It is said that one shouldn't get into an argument with a fool, because it soon becomes difficult for a third party to distinguish between the protagonists.

I'd like to commend Oliver for his persistence in presenting reasoned and rational refutations of the cleverly presented, but nonetheless essentially superstitious, claims presented by fundamentalist Christians such as Aslan.

Clearly, Oliver is no fool.

BOAZ_David, you say, "it was Grace Pettigrew who suggested that my 'right wing fundamentalist bigot' friends like Campolo, are not worth listening to."

Exactly where have I ever mentioned this Campolo person Boaz?

I will say it once again, stop telling fibs or you will go blind.

Kenny,

You said: "I’ll tell you one thing it is enough to know that pi is not 3."

This goes to show that you know precious little about maths. Pi is an irrational number which means it is inappropriate to talk about its "value". Rather, it can only be approximated eg. 3.142 or 22/7 or 3.1415926535897984626. None of these represent the value of pi - they are approximations of varying precision. So 3 is actually a valid approximation of pi (to 1 significant figure). BTW, the calculation of pi=3 from 1 Kings 7:23 assumes the metal Sea was perfectly circular, that the given measurements were not rounded up/down and that the brim did not fan outwards. If any of these are not true, the deduction of pi=3 fails anyway.

Oliver,

You said: "The records would have survived for several reasons"

But as Keenan pointed out, it is an historical fact that most of the records did NOT survive, so your speculations are pointless and irrelevant, not to mention logically fallacious.

You said: "Keenan appears to be an Astronomer not an historian."

Yes, he is an astronomer writing about the history and accuracy of Chinese astronomy.

I would not rip out any of the gospels nor replace any of them under any circumstances. All are equally reliable and focus on different aspects of the life and ministry of Christ.

Oliver,

You said:"Right and wrong are moral concepts."

In your view they are meaningless concepts because you only have opinion.

For West, "might" lies with people. In USSR, "might" lay with Stalin. ie. might is right.

"In executing war criminals, the court is acting in accordance with its collective opinion. Is that right? Well, it’s a matter of opinion. :-)"

Your relativistic view was the Nazis main defence at Nuremberg. But their opinion counted for nothing because the "might" or "locus of power" lay with the allies and the Court.

Your relativistic view is incoherent, and means you have no business objecting to behaviour which "in your opinion" is wrong, heinous, criminal etc. Such moral language is meaningless in your view. You only have opinion.

Philo,

"In the terms of Genesis 2: 17 "in the day" - when did Adam die, and what was the nature of that death that we also inherited as mentioned in Romans 5: 12 – 21."

Extract from my 300 page dissertation:

In Gen 2:17, "in the day" is literal translation of beyom which is idiom for "when" so this is not referring to a fixed point in time. Older translations are inconsistent in rendering beyom. Newer ones such as NIV, NET render it consistently as "when". Secondly, the Qal imperfect verb form implies action which is (1) dependent upon the event of Adam and Eve eating fruit, and (2) in the future with respect to time that they ate. Thirdly, Hebrew "ki beyom akalek mimenu mot tamut", literally reads: ‘for in the day of your eating of it, dying you shall die.’ When infinitive absolute precedes finite verb of same stem (as here), it strengthens or intensifies the verbal idea by emphasizing its certainty ie. the emphasis is on certainty of death rather than precise timing or chronology.

Link between sin and physical death is highlighted by chiasmus in Rom 5:12:
A Therefore, just as sin entered the world
B through one man,
C and death through sin,
C’ and in this way death came
B’ to all men,
A’ because all sinned

"This goes to show that you know precious little about maths. Pi is an irrational number which means it is inappropriate to talk about its 'value'."

Huh? Irrational numbers still have values Aslan, even though you can't write them down. Such approximations are often refered to as "the value of Pi to x decimals places".

Aslan,

Had the Gospel of Mark been excluded from the mandated collected Biblical works in the fourth century, would you agree to the inclusion of the new fourth Gospel of Mark today? Please justify your response.

garra,

Thanks. Your feedback is appreciated.