9/7     how true are the stories in the bible?
        \_ You've got to be kidding asking this on the motd, right?
        \_ xenu will get you if you believe in the bible
        \_ none of them are true
           \_ There's likely some truth to them in the general sense.  Example:
              it is 99.9999% likely that a 30 year old man who was the son of
              a Jewish carpenter was a prophet and had followers and got his
              ass crucified.  Did he drive the demons from a man into a herd of
              animals and then run them off a cliff?  Unlikely.
        \_ look at it this way, Islam and Judaism also recognize Abraham,
           Joseph, etc etc. These religions didn't branch off till later
           but the fact that 3 religions have the same records in the
           beginning really says something.
           \_ Yeah.  Two of them forked from the third.  By this
              reasoning rumors that are repeated enough become true, regardless
              of the truth of the original source.  By the way,
              people are saying that giving me money prolongs your life.
              \_ you've got to have the hair.  it's all about the hair.
                 just ask dogbert.  post a jpg of your hair in /csua/tmp/
                 and mabye you'll get rich.
                 \_ I've got great hair.  You must have faith and send money to
                    my paypal account to be saved.
           \_ If the 3 religions have the same records independently, then
              it is significant.  But how can you be certain there was
              never any interaction among the people of these religions?
              \_ Uh, there's no doubt Islam and Christianity were direct
                 offshoots of Judaism in that sense.  World Religions 1A.
                 \_ I know that.  So that invalidates the previous
                    poster's statement that "the fact that 3 religions
                    have the same records in the beginning really says
                    something."
                    \_ I was agreeing with you.
        \_ A bit OT, but check out The Sins Of Jesus; it's by some
           Berkeley physics prof.  As a novel it's rather poor, but it
           suggests some interesting theories-- like why did Moses turn a
           staff into a snake instead of performing some more logical
           miracle?  (A: because it was a trick that was performed
           commonly in Egyptian courts at the time).  He also explains
           the parting of the Red Sea like this: if a bunch of slaves
           escape, they'll assume the pharoah will chase them, but the
           pharoah can just assume they'll die in the desert.  The
           Israelites see a mirage of water closing behind them and think
           "Our creator has saved us!" when in fact there was no chasing
           army at all.
           \_ I had Muller for physics, I missed a lot of the lectures but
              I remember the one when he said some student of his gave him
              death threats because of that book.
           \_ I had Muller for physics too.  Great lecturer.  Pretty good
              researcher.  But his book is nuts.  It flat out contradicts the
              Gospel accounts in several places.  Basically, it's a solution
              looking for a problem.
        \_ definition: miracle
             2. Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the
             established constitution and course of things, or a
             deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural
             event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the
             universe is governed.
             \_ 4. The occurrence of a CSUA male getting laid (not by
                yermom).