And on the seventh day, God rested...

Feathers

People mention that Christians have always believed that Genesis should be taken literally until it was proven to be impossible — then the church, so as not to look stupid, revised the meaning & said it was all a metaphor to begin with.

If this is the case though, why does the Bible mention that on the 7th day, God rested? Logically, an omnipotent being has no need of rest. So is this not self-contradictory, if it's meant to be taken literally?

CiaranMT

One of innumerable illogical contradictions that religious go out of their way to ignore...

Turtwig

It's a poem-ish it doesn't have to be logical.

CerebralCortex

Jernal wrote: »

It's a poem-ish it doesn't have to be logical.

You changed your name, why???

Feathers

CiaranMT wrote: »

One of innumerable illogical contradictions that religious go out of their way to ignore...

Whatever about arguing that there are contradictions in the bible because it was written over centuries, but contradictions within one sentence seems odd

I mean even thousands of years ago, people weren't stupid.

AtomicHorror

Feathers wrote: »

People mention that Christians have always believed that Genesis should be taken literally until it was proven to be impossible — then the church, so as not to look stupid, revised the meaning & said it was all a metaphor to begin with.

If this is the case though, why does the Bible mention that on the 7th day, God rested? Logically, an omnipotent being has no need of rest. So is this not self-contradictory, if it's meant to be taken literally?

A rest can just mean a stop or cessation. Like in music, a rest is merely a pause, it doesn't mean you're regaining your strength or taking a nap. It does sort of imply you'll start up again, mind you. An unsettling thought...

The Mad Hatter

Feathers wrote: »

Whatever about arguing that there are contradictions in the bible because it was written over centuries, but contradictions within one sentence seems odd

I mean even thousands of years ago, people weren't stupid.

It doesn't say anywhere in that sentence that Yaweh is omnipotent. That came later.

Feathers

AtomicHorror wrote: »

A rest can just mean a stop or cessation. Like in music, a rest is merely a pause, it doesn't mean you're regaining your strength or taking a nap.

I guess so... I wouldn't take it as the most straightforward meaning of the word. With my Oxford dictionary to hand, the only relative definitions they give for rest are:

• cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself or recover strength
• allow to be inactive in order to regain strength, health, or energy

I'd normally consider the word to imply regaining vitality. Granted, it's obviously a translation by the time it reaches English though.

AtomicHorror wrote:

It does sort of imply you'll start up again, mind you. An unsettling thought...

Now that would be interesting! Would mess us up if we then had to have an eight day week though...

AtomicHorror

AtomicHorror wrote: »

A rest can just mean a stop or cessation. Like in music, a rest is merely a pause, it doesn't mean you're regaining your strength or taking a nap. It does sort of imply you'll start up again, mind you. An unsettling thought...

But since the 7th day of rest is sometimes used as the reason for a sabbath, where you "rest" in the since that you relax etc, that explanation falls a bit flat.

Not as flat as some of the "explanations" for the contradictions in genesis though.

Feathers

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

It doesn't say anywhere in that sentence that Yaweh is omnipotent. That came later.

Not in that sentence, but in the same book:

Genesis 18:14 wrote:

Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, in the spring, and Sarah shall have a son."

I would've also always considered as well that the fact that he is making the whole world from nothing implies omnipotence, but take your point that this would be my own conjucture. Cheers

The Mad Hatter

Feathers wrote: »

Not in that sentence, but in the same book:

Didn't you say this?

Whatever about arguing that there are contradictions in the bible because it was written over centuries, but contradictions within one sentence seems odd

There is a contradiction between Yaweh's character here, and the all-powerful god presented later in the Bible. That's all that's happening here. God is noticeably not omnipotent or omniscient in Genesis.

Peregrinus

Feathers wrote: »

People mention that Christians have always believed that Genesis should be taken literally until it was proven to be impossible — then the church, so as not to look stupid, revised the meaning & said it was all a metaphor to begin with.

People "mention" this, but they are wrong. Strict literalism is a very modern phenomenon.

sbsquarepants

AtomicHorror wrote: »

A rest can just mean a stop or cessation. Like in music, a rest is merely a pause, it doesn't mean you're regaining your strength or taking a nap. It does sort of imply you'll start up again, mind you. An unsettling thought...

