Re: God Vs Science
Posted by peep on Mar 15, 2004 at 13:25
(67.30.44.25)Re: God Vs Science (DA Morgan)
By the way, as you implied, the rule concerning the Sabbath day, does indeed seem ludicrously cruel, at least on the surface anyway, for whether one believes in God or not, it just doesn't right fit in with the assertion that "He" is a loving and compassionate kind of "person", does it?
Instead of prematurely dismissing the subject, however, what's wrong with entertaining for a moment the notion that perhaps over the centuries something has been lost in the repeated transcription and translation of the relevant texts, and even if not in an exact, literal sense, then what about at a deeper conceptual level?
Languages, after all, do have a tendency to evolve. Shades of meaning applied to specific words and phrases routinely change, coming and going over time, so even without a change in a single letter of a text, a change in the conceptual meaning of that text is still quite possible. Not only that, but when different definitions hold long enough sway over the people speaking a particular tongue, it is even possible for original meanings to completely vanish, being then lost to future generations forever. In time, some of these changes may end up being worked back into the original stories, as new copies are made of the old texts.
In this case, to explore that possibility, one could try "reverse engineering" and begin with the effects that sleep deprivation or chronic fatigue have on the body (e.g., contributing to immunosuppression, accumulation of toxins, etc.), or maybe with the significance REM sleep has in terms of memory consolidation, or maybe with, well, with several things actually. Invariably, as modern medicine has pretty well established, it turns out that mandatory periods of rest are vital to normal, healthy functioning of both body and mind, and that ignoring such a mandate can have disastrous and even fatal results.
So, in all seriousness, what do you think? Might there be even the slightest chance that something to that effect is what that allegedly cruel, Sabbath Day rule was really supposed to be about? If so, you probably won't hear much argument that it is indeed a shame that an isolated few, perhaps self-serving passers-by in history apparently succeeded in corrupting what would otherwise be a scientifically accurate and "righteous judgment", so to speak, using such instead maybe to exploit and oppress the masses, a group of people who sadly would include their own parents, siblings, and children.
All of this, at the very least, should make one ponder the issue for a moment, perhaps if only to ask the question… what other wisdom, lessons to learn about life and mistakes to avoid making while living it, might the ancients of not just one, but of various cultures and ideologies, have tried to preserve for their posterity?
Ah, but to investigate the matter further would require that one have an open and unbiased mind, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, some here have made it perfectly clear that they neither now, nor apparently ever have had one of those.
So, DA, there you have it. Probably will tick you off, but, hey, you can credit yourself for bringing up the subject.
Thanks. :-)
Follow Ups:
- Re: God Vs Science DA Morgan 17/3 07:30 (0)