Factual reconciliation in the Bible

[Realitycheck]

Do you believe that any attempt to homogenize or fact-check the Bible should include removal of parts that clearly violate the laws of physics and strictly emphasize law and values? Where would you draw the line? I mean, I think it's pretty obvious that Methuselah didn't really live 946? years unless he had some Adonis blood in him (which I highly doubt), so would you just scale the ages? I've held this ideology for a long time that Jews' long ages were symbolic to represent their conservative values, as opposed to heathens and their potential affinity for venereal diseases and shorter lives. So I wonder how this would affect Bishop Usher's math. Would it place "the beginning" at a time like 1500 BC and in reconciliation with some historically significant event such as the beginning of a select family for whatever reason and nothing more? At what point in the OT do people start dying at a reasonable age?

[Marat]

I'm not sure why we should worry so much about people living an extraordinarily long time when we also have problems like Moses commanding the sun to stand still, someone living inside the stomach of a sea creature, or a magical sword appearing in the air over Damocles. Since the whole foundational premise of the text -- an omniscient, omnipotent, ubiquitous, eternal, mind-reading father figure with a nasty temper commanding the universe or his son rising from the dead -- is contrary to both the laws of physical nature and of logic, why fret the details?

Edited June 2, 2011 by Marat