Kragar at Little Green Footballs brings us the latest in the Wingnut War To Say Dumb Stuff; from “Joe” the “Plumber” (*Caution: Neither Joe nor Plumber).
He says that the Bible beats Science. That’s not the dumb part. Even I, no believer, agree that Jesus and the Bible can give us wisdom in areas where science simply has nothing to offer. No, the dumb part is his explanation: the Bible has no revisions.
Wurzelbacher explained how his pastor, who seems to believe that faith and science are incompatible, noted that while science textbooks have several new editions, the Bible has never been revised. ”Revision Seven.’ He said, ‘now look at the Bible, what does it say’? I said, ‘Holy Bible.’ He said, ‘see any revisions on it Joe’? I said, ‘no.’ He said, ‘the reason why is because this is God’s word…man’s always looking for an answer, that’s why it’s revised.”
Apparently his pastor wasn’t using the New Revised Standard version of the Bible. Or, if he was, maybe Joe was just too embarrassed to admit that he can’t read. And, never mind the 92 complete English language versions of the Bible listed in Wikipedia.
The more important point is that the ability and the inclination to revise science books speaks to its strength, not its weakness. Done properly, science always admits of doubt, permits testing, and demands revision where the testing demonstrates error.
Just like to add that Jesus and the Bible also provide much foolishness and cruelty. That’s if you want to give equal weight to everything in the Bible. How a believer interprets the Bible tells us more about the person than what the Bible actually has to say.
Joe the Plumber reminds me of someone I know and it’s scary. In the “old” days (or “good old days” re post below) pre-ubiquitous-technology, what would his exposure and therefore influence have been? And if you argue he doesn’t have influence, then what would his exposure and annoyance factor have been? I do appreciate technology, but it has its downsides as well.
I think I’ve pretty wasted an afternoon that I will never get back.
Would never happened back in the good old days…
Whatever wisdom the bible has, science probably has a decent explanation for.
I’m not sure that normative statements like “Love all mankind as your brother,” “Turn the other cheek,” and whatnot are really within science’s purview.
Possibly not, but you could probably quantify survival potential or quality of life for the tribe or species based on the prevalence of those values.
There also are problems with translations, if one wishes to view a translation as an “edition.” In the first years of the first millennium, the dominant language of Palestine was Aramaic. The new testament was written, however, in Greek. Biblical scholars generally agree the first of the gospels was written no earlier than 66 C.E. That means those sections of the new testament, until then, were passed down by oral tradition in Aramaic. When put to paper, they were translated to Greek. Later, the new testament was translated into Latin, what had become the language of scholars. Finally, King James wanted a version in English. With each translation comes a transition between different sets of nuances of the languages themselves.
And that’s assuming perfectly good faith on the part of the translators with absolutely no conscious effort to further an agenda when making the translation.
That is a point well taken.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/louisiana-students-loch-ness-monster-disprove-evolution_n_1624643.html
Joe the Prevericator could get an Honarary PHD from these maroons.
Give Joe credit. You are interpreting his words four years later. More notoriety than he should have received in 20 lifetimes.
Does he believe what he says? I wonder. Or is he just trying to be who the far right wants him to be?