I recently had a debate with a young man who holds negative assumptions about the Bible and those who think it may be valid for anthropological study. He dislikes religious fundamentalists, yet he is every bit as intolerant of ideas that work against his assumptions.
The same intolerance is found among many Bible-believers who are exposed for the first time to the research I've done. However, I don't want to discourage people from pondering beyond the established and customary thinking. So, if you read something at Just Genesis that troubles you or offends you, please comment or email me so we can have a conversation.
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US Students are Deprived of Philosophy
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Dr. Alice C. Linsley
Before I retired, I taught Philosophy at the university and high school
levels for 14 years. Some of my former students have gone...
2 hours ago
4 comments:
Hi Alice! It's good to see that I'm not the only one who's run into this situation. I'm having a similar discussion now on another forum. He's wanting to mock the Bible by arguing solely against the young-earth creationist theories of Genesis 1. When it's offered that there might be more to Genesis than a hyperliteral reading, he bypasses discussion and then appeals to ridicule to make his "point".
He couldn't accept that the Bible has more than one genre of writing and insists that if you don't read Genesis 1 as a young earth proponent might, then you have no basis on which to claim that the entire Bible, both Old Testament and New, have any validity from a historical perspective.
I struggle as a Christian with how to respond to people with this attitude, but typically end up having to ignore them because they're not interested in discussions, just belittling God's word. Any discussion on my part past a certain point probably won't be Christlike, so I have to start shaking dust off my sandals!
Thanks again for the book recommendations and all of your work.
God bless,
Justin
Justin, thanks for sharing your experience.
How irrational some people who insist on reason can become! Their hatred of God's Word blinds them to truth and clouds their thinking.
It doesn't help to point out facts.
In the case of the young man I mentioned, facts hardly matter. Even facts that he accepts - such as the genetic research that shows that the ancient Nubians migrated to Sudan from southern Africa. Such as the genetic and linguistic research that shows that they continued their migration all the way to southern India where they are called the "Sudra."
Alice, I think I referred you to the Dienekes website where you likely first encountered this fellow. I regret that your work should be so carelessly dismissed and you insulted.
Sean
MacSeamus, thank you for the kind word. I'm not concerned about being insulted, maligned or misrepresented by non-believers. I rather expect it. Its the folks who claim to be believers who hurt you most. Remember, I've been through the Anglican Wars!
I visit many anthropology blogs and websites. I believe I first encountered Maju when he commented at Mathilda's blog. I follow links when someone writes a comment that intrigues me.
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