Month: January 2025

Invisible

If the biblical accounts share similarities with Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian myths, how is the bible any different?

1) God is invisible, while other religions adore statues.
2) The world and universe came from nothing and everything has a beginning.
3) God is the one creator.
4) God was not born, he did not originate in a sexual act, and he has always been.
5) God is not of nature, but nature comes from him.

As difficult it is to read ancient near eastern literature, these differences make the Hebrew language of the faith something to study. Genesis 1 is a superbly designed text. The intricacies create wonder for its close readers.

Creationist questions pt. IV

Will praying for translation enable you to understand a foreign language? God is not a “celestial butler,” and relying on the holy spirit to reveal the meaning of Greek and Hebrew is not something to be lauded. Try praying for God to give you the answers on a test that you have not studied for or more importantly, try praying for money to drop from the sky or your troubled marriage to change overnight. To rely on supernatural exegesis is also intellectually lazy.

A case of my incomplete knowledge of translation came to light when i asked my Wycliffe missionary about the use of AI for Bible translation into Nahuatl. Though the AI could appear to do it, my friend told me about there being multiple dialects and many other complications i had not considered. She’s an expert.

Don’t rely on answers falling from the sky, go to the experts if you need to and then study to show yourself approved.

Creationist questions pt. III

Keep scripture in textual view. It does not reflect a scientific worldview. It cannot. The bronze age viewpoint of the Old Testament centered on a localized perspective, one where the sky held back an ocean, the rain poured from cerulean windows, and pillars held up the Earth and sky. Mesopotamia was their world world. A flood destroyed that reality.

Science says the universe is 14 billion years old, that evolution led the species forward, that progress is understanding this. Black holes, quasars, billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars. Science need not be the enemy and no strange interpretations of the scripture need to be made.

But there is a reason to read “The Word.” It sustains through instruction and edification. The Greats help us see; Philips on the road. Edifying pastors and Christian literature. Bible translators helping the foreigner and illiterate.

The ancient Israelites do have much to teach us. Prager’s OT commentaries and Jordan Peterson’s and Hillsdale’s seminars and classes will help us understand the wisdom sent down to us.

Not all is green in Greenland (and not in Panama either)

Despite the fact that Trump may soon want to put his face on Mount Rushmore, the strategic importance of Greenland and the Faroe Islands is becoming more and more apparent:

– Chinese and Russian warships are performing joint maneuvers in the arctic. China is building a Polar Silk Road.
– Biden and Trump (during his first term) built ties with both islands to counter Russia and China.
– Almost 90 billion barrels of oil and 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are in the areas (22 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas). Trillions of dollars worth of minerals–silver, copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, and rare earths–are underground there.
– Greenland already hosts a large U.S. military base with missile warning and space surveillance systems.
– Trump’s statements about the Panama Canal are due to concerns over the growing influence of Chinese state-owned companies there as well. Since 2022, the State Department has warned that Beijing’s acquisition of technologies, facilities, and infrastructure in Latin America may have other purposes.
– In 2022, the U.S. Southern Command said Chinese state-owned companies had working ports on both sides of the Panama Canal, ports which can be quickly pivoted toward military endeavors.

Trump may want to be the next Teddy Roosevelt with a new Monroe Doctrine, but hopefully he is not talking about military force. Like House Democrats have maintained, we shouldn’t be invading Greenland, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, or seizing the Panama Canal.

Creationist questions pt. II

Behemoths, Unicorns, Fiery flying serpents, O my.

Continuing my short exploration of supposed dinosaurs in the OT, these creatures are manipulated into prehistoric animals. Fire-breathing leviathan aside, behemoth stood as a super-bull, a divine cow. The creature’s tail was a male organ. In stood in parallel to “thighs,” a euphemism for testicles. He extends or stiffens his tail. His strength was his virility. He’s a mythic chaos counterpart to the leviathan dragon. It all stands for God’s domination over the cosmic order and man’s frailty.

Unicorns in the KJV are another problem for young earth creationists. Unicorns are not a one-horned creature as some creationists suggest. Scholars say that the Hebrew does not allow that construction. It’s a mistranslation for wild ox.

Finally, no, flying serpents were not pterodactyls. The burning bites were most likely venomous bites. The Egyptians used similar language for cobra bites. Diving beings like flying cobras were common in Jewish literature. Cobras were the earthly counterpart to the spiritual, winged versions.

Adapted from “Misinterpreting Genesis” by Ben Stanhope.

Creationist questions pt. I

Some creationists say that some of the animal literary figures in the Old Testament (Psalm 74 and Isaiah 27:1) are dinosaurs, that Earth is only 6,000 – 10,000 years old. If we look at the background of these verses, we see that the Leviathan spoken of is not a prehistoric creature like a dinosaur.

1. First, dinosaurs–nor any other creatures–did not have multiple heads. Hydras do, however.
2. Then in Isaiah 27:1, Leviathan is a serpent and God will kill the dragon that is “in the sea.”
3. “Litanu” was the Ugaritic (the closest language to Hebrew) leviathan, the god of the chaotic waters of the sea.
4. As in Genesis 1-2, Yahweh divided the sea, smashing the heads of Leviathan before creating the sun and moon and establishing all the boundaries of earth. Yahweh is the real dragon slayer.
5. Leviathan is used as a figurative symbol, emphasizing God’s kingship over all creation.

The watery chaos that threatens the created order and His dominion over natural creatures are common motifs of Near Eastern cultures. In Genesis, God hovered over the chaotic waters.

Adapted from “Misinterpreting Genesis” by Ben Stanhope.