 | By RICHARD N. OSTLING

[vannrox]

Thanks...a really interesting comment. I will have to check out that book.

[Van Jenerette]

...for next weeks class.

[BenR2]

Um thats the mentality of the suicide bombers. Never close your mind to all reason.

Um. Sorry, but that is NOT the "mentality" of the suicide bombers, who have -- in most cases -- probably never even READ the Qur'an.

Besides, unswerving faith in the Truth (i.e., the Bible) is NOT the same thing as unswerving faith in Error (e.g., the Qur'an, the Upanishads, the Talmud, etc).

Perhaps you are a humanist, who has (let me guess) unswerving faith in your own rational capabilities? (Very reassuring. NOT.)

[sirchtruth]

Be careful about dismissing grammatical and syntactical errors as insignificant.

Good points you make. I was referring more to misspellings and things that do not change meanings.

[RightWhale]

The more advanced the language, the harder it is to translate into if it's a natural language.

Some say that reading the Koran in translation implies missing some percentage of the meaning. A large percentage. Such a large percentage that the book seems trite and approaches stupid. Some say the Koran is quite a piece of work in Arabic.

[sirchtruth]

I understand, I have met many Christians who dismiss the difference between thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not murder as trivial and semantical.

I agree, it is very distinctive. You just can not usually take ONE verse alone and apply it to any meaning you choose....and I would go further in saying not only should you look at things metaphorically, but literal in the same context.

Example: When Jesus says, He will rebuild the Temple in three days and all just laugh at him. We know he his referring to the resurrection. However, since he is God could he just as well rebuild a temple in three days?

I find this fascinating because the context is true in both cases.

[SunkenCiv]