Does the book convey that all biblical characters are myths?

Use this forum to discuss the December 2020 Book of the month, "Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.
Chizioboli
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Re: Does the book convey that all biblical characters are myths?

Post by Chizioboli »

They are not myths rather are real people who lived before we even existed. I guess writing the story of Adam and eve as myths must be coming from an non religious stand
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

Chizioboli wrote: 05 Jan 2021, 09:21 They are not myths rather are real people who lived before we even existed. I guess writing the story of Adam and eve as myths must be coming from an non religious stand
But a lot of Bible scholars agree that they are myths. How could they be people that existed before humans existed, it is just impossible!
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Post by Timothy Rucinski »

Some biblical stories are rooted in some history and often found in other sources. For example, there are several flood stories that cross from culture to culture. But many of them are designed to explain difficult concepts to those of limited intellectual capacity. The creation story is one. The myth of Adam and Eve is another. Moses is quite a different situation as there is some historical justification for the enslavement and exodus of the early Hebrews. There are also figures that existed in history, such as Jesus. Other than religious writings, his existence was documented by the early historian, Josephus. But most of the stories about Jesus were composed more than thirty years after his death, so there was plenty of opportunities to embellish the myths around miracles and acts of wonder. All of this must be taken with a grain of salt, although the later writings that relate to religious observance and faith, such as Paul's epistles, are more grounded in actuality than the magic stories of virgin birth and turning water into wine.
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Post by Praise GodWord »

Bible character are real and they truly existed in the context of this cosmos. There a signs of their existed in the ancient artifacts till date in place like Israel and Egypt. The fact that most religious places still accept their writings is a sign that they existed and their presence in the past were still relevant.
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Post by dianaterrado »

I think it's not that they're myths. I took it as some characters are representative of some ideas or some traits that the Bible want to emphasize. Maybe they're not "real" people but rather a representation or may be inspired by real people. If this makes sense?
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Post by Francis Aderogbin »

I believed the author inked his opinions. And because of that, we can't generalise his view of characters in the bible. I believed all characters in the bible are real. That is my opinion and it still doesn't mean it is true. After all, everyone is entitled to his/her opinions.
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Post by Heidadela »

According to the author, Adam and Eve are myths, which means the rest of the human race is a myth because without Adam and Eve, we are non-existent. I find this notion misplaced because I, a descendant of Adam, am here today. We are all here because Adam was. If one cannot prove that Adam existed, I wonder how they can prove that we evolved from monkeys. It means both notions are just baseless hypotheses.
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Post by Chizioboli »

The tone and extent of explanations depicts that he assumes those stories are purely myths. For example, see how he relates the story of Adam and Eve.
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Post by zulfiyya »

Certainly, some characters from the Bible did exist, but they didn't have any connection to God or anything spiritual. Somebody just came along and collected the stories, found some meanings or coincidences that were hard to explain, and then connected them all through God in the book.
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Post by Kennedy NC »

Despite our difficulty in understanding some biblical stories the characters and events are definitely not myths.
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Post by Fajarr »

I didn't take it so much as he believed they are all myths, but more so that they lived and their stories are twisted when wrote in the bible. His take on how he views the bible being twisted and turned by human nature reminds me much like the game telephone and how things get changed as we hear them. I feel this can also happen in writing too, as those who interpret or copy something write it in the way in which they have interpreted it.
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