
Originally Posted by
steve_bank
You are doing what most Christians do. Emersion in the bible and endless interpretations. Not a criticism, an observation. It is how Christians derive pleasure and happiness. Like a sophisticated mantra of sorts. Think about nothing else.
The intellectual l theists are about that ongoing discussion with no end. Others actually achieve a spiritual sate. True of any philosophy or religion. They come to understand meaning.
Other than an intellectual tidbit what does interpretation of Genesis mean or affect your spiritual state?
Endless interpretations? The idea that the ancient world believed in a primordial ordering process is pretty much scholarly consensus, and not just among Christians. Indeed, I'm not sure how many ANE archaeologists, papyrologists, etc
are in fact Christians. You can read works like Genesis, Gilgamesh, Thunder, etc, for yourself, and see that these themes are prevalent, without needing anyone to interpret it to you, whether Christian or otherwise.
You are entirely obsessed with my Christian identity, calling me out in thread after thread for no reason and to no useful purpose. I am not obsessed with faith labels in the way that you are, nor does Christian or Pagan identity solely or even mainly drive my interest in the ancient world. You need to get that bee out of your bonnet if we're going to be able to have a real conversation about anything. Though happy to answer honest questions, I am not interested in endlessly talking about my personal faith as though it were the only basis on which my opinions or knowledge have any merit. That's stereotyping, not conversation, and I get bored with it very quickly. Believe it or not, it is entirely possible to have a rational conversation with someone who claims a different faith label from you. So get your head out of your ass, please, and speak to me like a human being rather than a member of some archetypal group of your own invention.
I'm sorry if this comes off as a bit salty, but this really does annoy me. You yourself posted an opinion in a thread
about the Bible detailing
your personal interpretation, a thread to which my only contribution was to bring in extra-Biblical context to helpfully back up your point, and you responded by insulting me and accusing
me of being obsessed with the Bible, a book that my response didn't even mention aside from the narrow issue at the center of the thread itself, ie, a theme which is present in a few lines of Genesis and a whole corpus of other works. I'm a friendly guy, but that doesn't mean I will be forever tolerant with abuse, misrepresentation, religious bigotry, and other such bullshit. Maybe if you stuck
to the topic at hand instead of making personal attacks on other posters, it would help. The linked posts above don't even mention the thread topic; they're entirely an attack on me with no other content. Is that how you think rational adults should converse with each other?