How do Believers Distinguish between Fact and Fiction?By Harry H. McCall, CET at 12/10/2012Here are Four (among many) Christian miracles:1. There was a talking snake in Eden that talked (in Hebrew) to Eve.
It’s always striking how
apostates who pride themselves on their intellectual superiority unwittingly
illustrate their lack of intelligence.
i) Gen 3 doesn’t use the
English word “snake.” We need to be sensitive to the semantic connotations of
the Hebrew designation. And as Victor Hamilton points out, that has divinatory
connotations. So that should already alert the reader to an occultic double
entendre.
ii) In addition, it’s
questionable whether Gen 3 is referring to a snake. That interpretation
overlooks the function of serpentine symbolism in biblical and ANE usage. Cf.
Cf. B. C. Hodge, Revisiting the Days of Genesis (Wipf & Stock 2011),
111-118.
iii) However, even if that’s
too subtle for McCall, consider his blatant bungle. The fact that the OT quotes
a speaker in Hebrew doesn’t entail that the speaker spoke in Hebrew. The OT
quotes people in Hebrew because the OT was written in Hebrew (with a smattering of Aramaic), just as the LXX
quotes the same speakers in Greek, the Vulgate quotes them in Latin, the KJV
quotes them in English, La Bible de Jérusalem quotes them in French, &c.
No wonder McCall made the cut
for Debunking Christianity. He certainly meets the minimal qualifications.
Also, the woman isn't called "Eve" until Gen 3:20. This might seem like a technicality, but in fact there could be literary as well as other devices at play in having her called the woman at this point and having her named Eve after the Fall. But apparently McCall has a tin ear and wouldn't be able to appreciate literary techniques and the like.
ReplyDeleteI don't think its just a low level of intellgence that is the main problem at DC.
ReplyDeleteI think the worse problem is a basic dishonestly that leads them to Willfully Misrepresent, or Strawman, their opponents positions.
McCall almost certainly knows better, but his whole point is to obsfucate and marginalize the other side.