[net.religion] general response

mikec (03/20/83)

  There seems to be some confusion over just what constitutes a
Fundamentalist Christian. In 1895, the Niagara Bible Conference
issued a statement reducing Christian doctrine to just these five
essential points :

    1. The Divinity of Jesus Christ.
    2. The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.
    3. The Inerrancy or Infallibility of the Bible.
    4. The physical Resurrection and eventual Second Coming of
    Jesus Christ.
    5. The Atonement of mankind's sins inherited from Adam by the
    Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

  In 1907 two millionaire brothers, Lyman and Milton Stewart,
founded the Los Angeles (where else?) Bible Institute. In 1910
this fountain of knowledge issued a dozen pamphlets titled mere' 6(foot) 6(inch) would be regarded as a 'giant'."

RESPONSE :

  Nice try Berry. However, Goliath is supposed to be OVER NINE
FEET FOUR INCHES TALL! (1 Samual 17:4). I wonder if he suffered
from perpetual nosebleed? Perhaps the "weavers beam" (the size of
his spear) was from a handkerchief maker (both senses intended).
Belief in giant humans (or human like peoples, anyway) was quite
common in primative times (see, for example, any text on Greek
Mythology). Rabbinical legends eventually made the Rephaim, Emim,
Zuzim, Zamzummin, Nephilim, and Anakim into giants of colossal
size. In Deuteronomy 3:11, Og (king of Bashan) has a large bed
(about twelve feet long and six feet wide). From the size of the
bed, the writers deduced that Og was one of the last giants (just
imagine what they might deduce if they wandered into Hollywood).
Much later, rabbinical writers inflated Og's size to compete with
small mountains (indeed, Greek myths had giants fighting each
other by HURLING mountains). This presented some problems since
Og would have had to ride aboard the (mythical) ark in order to
survive the (mythical) flood. No problem (even if self induced)
was too large for these people. Since Og could not fit inside the
ark, they had him ride on top (where Noah fed him till all that
wet stuff went away somewhere). Note that according to Greek
mythology, a King Ogyges reigned during a great flood. There is
absolutely no scientific evidence supporting the existence of
giant people in historic times or a world wide flood (there is
evidence for large local floods, however).


(From cornell!rej) :

  "Micheal Cranford suggests that Quirinius was governer of Syria
  ONLY after Herod died, so Luke was wrong in his dating.  This
  was common belief until 50 or so years ago, when it was found