It's the way usenet has been used since its inception.
Don't expect veterans of a forum to change things to
suit the whim of some newbie.
> FALSE! Genesis is NOT a copy of Gilgamesh. You have no evidence
> whatsoever for that. Are they similar? Of course they are, Abraham
> was from Ur, where Gilgamesh comes from. They both may have gotten it
> from a third source or Gilgamesh may have gotten it from the Genesis
> story.
None of your arguments makes an argument for _false_. You
do present an alternative possibility but that is distinct
from establishing that Genesis is not copied from Gilgamesh.
> What it does is push the actual history part of the Torah back to
> 2000BCE. Abraham did come from Ur and so on.
>
> I didn't mention anything about the Hebrews doing science. Not sure
> what that's about.
It's all about the clues as to how one should read a story,
especially with respect to whether or not one should treat
a story as the equivalent of a modern style historical
account or a modern style science textbook. Most specifically,
not every story that is written to describe events that
are described to have taken place in the past is meant
to be interpreted as accurately describing events that
occurred to real people in a real sequence. This is obvious
to people when one describes a story as a parable such as
those within the gospels. It is also obvious if one
recognizes that the very notion of attempting to tell a
literal history is generally seen to have arisen with
Heroditus which is after the early recording of Genesis.
The idea that religious stories of origins relate history
is refuted again and again. If you are not convinced,
consider that there are scores of mutually exclusive
accounts of creation from all over the world. They cannot
all be based upon historical facts. An inclination to read
or otherwise treat them as literal accounts is quite
simply a childish ignorance. And just as this goes for
historicity, it goes for scientific accuracy. It ignores
the purpose and nature of creation stories that is readily
revealed by observing multiple cultures.
> And looking at the Hebrew interlinear, (or if you can read Hebrew),
> it's obvious to you it's 100% of the animals on earth but it's sure
> not obvious to me, and my reading comprehension is just fine. Why do
> you think it's a reading comprehension fail in the Hebrew version?
> Surely you aren't referring to some arbitrary English word chosen by
> some translator?
>
> I don't have to travel back in time to study history. That I wasn't
> there, doesn't mean anything in the study of history.
And neither do creation stories.
http://dept.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_12.html
Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the
sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No
one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. However one day one of
the Sky Women realized she was going to give birth to twins. She told
her husband, who flew into a rage. In the center of the island there was
a tree which gave light to the entire island since the sun hadn't been
created yet. He tore up this tree, creating a huge hole in the middle of
the island. Curiously, the woman peered into the hole. Far below she
could see the waters that covered the earth. At that moment her husband
pushed her. She fell through the hole, tumbling towards the waters below.
Water animals already existed on the earth, so far below the floating
island two birds saw the Sky Woman fall. Just before she reached the
waters they caught her on their backs and brought her to the other
animals. Determined to help the woman they dove into the water to get
mud from the bottom of the seas. One after another the animals tried and
failed. Finally, Little Toad tried and when he reappeared his mouth was
full of mud. The animals took it and spread it on the back of Big
Turtle. The mud began to grow and grow and grow until it became the size
of North America.
Then the woman stepped onto the land. She sprinkled dust into the air
and created stars. Then she created the moon and sun.
The Sky Woman gave birth to twin sons. She named one Sapling. He grew to
be kind and gentle. She named the other Flint and his heart was as cold
as his name. They grew quickly and began filling the earth with their
creations.
Sapling created what is good. He made animals that are useful to humans.
He made rivers that went two ways and into these he put fish without
bones. He made plants that people could eat easily. If he was able to do
all the work himself there would be no suffering.
Flint destroyed much of Sapling's work and created all that is bad. He
made the rivers flow only in one direction. He put bones in fish and
thorns on berry bushes. He created winter, but Sapling gave it life so
that it could move to give way to Spring. He created monsters which his
brother drove beneath the Earth.
Eventually Sapling and Flint decided to fight till one conquered the
other. Neither was able to win at first, but finally Flint was beaten.
Because he was a god Flint could not die, so he was forced to live on
Big Turtle's back. Occasionally his anger is felt in the form of a volcano.