Dear Lord...

Quote from: WardoggKC130FE on August 12, 2011, 05:19:34 AM

Rick Perry prayed and yesterday it rained.

3 days after the local weather man said we were stuck in a weather pattern that wouldn't break until Oct it has now rained 2 straight days.

Confirmation Bias.

Quote from: WardoggKC130FE on August 15, 2011, 07:56:31 AM

Quote from: Demouse on August 15, 2011, 06:55:35 AM

But you wouldn't be testing the LORD, you would be trusting the LORD since you already know that the LORD exists and cares for you. If he did not decide to save your life then clearly it was your time to die and you will be with the LORD as a reward for your faith.

Satan....Is that you?  You cannot tempt me.

Lucifer does not give you temptation, he simply tries to show that such desires already exist and were given to you by God. Why would God give you such desires but ask you to reject them?

The post stands in the reference it was implied to.  Don't try and turn this into a free will debate.

Quote from: Roundy the Truthinessist on August 14, 2011, 03:06:15 PM

Quote from: Saddam Hussein on August 14, 2011, 03:04:48 PM

The Book of Exodus is not a historical record.  It is a story.

Some people will never grasp this, Saddam.

We'll never know all the particulars, but there is the account of the Egyptian historian Manetho and that of Apion. Both accounts (and indeed, the biblical Exodus account) are largely polemic (and the atmosphere is still charged in modern scholarship), so I doubt any large consensus will ever be reached on the subject.  Particularly on this forum.
Since ancient references to "an" exodus are steeped in polemic from both perspectives, it seems safe, in my opinion, to state that indeed something happened in Pi-Ramses/Avaris/Goshen.

That's all it takes to convince you?  A couple of vague, murky references by two ancient historians who lived hundreds of years after the fact, weighed against a complete and utter lack of any historical or archaeological evidence, and you really think that "it seems safe" to conclude that it happened?

Quote from: Lorddave on August 15, 2011, 09:40:21 AM

Quote from: WardoggKC130FE on August 15, 2011, 07:56:31 AM

Quote from: Demouse on August 15, 2011, 06:55:35 AM

But you wouldn't be testing the LORD, you would be trusting the LORD since you already know that the LORD exists and cares for you. If he did not decide to save your life then clearly it was your time to die and you will be with the LORD as a reward for your faith.

Satan....Is that you?  You cannot tempt me.

Lucifer does not give you temptation, he simply tries to show that such desires already exist and were given to you by God. Why would God give you such desires but ask you to reject them?

The post stands in the reference it was implied to.  Don't try and turn this into a free will debate.

It's more of a "God wants you to hate yourself so you rely on him to gain self worth. "

"Texas is 33rd in average public school teacher salary, 43rd in high school graduation rate, 44th in average state funding per pupil, 45th in SAT scores, and dead last in percent of people over the age of 25 with at least a high school diploma.

Question.  Can we break down these numbers by demographics?

http://www.edweek.org/media/texas_eperc.pdf

Quote from: 17 November on August 07, 2011, 11:21:28 AM

"Texas is 33rd in average public school teacher salary, 43rd in high school graduation rate, 44th in average state funding per pupil, 45th in SAT scores, and dead last in percent of people over the age of 25 with at least a high school diploma.

Question.  Can we break down these numbers by demographics?

http://www.edweek.org/media/texas_eperc.pdf

Padded results, minority isolation scores of .76, high dropout rates.... Yeah Texas is a GREAT place....

Also, I read through their "exit exam" ( I assume grade 12) for science and aside from a few genetics questions it's very easy. Too easy. And only 55 questions. Compared to a state test in New York this is a cake walk.

Texas:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2147499203

NY:
http://www.nysedregents.org/Physics/611/physics-exam611.pdf
(this is physics only as each grade focuses on a different area of science and physics is usually last)



http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/2009_Grad_Rates03092010.html

Not a bad rating considering that also includes NYC. Beats the shut out of Texas and we have more difficult tests.
I'm sorry but the Texas educational system sucks and they hide it by making tests easy and giving false data.

Quote from: Ski on August 14, 2011, 06:24:50 PM

Quote from: WardoggKC130FE on August 14, 2011, 05:57:58 PM

Quote from: Lorddave on August 14, 2011, 05:29:28 PM

The greeks were here before and for longer than the holy bible.

Cool story bro.  Did they enslave the jews too?

Yes. Read the 1 and 2 Macccabees.

So we know God's people were enslaved, but it might have been the Egyptians or the Greeks.  Good to know.  Thanks Ski!

It was both. First the Egyptians, and then the Greeks.

Quote from: Ski on August 14, 2011, 05:07:09 PM

We'll never know all the particulars, but there is the account of the Egyptian historian Manetho and that of Apion. Both accounts (and indeed, the biblical Exodus account) are largely polemic (and the atmosphere is still charged in modern scholarship), so I doubt any large consensus will ever be reached on the subject.  Particularly on this forum.
Since ancient references to "an" exodus are steeped in polemic from both perspectives, it seems safe, in my opinion, to state that indeed something happened in Pi-Ramses/Avaris/Goshen.

That's all it takes to convince you?  A couple of vague, murky references by two ancient historians who lived hundreds of years after the fact, weighed against a complete and utter lack of any historical or archaeological evidence, and you really think that "it seems safe" to conclude that it happened?

Manetho's account is not very vague; nor is the biblical account. Apion, is clearly "murky" since we have only citations from him and not his texts.  I think the details are beyond knowing certainly. I don't know, for example, that "it seems safe" to conclude that either the biblical or the Egyptian account is more accurate based on the two conflicting accounts. Yet the fact both accounts are so steeped in polemic (anti-Hebraic from the Egyptian account, and the anti-Egyptian bias in the Tanakh) testifies to the historicity of the event. If I have two writers each heatedly laying out a case blaming the other for the breaking of a window, I may never know who broke the window, but it seems certain that a window was broken.

Yet the fact both accounts are so steeped in polemic (anti-Hebraic from the Egyptian account, and the anti-Egyptian bias in the Tanakh) testifies to the historicity of the event.

I would say just the opposite - the fact that they were so biased colors their agendas and makes their accounts less reliable.  If saying that the Exodus happened gave them an opportunity to make a political point, then they would be more likely to say that the Exodus happened.

If I have two writers each heatedly laying out a case blaming the other for the breaking of a window, I may never know who broke the window, but it seems certain that a window was broken.

Okay, but unlike a window, for a mass exodus of thousands of slaves from a country, one would expect there to be some kind of record.  You didn't address that.

Quote from: Demouse on August 15, 2011, 06:55:35 AM

But you wouldn't be testing the LORD, you would be trusting the LORD since you already know that the LORD exists and cares for you. If he did not decide to save your life then clearly it was your time to die and you will be with the LORD as a reward for your faith.

Satan....Is that you?  You cannot tempt me.

I'm not trying to tempt you. I'm asking you to show your faith in the LORD.

Quote

If I have two writers each heatedly laying out a case blaming the other for the breaking of a window, I may never know who broke the window, but it seems certain that a window was broken.

Okay, but unlike a window, for a mass exodus of thousands of slaves from a country, one would expect there to be some kind of record.  You didn't address that.

There is, of course,  the record of Manetho, Apion and the Hebrew scribes unless we're dismissing them.

We've lost more works of history from that period than we've retained.