You haven't done that yet. You point things out to me, I point things out to you.
English Nazi’s should take care when they post, unless you intended to ‘pout’ to me
Anywho, I’ll not play that silly game further…
Tale/tail - you made a mistake and won't admit it. You know a typo when you see one.
You cannot support such dogmatism! I am not concerned about any "ramrod" and "wow" factors. The book contains a great deal of wisdom and answers vital question like: "Why do the innocent suffer?" and "Why does God permit wickedness in the earth?" Have you found the non-conjectural, truthful answer to either of those questions?
I wasn’t looking for answers to the meaning of life in Job, so I don’t need conjectural or non-conjectural answers.
But I was, and I found many.
You brought up Job as if it somehow should amaze us heathens with its comprehension of the cosmos.
[You said the below, which is about “wow” factor:
"Would you agree that those "bronze -age nomads" were wise beyond your wildest imaginations?
If your answer is "no," then I have a few really unique puzzles for you."
Now you have switched to defending for your particular theological interpretation. Don’t care.
I don't believe in theology so I don't have a "theological interpretation."
But I'll enlarge a bit on the wisdom of those "bronze-age nomads":
"Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge and understanding successfully to solve problems, avoid or avert dangers, attain certain goals, or counsel others in doing so. It is the opposite of foolishness, stupidity, and madness. Wisdom implies a breadth of knowledge and a depth of understanding, these qualities bring the soundness and clarity of judgment so characteristic of the wise person."
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200004618
Did those ancients have any of it? Let's see:
“. . .When presumptuousness comes, dishonor will follow, But wisdom is with the modest ones.” (Proverbs 11:2) Do you agree?
How about this one?: “. . .Whoever guarantees a loan for a stranger is sure to fare badly, But whoever avoids shaking hands in a pledge will be secure.” (Proverbs 11:15)
Do you know of wisdom, anywhere in the world, that is greater than the wisdom of King Solomon? (Read 1 Kings 3:16-27)
No politician, scientist, philosopher, even the best of academia today, can compare to such wisdom.
I’ll take conservative mainstream theologians over your personal and weakly supported views any day.
No surprise there:
“Go in through the narrow gate, because broad is the gate and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are going in through it; 14 whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are finding it.” (Matthew 7:13, 14)
You haven’t even hit ‘dull imaginations’ let alone ‘wildest imaginations’…aka no ‘wow’.
How will I know? You would not admit it.
You declaring that a circle is actually a sphere is not exactly 'wow' material.
Is that the truth? Is that really what I said? If you quote me verbatim and you will not be likely to make such gross errors.[/quote]
Yeah, it sounds just like it reads, a circle (yah know like a pancake).
Nope! That is a very bad analogy.
A few facts: A disk, a flat circle, looked at from any angle, does not remain a circle. Sometimes it takes the shape of an oblong and at other times like a vertical line. OTOH, from God's point of view, a sphere, looked at from any angle, remains a circle.
Most fruits and vegetables, viewed head-on, appears circular. Even the object that you call a "football." Everything circular cannot be compared to a ball. Otherwise you would have to start playing "catch" with your food.
Now you know different (or at least you should).
Sure, from a certain angle a sphere can look like a circle, but nothing in that verse suggests that is so, let along suggesting that it is the most reasonable interpretation.
EVERYTHING in that verse says so to me and it is the most reasonable interpretation because I explained to you how a sphere appears as a circle from ANY angle and
nothing else does!
The above is you declaring a circle a sphere with nothing more than your opinion.
I know the difference between a sphere and a circle, so, your statement above is simply taking my words out of context. Read it again and you might see that I was referring to a particular pointy of view, not any transliteration. Won't do you any good, though.
And you don’t have a lock on your purported Yahweh’s POV…for all you know your Yahweh’s POV sees a sphere as a bunch of dots in a matrix.
Every author is a teacher. The author of the bible is not a human, even though he used humans to write it. He lets human know how he feels about EVERYTHING!
