Is the author of genesis a fool or a genius?

[i_am_i]

Hey, that's a great little story there, fdesilva!

Can we go home now?

[Heretical Rants]

Be nice.

I like the one story about how the world is on the back of a turtle.  I'm going to tell it to my kids someday.

[hvargas]

When the Masses can be convince to follow an Idea or a Belief by a group or individual, we can say they or he/her is a genious in the used of WORDS. Like Hitler, he was a MAD-GENIUS.

[elliebean]

Wow. Godwinned in 18 posts!
[spoiler:uvmlcthn][/spoiler:uvmlcthn]

fdesilva wins the internets!

[Tom62]

Yes, I believe the authors of Genesis were religious fools. But, the greatest fools are those who still take Genesis literally. Genesis contains two creation stories that don't match up with each other. What both creation stories however share is that they are ridiculous, illogical, unscientific and nothing more than religious rambling. Furthermore, the whole story of Adam, Eve, Abel and Cain is pretty silly as well. Here is just one of the many examples, why Genesis cannot be true.

4:17  And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Where the hell did Cain's wife come from? Cain just killed his brother, so the only humans that were left on the planet were his parents.

[Recusant]

Hello, and welcome to HAF, fdesilva.

...What on earth would make this person even contemplate that there could have been a time in which there were no humans on earth, when there was no animals or plants, there was no earth itself[?]

As has been pointed out by several here, it's not that uncommon for myth-makers to speak of a time when there was nothing, not earth, nor sky, nor water, nor animals, nor people.  (See page of creation myths.) In the primitive logic of our ancestors, it makes sense; days begin, we begin, seasons begin, we see many things begin.  In fact, the human mind has trouble truly grasping the idea that anything might not have a beginning.  So it's not as if the biblical creation myth is at all novel. What makes you think that it is?

 

...Would not this person saying there was such a time have not been considered a loony? Should not all the people that believed this crazy story also be loony?

Perhaps the author(s) of the Genesis myth were considered loony.  In several types of early societies, though, such loons were revered and given high status as shamen or priests.  You've heard of the idiom "touched in the head," which means "a bit loony."  I believe that goes back to "touched by [the gods] God."  Those who were touched by the gods/God, while definitely not normal, were deferred to and their words carried weight.  This is a very common theme down through the years, in many human societies.  Listening to a "holy loon" was not grounds for being considered loony oneself.  It doesn't work to try to judge societies of the past by our standards, so please don't ask me to do so.

 

How did such a loony story survive the passage of time?

Are you serious?  As I pointed out above, many myths (including creation myths) which sound blatantly absurd to modern ears have survived for thousands of years.  Why should it seem unusual for this one to also have survived?

You seem to be saying that the biblical creation myth is special in some way. No doubt it's special to you, but you've offered no convincing evidence to back up your feeling.

To answer the question in the title of this thread, I would say simply, "neither."

[curiosityandthecat]

Wow. Godwinned in 18 posts!
[spoiler:1vo9k62v][/spoiler:1vo9k62v]

fdesilva wins the internets!

That's nothin... we hit it in the first three posts on another thread. Just can't remember which one right now.  

[elliebean]

Wasn't there another thread that godwinned itself in the OP as well?  

[hvargas]

Jnum and the origin of humanity --- Jnum an Egyptian god --- Apofis and the power of darkness also an Egyptian god -- The god Apofis representing  ( as a snake ) the origin of evil and all of the forces that provoke fear. Most interesting is the Arc of UT-Napishti, who save humanity from extintion. In its interior there were represented both male and female animals to re-populate the Earth after the flood. These Egyptians gods existed many centuries before Genesis. It is from the Egyptians that most of the stories are taken and given new characteristics. They are exactly identical for the exceptions of the time and the characters with some new added words. So the question should be: Is the author of genesis an original or a fake ? Check also the god Amon for Virgin Birth.

[MikeTheInfidel]

God spent plenty of time in the Pentateuch giving ridiculous laws about slavery and adultery, but spared not a single word for ways to cure cancer. Color me unimpressed by the fairytales.