Cheap joke; but the word "myth" is bandied about liberally when talking about the Bible. In most people's minds it can mean the same as "untruth". Myth = Hogwash. See "Introduction : Dear Jeremy Paxman" (read again : click on link, right).
So let's first examine what the word "myth" actually means; then we can use it and understand it more correctly. The "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" ...
... offers the following:-
Myth : A traditional story, either wholly or partially fictitious, providing an explanation for or embodying a popular idea concerning some natural or social phenonenon or come religious belief or ritual especially one involving supernatural persons, actions or events.
The challenge is with those words "wholly or partially fictitious". .
Are Aesop's fables mythical? Of course they are! Are Aesop's fables untrue? Of course they're not!
They encapsulate some very important and profound human truths. They are not "Hogwash". A traditional "myth" may have its basis in observation or a part-remembered historical truth; or it may be entirely the product of human "imagination". Even then, we might ask where that spark of imagination comes from?
Of course, the Christian belief is that God "inspired", i.e. "breathed in" the imaginative ideas directly into the minds of the authors. In about 50AD, Paul, the New Testament Leader and writer ...
... advises Timothy, one of his "oppos", as follows:-
All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, and equipped for every good work.
And the "scripture" he refers to is our Old Testament; the New Testament hadn't been written yet! He doesn't say anything about scientific proof or historical accuracy. So, is the story of creation in Genesis Chapter 1 mythical? Now, there's a question. One thing is 100% certain, however, there was no-one present to record any part of it truthfully or accurately.
So, in that sense, it can't be anything other than mythical; a partially fictitious (because it's not "science") account of something impossible to describe. That's because writing, as we know it, probably dates from 4000BC and "creation" was a good few years before that!
But are the opening chapters of the Bible true? Now that is a very different question. Certainly if there were some correlation between Genesis and modern cosmology, the Myth would become a Hit, a Palpable Hit.
To give our researches some structure, they will be presented as a series of discussions between a genuinely interested teenager and and friendly uncle, teacher, vicar or friend. That will be "cool"!
early cuneifom writing from Uruk.
(Uruk is the origin of moder Iraq)
So, in that sense, it can't be anything other than mythical; a partially fictitious (because it's not "science") account of something impossible to describe. That's because writing, as we know it, probably dates from 4000BC and "creation" was a good few years before that!
But are the opening chapters of the Bible true? Now that is a very different question. Certainly if there were some correlation between Genesis and modern cosmology, the Myth would become a Hit, a Palpable Hit.
To give our researches some structure, they will be presented as a series of discussions between a genuinely interested teenager and and friendly uncle, teacher, vicar or friend. That will be "cool"!
Our first question is:-
Where do we come from?
And, oddly for a Bible Blog, we are going to begin with the science.
.
And the fat bus bloke will keep it simple, promise!
And, oddly for a Bible Blog, we are going to begin with the science.
.
And the fat bus bloke will keep it simple, promise!
Next Bible Blog : Tuesday 4th September
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