Originally Posted by kerry

I really don't understand why people on the conservative end of the religious spectrum get their shorts in a knot over the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch or other obscure arguments about who wrote what in the Bible. If it's a divinely inspired document it could have been written by Fred Flintstone without making any difference at all from a logical point of view. The issue is strictly traditional attribution of authorship which seems to prove that conservative religious believers are not really committed to the textual authority of the Scripture, but to conservative cultural and religious beliefs in general.

Look at Matt. He thinks the OT was written in Greek yet such a factual error has no effect on his ability to turn the text into a fetish.

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Mosaic authorship is more important than simple tradition. In the Gospels, Jesus attributes the books to Moses. That ends the discussion, or we have the problem of Jesus speaking error.

Originally Posted by kerry

Or could it be that the Divine Incarnate thought that a long dissertation on JDEP was a little onerous for his audience, just like he didn't go into a explanation of the germ theory of disease.

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Why would he introduce a fable like that?

Originally Posted by MTI

There are No Atheists in Fox-Holes!

Reject science and embrace Jesus because science doesn't have all the answers, pretzel logic at its finest.

Originally Posted by aklim

Religion provides answers to the questions. Science may or may not have answers to your questions AT THIS TIME. So, the question is whether you are willing to embrace an answer just because it is an answer or you are willing to hold out and may never find the answer. If you so desperately need an answer, right or wrong, religion is the ticket.

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

What you state is, logically possible.

It is also logically possible that there is a true religion that gives true answers, and is not an invention .

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

It is also logically possible that there is a true religion that gives true answers, and is not an invention .

Originally Posted by kerry

Now that you mention it, I don't think it is possible. Truth in science is a matter of investigation and inquiry. Truth in a revealed religion is something entirely different as it is accepted on authority. So religions with revealed 'truth' aren't really an equal alternative to science, giving 'true' answers in the same way that science gives true answers.