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I thought we were talking about the book? You might want to know the circumstances of the prayer instead of jumping to conclusions.

A prophet prayed in the Old Testament and had two female bears maul 30 kids. This just for disrespecting him by making fun of him being bald. The point was to respect men of God.

Geo, you didn't read the quote. You added the words biases and faulty thinking are our inclined way of thinking. But he contradicted the two statements and many more.

I guess you found the chapter quite good? What was your assessment?

top man bob, you've got us back on topic

i wonder if we should fire chapter two up?

we can always keep going here if there are things in chapter one we want to discuss further.

brother bob wrote:I thought we were talking about the book? You might want to know the circumstances of the prayer instead of jumping to conclusions.

A prophet prayed in the Old Testament and had two female bears maul 30 kids. This just for disrespecting him by making fun of him being bald. The point was to respect men of God.

Geo, you didn't read the quote. You added the words biases and faulty thinking are our inclined way of thinking. But he contradicted the two statements and many more.

I guess you found the chapter quite good? What was your assessment?

No, Harrison makes the meaning very clear throughout the chapter. He says in numerous places that we are all inconsistent in our thinking, but that an understanding of the human brain, with its biases and shortcuts, can help us think better. Indeed, that's the thesis of the book. You are taking these two sentences out of context.

Do you believe the prophet in the Old Testament actually prayed to have to have two female bears maul 30 kids? (Actually, wasn't it 42?) This is anecdotal, a story told much like the story of Tailypo, told in North American folklore, about a ravenous cat-like creature that can talk. But you don't believe that story, do you?

It's possible that a couple of bears did stumble into a village and kill some people a long time ago. That's plausible. And over time the story was embellished with additional elements that reflected the beliefs of that culture. The number of children killed was probably exaggerated, along with the additional detail that it was retaliation for making fun of a man of God. Stories are embellished all the time, which is why anecdotal evidence is considered the weakest sort of evidence by scholars.

from Ch. 1 . . .

Skeptics and psychologists, of course, are very aware of the limits and fallibility of eyewitness and personal experience, since our perceptions and recollections are subject to many different sources of bias. This doesn't mean that our personal experiences are worthless, of course— just that they are not necessarily a reliable guide to what really happened.

So far I like the book a lot.

The Bible is to be taken WORD for WORD - most is to be taken literal, historical, parables and some are similes.

Even Harrison concludes that one religion could be true.

Thanks for letting me know where you stood on the chapter.

Quote "Skeptics and psychologists, of course, are very aware of the limits and fallibility of eyewitness and personal experience, since our perceptions and recollections are subject to many different sources of bias. This doesn't mean that our personal experiences are worthless, of course— just that they are not necessarily a reliable guide to what really happened.'

As my illustration about being out in the woods and smelling, hearing, seeing or sensing a fire is REALITY. Senses are an important guide to cognitive processes. Knowing how my brain works has nothing to do with the reality to make a run for it.

The bears did not stumble onto a village. It was a prophet walking and 30 kids playing in the outlying area, and due to their disrespect we taught a lesson. Insulting a prophet was not the best thing to do during that time. Just because you do not understand that the Bible is almost always a literal book, that has been proven numerous times by archeology. They thought there was no Sodom and Gomorrah, the Israelites didn't cross the Red Sea, Jericho and much more. They even just found park of the book of Mark in an Egyptian sphinx that dated around 70 AD. All findings verify the historical facts found in the Bible

Good day!

i suppose seeing this sort of story as an "ooooooooo watch out or the boogyman will get ya"

is the sort of superstitious fear that Guy P. would be pleased to see people escape by thinking more critically

back in my church days they would trot out this bear story, the ananias and saphira getting killed by the holy ghost, and the "dont touch the lord's anointed" story all in a pathetic attempt to keep questioning minds at bay.

fear is a great question killer

here comes a terrorist threat

sorry what were you asking about defence funding disappearing?

I dunno, do you think God sending two bears to kill 42 children for making fun of a man's baldness might be just a tad bit overkill? Jesus would say turn the other cheek. That's a much nicer message.

You missed the 23,000 that dies at Mt. Sinai for rejecting the true God. There are great consequences for sin, some here on earth, and for eternity. Sad, but true. This is why man is hopeless and helpless without God's means of salvation. As Joshua said "choose you this day whom you will serve." Joshua 24:15

Man in the hands of an angry God is a scary thing. That's just fact! Judgment is never fun.

bob, how much hair you got brother?

any bald guys here? geo?

i'm thinking of an experiment where we see if this sort of thing happens.

/heads off looking for bear gun and bald men...

You have to understand that a prophet requesting something would have to go along with the WILL of God. I don't want you dead. I want your life to be restored with God. That is his desire also.

Oh, and I have plenty of hair.