On Mar 16, 2:58=A0am, jsav...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(John Savard)
wrote:
> That the Bible, or some parts of it, might have had a Divine, or at
> least extraterrestrial, origin might be suggested in an unexpected way
> by two parts of it...
>
> Genesis 11:6
> And the LORD said, "Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one
> language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained
> from them, which they have imagined to do."
>
> Daniel 12:4
> But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the
> time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
> increased.
>
> Generally speaking, we are told that the idea of progress, in the sense
> of technological progress, is a modern conception; it happened too
> slowly in the ancient world for people to notice it, and so it was not
> until the Industrial Revolution that this concept was discovered. Before
> then, if people thought in terms of change over time at all, it was in
> terms of hearkening back to a past Golden Age.
>
> It could be that this claim, often repeated in various books and
> articles, is, if not specious, at least of limited scope. In the ancient
> world, educated people, at least, were aware that there was a time when
> their ancestors did not know how to read and write. In the ancient
> world, new things were invented from time to time.
>
> So, even though they did not live in a time of technological wonders
> like the electric light bulb and the Edison kinetograph, and they knew
> not Moores' Law, the more learned people may well have had a concept of
> incremental progress available to them, even though they knew perfectly
> well that such progress would not add up, even over many lifetimes, to
> anything that would transform and overturn people's lives, unlike the
> case of the present day.
The ancient Greeks had this idea of the past "Golden Age". You may be
interested in the BBC Radio 4 show IN OUR TIME - if you hurry, I think
you can get the 45-minute podcast, otherwise check their web site
archive for a RealPlayer version - discussing "Greek Myths". It was
argued that there actually /was/ a "golden age" of higher civilisation
before the period from which emerged the legends of gods, and of the
war with Troy. Someone kept talking (in the BBC show) about "the
Mycenaean palaces".
The bible, however, I understand, emerged from many places, but mainly
Babylon. This may mean that everything up to the exile in Babylon /
in/ the bible is fantastic myth. It sure looks like it.
And how did Babylon see progress? Granted, their math sucked...
And it isn't only at the tower of Babel that God gets worried about
what humans will do, and decides to hit us hard. That's the reason
why we get kicked out of Eden, too. He has to get us before we could
get him. Basically any time that humans are getting on well by
themselves, here comes God to kick over their sandcastles.
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