He even lets them know what he is going to do in the future.
How do I know? What other book can cause an honest human to see himself as he really is - weaknesses, faults, strengths, hypocrisies, deviousness - warts and all? What other book can give an entire world of humanity a genuine hope for the future? What other book, if followed, can rid the world of war, violence, strife, contentiousness, hatred, envy, greed and deceit?
I’m not saying that this verse Isaiah argues for a flat earth,
YES - YOU ARE!!
(yah know like a pancake). That's a flat circle - isn't it?
I’m saying that you haven’t shown why it should most reasonably be considered a sphere.
I have done so. But I am unable to fix the eyes of your heart.
You haven’t tried to show that in other places in the Tanakh, that they used this Hebrew word as a sphere. That would be an argument. Again, the point is that this is clearly not ‘wise beyond your wildest imaginations’ aka no ‘wow’.
You take the shortsighted view. I don't think that one or two verses could EVER convey the wisdom from above that these men possessed and wrote down for the instruction of the ones whose hearts are rightly disposed for eternal life.
Renowned Christian theologians say Job is a poetic folk tail;
If they said that they are wrong! In that historical narration, only the cattle had tails.
what is your argument showing that they are factually wrong?
Good question. My first objection is - purpose. Nothing written in the Bible is without purpose. What, do you suppose, is the purpose of the "tale?"
You have not answered my question.
A lot of facts are known about Job. Some of them are:
Job lived in Uz, located in northern Arabia near the territories occupied by the Edomites the Sabeans and the Chaldeans on the east.(Job 1:1, 3, 15,*17)
No nation on earth worshipped the God of Heaven; the nation of Israel, who later became the only monotheistic people and chosen by God, was not yet established.
Yet, Job was not a Jew, a Hebrew nor an Israelite. Still he alone, of all the people on the entire earth, worshipped the God of Heaven. (Job 1:8) Did your source say "seventh and second century BC?" Boy! Are they wrong!
You are taking what the New Bible Commentary stated out of context.
No - I'm not.
Yes, they said the 7th to 2nd century BC as outer limits for the final composition of the book of Job. At the same time they said that the story/folk tale is much older.
Read it again and you will see that they did not say that. They were no talking about Job's story. they mentioned: "
A folk tale of
a righteous sufferer probably existed long before the present poem came into being."
Arguing for Job being a literal historical tale because it has some valid geographic labels within it is comical.
Not if the inhabitants had viable genealogies.
Would you make that argument for the Iliad as it has geography from Asia Minor?
I might - IF you can supply the genealogies of its inhabitants.
Anywho, with mainstream Protestants, the RCC (one can read RCC link below if one wants), and even a large portion of more conservative Christianity agreeing that Job is in fact poetic, and may only have a kernel of real history at its core, we end up with probably 76-85% of the Christian theological community who disagree with your interpretation.
Now you know why they are wrong!
Again, the point is that this is clearly not ‘wise beyond your wildest imaginations’ aka no ‘wow’.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08413a.htm
Again - I only supplied you with two verses so don't be so easily satisfied.
but at the same time YOU KNOW THE RIGHT INTERPRETATION. Lets see you explain that.
Explain what? I made no such claim. What "interpretation" have I given to the book of Job?
Your claim seems to be that Job is historical and a literally true story;
Now you know
which cuts against the views of a large majority of Christians theologians.
You mean those people that claim God burns people forever? Those same people that engage in politics, blessing dictators and weapons of destruction? Those people that bear no resemblance to the founder of Christianity?
But feel free to explain what your interpretation is, if not that. And taking Job as literal history, is in fact an interpretation.
Taking it as simply a poetic tale is YOUR misinterpretation. Wait - you really offered no kind of interpretation. This brings me back to my question:
What, do you suppose, is the purpose/meaning of the "tale?"
If you know, for a fact, its a metaphor, then you should know its meaning.
Poor Gilgamesh never had a chance...
