rejection of Old Testament - Belief in new

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

Our R.E lesson today spwaned a discussion on religion (supirise, suprise), particularly the dominant faith in my school: Christianity. Our teacher said that Genisis (having been dis-proved) is mytholygy explaining that God is behind the creation. So I asked if Genisis is, why is the rest of the Bible not seen as myth... To which she replied:
"The Old Testament is myth, and i reject it"
ME: "So you reject the laws of Moses"
"Yes, but there are hundereds of sightings of Jesus' miracles. It is historical fact"

This seemed bollocks to me....a man that walks on water, resurects etc. How can there be proof? Is this proof the truth, is it reliable?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Your teacher, in addition to talking bollocks, is trying to have her cake and eat it too. She obviously seems to be one of the smarter Christians who realise that the OT is full of hateful bile in addition to being scientifically incorrect.

but of course, there's plenty of nasty shit in NT, especially in Romans.

[Publius]

Our R.E lesson today spwaned a discussion on religion (supirise, suprise), particularly the dominant faith in my school: Christianity. Our teacher said that Genisis (having been dis-proved) is mytholygy explaining that God is behind the creation. So I asked if Genisis is, why is the rest of the Bible not seen as myth... To which she replied:
"The Old Testament is myth, and i reject it"
ME: "So you reject the laws of Moses"
"Yes, but there are hundereds of sightings of Jesus' miracles. It is historical fact"

This seemed bollocks to me....a man that walks on water, resurects etc. How can there be proof? Is this proof the truth, is it reliable?

Yes, and Sai Baba who is alive TODAY boasts THOUSANDS of people who'll attest that he can levitate, walk on water, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba

[chimx]

She sounds like a heretic. A primary tenet of Gnosticism was that the OT god was an evil entity and distinct from the NT god.

There certainly things about the old testament that are rejected by Christians, such as Levitical law, but no serious theologian would call the parables of the OT "mythology".

[Jazzratt]

no serious theologian would call the parables of the OT "mythology".

Why ever not? They bear all the hallmarks of mythology - or do theologians work from a different set of definitions?

[mikelepore]

"Yes, but there are hundereds of sightings of Jesus' miracles. It is historical fact"

Even if the miracle reports were true, all of those sightings are reported in the same book, so that counts as one source, not hundreds of sources.

And how reliable is that book? It is an edited anthology of various writers' contributions, with some manuscripts accepted by the panel of editors and others rejected. It is typical of each of those contributions to be a copy of a copy of a copy. And what was the original source for each copied copy? A transcription of a story that was preserved by word of mouth for years or decades before being written down for the first time. And what people were involved at each of the steps above? People who were dedicated to the agenda of winning converts to a cause. Other than people with the agenda of acquiring converts, how many independent witnesses to those miracles made their reports available, such as the historians? Zero.

That sums up the quality of the "historical fact".

[Demogorgon]

but no serious theologian would call the parables of the OT "mythology".

Actually they would and often do. Christian Theologians would of course claim that the mythology contains a divinely inspired message though. Apart from the ultra fundamentalist biblical literalists, everybody accepts that a large proportion of the old testament is mythology. It isn't all mythology of course, some of it is legal documents, legitimate (if not always accurate) attempts at history, other forms of moral tales etc, but anyone with more than a passing familiarity with it (which is going to include most theologians) will know that there is an extensive amount of mythology in there.

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

But whos to say that the new Testament is not myth too....the whole Jesus walkingon water thing etc. Loafs and Fish...

[Demogorgon]

But whos to say that the new Testament is not myth too....the whole Jesus walkingon water thing etc. Loafs and Fish...

Yeah, there is mythology in the New Testament as well. There is a different balance in there though. A lot of the New Testament is made up essentially of letters written by early christians, and that doesn't really qualify as mythology.

The Gospels though are a bit more interesting, they are obviously written to tie in with a lot of the stuff in the old testament (there were a lot of prophecies that Jesus supposedly fulfilled) so I think it is quite obvious they can be called mythology.