I've often wondered about this rest of his. If he could make the entire universe in 6 days flat, then what has he been doing for the last almost 14 billion years? You'd have to think he'd have made some cool shít in that time!!

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

There is a contradiction between Yaweh's character here, and the all-powerful god presented later in the Bible. That's all that's happening here. God is noticeably not omnipotent or omniscient in Genesis.

I've often wondered about this too, doesn't the concept of free will mean he can't by definition be either omnipotent or omniscient. The church insist we have free will, (probably one of the few things i agree with them on, but that's another argument!) If we don't have it, how can there be sin, what is the point of heaven and hell etc? So therefore they must accept that god can not know everything if he doesn't know what we are going to do, he can not controll everything if we have self control.

sensibleken

Feathers wrote: »

Not in that sentence, but in the same book:



I would've also always considered as well that the fact that he is making the whole world from nothing implies omnipotence, but take your point that this would be my own conjucture. Cheers

there you new athiests go selectively quoting again. heres the whole verse

Genesis 18:14 and a half
Is anything too hard for the LORD? Yes, dudes wangs. Don't be gay, I'll explain why later

Dades

Don't forget he also made light before making the sun.

Sarky

I'm sure someone has tried to use Relativity and time dilation to explain that one.

Dades

Dades wrote: »

Don't forget he also made light before making the sun.

And he made Birds and whales before he made the land animals they had to evolve from.

I'm still waiting to hear the metaphorical meaning for this.

magicbastarder

Dades wrote: »

Don't forget he also made light before making the sun.

of course he did. if he invented the sun without first inventing light, the sun would not have been able to radiate at visible wavelengths.

philologos

Perhaps you should post this on the Christianity forum. It's a good question, but I suspect it's not the right place if you want a lot of Christian input.

CiaranMT

I doubt he does tbh.

Bertser

God rested on Sunday
Craig David chilled on Sunday

God = Craig David? Makes logical sense.

CiaranMT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABuWphlnZ1A

sponsoredwalk

philologos wrote: »

Perhaps you should post this on the Christianity forum. It's a good question, but I suspect it's not the right place if you want a lot of Christian input.

cough

Peregrinus wrote: »

People "mention" this, but they are wrong. Strict literalism is a very modern phenomenon.

Any links? Heard the other day that a lot of the fundamentalism in the US is
directly traceable to around the 1920's but haven't checked up on it yet,
would be interesting to see what you have on this.

philologos

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

cough

Indeed, the Atheist / Christian debate thread is there. Asking about Christianity or Christian interpretation in the Atheism forum seems a little odd if one actually wants to find out what Christians would say on the topic.

I suspect the OP doesn't.

MrPudding

philologos wrote: »

Indeed, the Atheist / Christian debate thread is there. Asking about Christianity or Christian interpretation in the Atheism forum seems a little odd if one actually wants to find out what Christians would say on the topic.

I suspect the OP doesn't.

Hmmm. Now I feel left out. I didn't get the memo where it said christians could not give their opinion in the A& A forum. When did this happen?

MrP

Zombrex

philologos wrote: »

Perhaps you should post this on the Christianity forum. It's a good question, but I suspect it's not the right place if you want a lot of Christian input.

How dare you question what you cannot possibly understand is probably about as far as it would go on the Christianity forum. :pac:

CiaranMT

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Any links? Heard the other day that a lot of the fundamentalism in the US is
directly traceable to around the 1920's but haven't checked up on it yet,
would be interesting to see what you have on this.

Would that be considered 'modern' though?

Feathers

Sorry wasn't online for a few days there.

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Didn't you say this?

Yes, but I also said this:

Feathers wrote: »

but take your point that this would be my own conjucture. Cheers

philologos wrote: »

Indeed, the Atheist / Christian debate thread is there. Asking about Christianity or Christian interpretation in the Atheism forum seems a little odd if one actually wants to find out what Christians would say on the topic.

I suspect the OP doesn't.

I wasn't particular asking about Christian interpretation, I was asking about the Atheistic interpretation — I took it that most Christians didn't take it literally, but the argument of revisionism has always but put across by atheists, so thought this would be the best place to put it.