Sorry, how do you get "eternal" from the Tetragrammaton? I can see how you might get "self-existent" or "uncreated", but I don't see how - apart from religious tradition - you can get "eternal".
"From everlasting to everlasting" does imply "eternal" but it is poetry so it could be simply a...
Whether or not it's compelling, is up to you. It is clearly defined in scripture which is considered authoritative by all the Abrahamic faiths which are the original source for the god concept "God" capital "G". The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The creator of everything, the heavens, and...
Sure ... lots of sacrifice in Solomon's time .. much of which he spent building "High Places" for near every other religion in the region .. on which sacrifices were conducted .. some of which were Human .. but I digress.
This much meat at one time seems somewhat excessive .. for a short...
Sorry it seems I had I misread it. I think it actually talks about 142,000 sacrifices. In both 1Kings8:63 and 2 Chr 7:5 it says there were 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. Though it makes sense to use a godly number for a sacrifice.
I don't think it is that big of a deal there are exaggerations . specially about the wives .. this is how stories go .. but thre is also some very good history there .. How much is 20 tons of Gold back in the day ... perhaps it is not so much . considering every one had Gold.. you could...
First embellishment to discount: God doing any of it.
Mankind created the religions and all the religious stories.
heck mankind created the gods. A whole bunch of them.
Yes! The Old Testament has quite a lot of exaggeration IMOP! The purpose was to give the Israelites a sense of being special after having suffered so much. The OT books were finalized during the Babylonian captivity.
You asked a question: "Who can understand him?" This reminds me of some of the questions asked by the prophets. I think the prophets leave these questions unanswered for a reason. I think it is part of their process for communing with God. Being able to ask the question in the mind...
It looks like you recently found this thread and have not read it. HOW would require many volumes of books. If you have sccrolled down through this reply, it takes many paragraghs to introduce the concept. How many volumes would it take to explain HOW in detail and in total? Think about it...
I forget the many reasons why numbers can be distorted, mainly throughout the historical accounts in Kings & Chronicles.
Quite a few are just typos - Kings vs Chronicles exposes the differences when referring to the same accounts of history.
Trailing zeros are mistakenly added due to the...
You have to have contrast, two distinctly defined things that appear separate for measurement to be possible. Without two points of reference, there can be no measurement.
That is what makes it indefinite or infinite.
It does, my friend. the blob is a form. the blob is contrasted with an ineffable source which is absolutely literally infinite and ( this is important ) cannot be contained per King Solomon. I referred you to this in my very long essay, 1Kings8.
When considering these lofty concepts, it's...
Number, integer values, are not necessarily absolute. Very large numbers are REPRESENTATIVE values.
For instance, ‘40’ represents ‘a long time’ in time, days, or years.
Jesus wasn’t in the wilderness EXACTLY 40 days…
Noah wasn’t in the ark EXACTLY 40 days…
The children of Israel with Moses...
so matter doesn't really exist in the sense of a solid because it's dualistic and based on the observer. it's called wave/particle duality in quantum physics. depending on the observer it can appear as one or the other. so it's really not a solid in the sense of matter.
so a churning stew of...
"is the infinite a place where there is no matter?" - No. From the last of the 3 links: "Matter is fundamentally quantum."
Empty Space Isn't Empty, And Quantum Researchers Now Have Direct Evidence - Discovery.com - LINK
Quantum Mechanics: Evidence Says Empty Space Is Not Empty After All -...
I believe in a kind of God but also believe that the Bible could include exaggeration....
e.g.
About King Solomon:
1Kings11:3
I mean I don't understand how there could be that many women of "royal birth".
1Kings 3:4 - I think this could be historical:
But not sure about this: (144,000...