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mustard seeds don't grow into trees.. and thus that is an error.
You're assuming two things:
1.) That "mustard seeds" and "trees" were translated correctly. In this case I don't know if there were or not, but I do enough about Greek to know that there are terms and concepts that just don't translate into modern English, so translators have to do their best with what they have. A good example are the Greek words phileo, eros, and agape. All different terms with very different meanings, all translated into the New Testament as "love."
2.) That the people of the time even differentiated between trees and bushes. Remember that they didn't exactly have botany textbooks back then, and some languages covered both concepts with one word. It isn't an error so much as the language being a reflection of the people and world of the time.
1.) That "mustard seeds" and "trees" were translated correctly. In this case I don't know if there were or not, but I do enough about Greek to know that there are terms and concepts that just don't translate into modern English, so translators have to do their best with what they have. A good example are the Greek words phileo, eros, and agape. All different terms with very different meanings, all translated into the New Testament as "love."
2.) That the people of the time even differentiated between trees and bushes. Remember that they didn't exactly have botany textbooks back then, and some languages covered both concepts with one word. It isn't an error so much as the language being a reflection of the people and world of the time.
Like I said.. you can't prove the bibles errancy or inerrancy
Matthew 13:31-32 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
31Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
32Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
1. Least of all seeds? I'm guessing smallest of all seeds. Is the Mustard Seed the smallest of all seeds?
2. Do mustard seeds grow into trees?
I think the answer to both questions is no...
Also.. I'd like to know how you can prove the Bible is without errors..
Here is a quote from Wikipedia under the subject "mustard seeds:"
"Mustard seeds in fact grow into trees, not shrubs."
Furthermore, when Jesus spoke a parable He did so in the context of the life situations and understandings of His audience. As far as those first-century farmers in Palestine knew, the mustard seed was the smallest seed or the least of all seeds. The Greek word is Mikroteros from mikros meaning small in size or QUANTITY or little in dignity (The Analytical Greek Lexicon, p. 276). So the meaning here can very easily be that the mustard seed was of the least value to the first-century farmer and not necessarily the smallest. Also, the black mustard seed can grow to a 12-foot tree! So Jesus' point is that what is seen to be of the least value can become of the most worth in the kingdom.
We do not have a problem with the veracity of the Bible. We do not need to prove that it is without error. It is required of the naysayers that they prove that it is!
Preterist
Last edited by Preterist; 11-08-2007 at 03:39 PM..
Location: The world, where will fate take me this time?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigthirsty
Are the two mutually exclusive?
Imho they aren't
God is so smart that he knew it would be boring to create a static world, he intended it to be dynamic so he created a rough seed that would keep maturing and the beings living here would keep evolving until they become divine and merge into God again.
Here is a quote from Wikipedia under the subject "mustard seeds:"
"Mustard seeds in fact grow into trees, not shrubs."
Furthermore, when Jesus spoke a parable He did so in the context of the life situations and understandings of His audience. As far as those first-century farmers in Palestine knew, the mustard seed was the smallest seed.
We do not have a problem with the veracity of the Bible. We do not need to prove that it is without error. It is required of the naysayers that they prove that it is!
Preterist
1. Are there any pictures of mustard trees?
2. There wasn't a footnote stating "palestinian farmers would only know the mustard seed as the smallest seed". The question is was it the smallest seed at the time.
We do not need to prove that it is without error. It is required of the naysayers that they prove that it is!
Preterist
You have it quite backwards, friend. Check out the discussion of Russell's Teapot at wikipedia.org.
Russell's teapot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Russell's teapot, sometimes called the Celestial Teapot, was an analogy first coined by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), intended to refute the idea that the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of religions. In an article entitled "Is There a God?",[1] commissioned (but never published) by Illustrated magazine in 1952, Russell wrote:
If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.
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