{"id":14781,"date":"2013-06-04T08:21:08","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T12:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=14781"},"modified":"2013-06-04T08:21:08","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T12:21:08","slug":"new-game-what-does-the-bible-explicitly-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/new-game-what-does-the-bible-explicitly-state.html","title":{"rendered":"New Game: What Does The Bible Explicitly State?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Joel Watts has come up with a clever idea for a Bible-related game<\/a>. It was sparked by the latest instance of someone claiming \u201cthe Bible explicitly states\u201d about an issue they consider important. (If you Google the phrase, you get some 8.5 million results, so it is fairly common).<\/p>\n

And so here is what Joel proposed in response:<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s play a game. Explicit means \u201cfully revealed or expressed without vagueness<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does the bible explicitly state? Now\u2026 the rules are simple:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If the stated view can be challenged by another verse, then it is not explicit.<\/li>\n
  2. You cannot deny facts such as historical criticism, or even lexicons.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, what does the bible explicitly state?<\/p>\n

    Go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I\u2019m not sure that bringing historical criticism into the picture makes sense, since the Bible might well explicitly state something that historical criticism concludes did not in fact happen. But his point about lexicons is a crucial one. It is not uncommon for those who claim that the Bible \u201cexplicitly states\u201d this or that to rewrite the meaning of words so that the Bible \u201cexplicitly states\u201d something that is not within the range of meaning of the underlying Hebrew or Greek word.<\/p>\n

    And the point about the Bible (as a whole) not explicitly stating something if it also explicitly states the opposite is likewise an important one.<\/p>\n

    Care to play the game? Then why not do so, whether here, or on Joel\u2019s blog<\/a>?<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Joel Watts has come up with a clever idea for a Bible-related game. It was sparked by the latest instance of someone claiming \u201cthe Bible explicitly states\u201d about an issue they consider important. (If you Google the phrase, you get some 8.5 million results, so it is fairly common). And so here is what Joel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,139,43],"tags":[1140,3736,4871,5774],"class_list":["post-14781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-fundamentalism-religion","category-inerrancy","tag-bible","tag-game","tag-humor","tag-joel-watts"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Game: What Does The Bible Explicitly State?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Joel Watts has come up with a clever idea for a Bible-related game. 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