Israel - some facts

[DavyR]

The posting that someone wrote claimed the person who wrote the Bible had a vivid imagination! Camels through needles eyes! I can't find it (removed?)

 

Hellooo - it was me, as I keep telling you! It was on page 4 (and still is), but to save you any more looking:

 

"Talking of fabulous beasts, the unicorn mentioned in the Bible is probably yet another translator's leap of the imagination (camels going through eyes of needles, etc)"

 

Now that doesn't imply that everything in the Bible is made up - as I've already explained, it came just before a classic example of mis-translation (unicorn for something similar with horns, possibly an oryx), and was intended to demonstrate the ease with which meaning can be lost through the many writings and re-writings of ancient documents over the centuries.

 

A lot of the problem with religion of all sorts is when fundamentalists interpret the literal (or what they think is the literal) meaning of individual words and phrases. As I've already pointed out, it isn't that simple. If it was, there wouldn't be the never-ending debate between theologians (how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, etc) that has existed ever since the subject began.

[gozzer]

Davy, we have a big enough problem with camels and eyes of needles, without confusing things further by bringing angels dancing on pinheads into the equation. No more pleeeeeeease

Edited August 2, 2006 by gozzer

[*Ant*]

Ah I see, so its ok to steal land if its militarily strategic to do so?

 

I asked you a question which you ignored (and simply asked me the same question back).............if the welsh militants launched a rocket at london from a tower block in the middle of cardiff, would you think it right that the british government would send in one of our fighters to level the tower block? Its not a hard question Kleinboet.

 

Can't we just pretend they launched a rocket and overthrow the Welsh anyway.

[DavyR]

Davy, we have a big enough problem with camels and eyes of needles, without confusing things further by bring angels dancing on pinheads into the equation. No more pleeeeeeease

 

Huh! It's all your fault anyway - you started it with that dodgy prophecy link you posted...

 

Anyway, I'm off on one now - I will not be bested on religious iconography.

 

Can't we just pretend they launched a rocket and overthrow the Welsh anyway.

 

Where would be the fun in that? We've done it once already. Twice, if you count Maggie Thatcher closing all the mines down (followed by the steelworks).

[*Ant*]

Where would be the fun in that?

 

What's the matter with you man, are you mad?

[DavyR]

What's the matter with you man, are you mad?

 

No, just prefer a bit of a challenge.

[corydoras]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this or not, anyway it won't do any harm if it is posted again.

 

References to the camel and the eye of the needle in the (King James Version) of the Bible are to befound at:

 

1. Matthew 19:24

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

 

2. Mark 10:25

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

 

3. Luke 18:25

For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

[DavyR]

And more fun and games along the same lines may be found here:

 

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/Franklin4YAHWE...oughneedle.html

 

The King James translation is but one of many, and several websites offer comparisons between the text in different versions, e.g.

 

http://www.bibletranslation.ws/comp.html

 

Even I'm getting fed up with this now, and I've got a famously high boredom threshold...

[Huge_Vitae]

A lot of people interpret the gospels differently, and indeed people who translated it in the past obviously had room to add their own beliefs into the translation so it cannot be truely relied on to account for anything per sae. as a for instance, if I had the knowledge and understanding of today, perhaps I would say that Jesus would drive around in old Plymouth because the Bible says, "God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury".

 

But in Psalm 83, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo.The passage urges the Jesus to

"pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm".

 

Perhaps God favors Dodge pickup trucks, because Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain

"until the Ram's horn sounds a long Blast"

 

Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in St. John's gospel where Christ tells the crowd, "For I did not speak

of my own Accord..."

 

Meanwhile, Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that "the

roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills".

 

Joshua drove a Triumph sports car with a hole in its exhaust: "Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout

the land". (obviously no MOT then)....

 

And, following Jesus' lead, the Apostles car pooled in a Honda… "The Apostles were in one Accord". bit like the French Students used to do in a 2CV I suppose

[*Ant*]