http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/05/15/bible.critic/index.html
He was also interviewed about a month or so ago on NPR.
Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible
by insearchoftruth 6 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Mrs. Fiorini
I have one of his books. It's quite good.
IMO spirituality is a journey. He has certainly been on one. And so have most of us on this board.
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hmike
We've discussed Dr. Ehrman and his ideas on this forum.
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Pistoff
I like Bart Ehrman; his books and lectures are very accessible.
His story is interesting and similar to one many witnesses have; brought up as a believer in literal history of the Bible, determined to prove it or at least keep his beliefs in the light of modern scholarship and finding out there is no basis for it except as a faith document.
I think my favorite scholar that writes for the non scholar community is Elaine Pagels, especially The Origin of Satan.
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Heaven
I haven't read his book but I would like to .... adding it to my list. I have always had questions about the Bible. Things didn't 'flow' properly and seemed to be in contrast to other things... especially reality. I definitely got out of the Bible that there are 'exceptions to the rules' (ie Christ healing a man on the Sabbath. He broke a rule but for the right reasons.).
I like Ehrman's statement from this article as it is sooo true!
no one accepts everything in the Bible. Everyone picks and chooses
Not that I've tried very hard to do this but... can anyone link themselves back to any of the people cited in the Bible? Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have enough information or could even find it (some key relatives documents were destroyed in the fire of London) to be able to trace my ancestry. So far, I only know back as far as my great grandparents. I may be able to find more if I put a concerted effort in but I may just come up frustrated as well. When birth records are destroyed or lost (or maybe never existed), how can you proceed?
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PrimateDave
Not that I've tried very hard to do this but... can anyone link themselves back to any of the people cited in the Bible?
It can be interesting to look into one's ancestry on the internet. Unfortunately, the major sites charge fees that I'm not willing to pay. I do know my paternal ancestors go back a few hundred years in the United States and were originally immigrants from Germany. My maternal ancestry is a bit more varied in that it includes German, English, and Dutch. On both sides of the family there are a lot of unknowns, especially my paternal grandmother who was adopted.
Now the interesting thing about ancestry is that at some point in time in the past one theoretically has more ancestors than there were people alive on Earth. Each generation back doubles the number of required ancestors. For example, everyone has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16, 32, 64, 128, and so on. By the time you reach 20 generations back you have 1,048,576 ancestors. 40 generations back gives you 1,099,511,627,776 ancestors. If we allow 4 generations per century, then it is possible to imagine that 40 generations back only takes us to around the year 1000. Was the Earth's population even 1 billion people at that time, let alone 1 trillion? How does that work?
Either we're related to a whole lot more people than we imagine, or we are incredibly inbred! The truth is probably somewhere in between. When someone claims royalty in their ancestry, it is no big deal, really. Some royalty were quite promiscuous and had lots of children out of wedlock, children who had no legal claims to fame, but were descended from royalty nonetheless. Could we be descended from "Biblical" characters? Who knows?
Dave
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Heaven
PrimateDave … thank you for your post! It sounds to me like you have a similar understanding of your family history as I have about mine. I am curious about it, I think, in part because I am getting older and many family members are gone now. My grandparents were English, Irish, and Scottish. Beyond that, I only know a portion of the history. I do know my maternal grandfather spent some time in India. Who knows what could have happened there?
I have questions about family that have not been answered. There is nothing written down. Time and money are two things I don’t have a lot of so I haven’t delved further, coupled with the understanding that I may not find any records since some were destroyed. My cousin started a family tree beginning with her paternal grandparents (my maternal grandparents) and I saw how quickly it was growing from that point! I hadn’t really thought about the actual numbers of relatives since I stopped thinking once I got to 'some grandparents records lost' and only knowing a bit about some of my great grandparents. The math you presented here is mind boggling!
As I started reading the Bible, it names so many people, all first names, and I was struck with the thought of how can anyone possibly connect themselves back to these people? Just one of the reasons I have my own doubts about the Bible. I view the Bible as kind of a history of man but it sure falls short on details in many ways.
I work with a Muslim man who can cite 7 generations of his family. I was impressed! I asked if he can connect his family to anyone in the Qur’an and he said ‘No way. Impossible.’
Your question … Could we be descended from "Biblical" characters? Who knows? i s one I have been mulling over quite a bit of late and thought I would ask if anyone has been able to do it.