What a brilliant example of a straw man argument. This is typical of the shoddy reasoning and logical fallacies that your becoming famous for. Can't you do better than that?
""Jonah 3:3 informs us that the old Assyrian capital, Nineveh, was an exceedingly great city, being three days' journey across!" The word across doesn't even appear in the text and yet your buddy Dave bases his whole argument on a word that's not there. Now that's what I call an argument from silence! Dave then bases his calculations on a straight line, non stop, power walk but that's not in the text either, is it? Never mind the extra time it would have taken to stop and preach . Lets look at the NASV text
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you." 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."
"A three days' walk could mean a number of different things could it not? I live in a town not much bigger than described and if I were to attempt to do what Jonah was mandated to do (in the text) It would easily take me three days. The fact is that after adding (in italics) the words "in extent", the footnote in my NKJV says "exact meaning unknown" This phrase could mean to walk around, or through I don't know and neither does your friend
Speaking of not knowing. I find it fascinating that almost within my lifetime Asyyria was used by people such as yourself to deny the bible on the basis that no archeological evidence of the Assyrian people had ever been found. One encyclopedia read "The Assyrians; A mythological people found only in the bible" How inconvenient of them to dig it up like that and force you guys to come up with some other theory. All I can say is keep digging. But at any rate when it comes to arguing the trustworthiness of the bible based on archeology you are on very shaky ground. So bring it on, but not fort or fifty at a time. How about one?
His servant Greg Have a nice day |
