Comments on: Author endorsed by David Barton claims founding of America was prophesied in Genesis

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:32:31 +0000

When does a need for confirmation bias born of a faith in a belief become delusion? Is that simply not a tenable psychological position (deeply held religious belief cannot be considered pathological) or does the break with realities become so great as to overcome that rule?

By: Yogi29073

Yogi29073 — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:08:52 +0000

Professor Throckmorton, do you actually expect to have Beck and Barton to ever tell the truth?? (It’s more a rhetorical question Professor, but I thought I’d ask it anyway).
I have followed your remarks and corrections to Barton’s outlandish claims for well over a year now. My expectation is that Beck and Barton will continue to bend facts, break facts, fabricate facts to fit their twisted ideal of what they think this nation should be, and look forward to your particularly correcting and exacting details of how these two morons twist facts around.
I am learning more about the Bible through your blog and Politicus USA, and I read articles by a Heathen, so between the two of you, I am getting a very good idea about God or Gods, how the documents that make up the Bible were actually gathered together (an interesting and bloody story) and religion in general.
I find the History of the documents that have made up both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible have a really interesting history. God may have inspired the writing of these documents but it was man and all of his phobias that are what have basically made the Bible what it has come to be. We, as human’s have changed our views about life since Roman times and have come to believe the Slavery is really a bad idea, to name just one of the ancient items that are still in the Bible.
Our views change, and our views of the Bible and its word should change as well, but the likes of Beck and Barton will have none of that!!!
It is because of individuals like you and others that I read that base their arguments are well established facts, and it is because of that that I will listen to Beck and Barton with a bolder of salt.
I look forward to your next post to refute these two fools and their total rubbish. Unfortunately, people still believe in what they say, and that is a shame, and dangerous.
Thank you Professor.

By: BJ Swearer

BJ Swearer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:08:52 +0000

Perhaps this writer should have been better versed with John Quincy Adams who cites the correct prophecy regarding America’s founding… it wasn’t in Genesis, but in Isaiah:
“This was indeed a great and solemn event. The sublimest of the prophets of antiquity with the voice of inspiration had exclaimed, “Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?” (Isaiah 66:8) In the two thousand five hundred years, that has elapsed since the days of that prophecy, no such event had occurred. It had never been seen before. In the annals of the human race, then, for the first time, did one People announce themselves as a member of that great community of the powers of the earth, acknowledging the obligations and claiming the rights of the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. The earth was made to bring forth in one day! A Nation was born at once!”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=2337

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:08:52 +0000

@ Bill
I would be most surprised if Barton endorses a book without being aware of its central themes, your observations above notwithstanding.
I agree that what is suggested by your own experience is somewhat ‘odd’!
@ Yogi29073
I would agree with your suggestion that the story of how ‘the Bible’ (which is not a book – hence the inverted commas – but a collection of texts … a library perhaps) came to be in its present form(s) is not a straightforward one. I remember well a sermon at what might reasonably be regarded as a ‘bible-based’ church in CT: the preacher reminded those present that there was considerable debate in the early Church about whether the OT should be included in the Canon of Scripture, and that this indicated the need for care when interpreting what is said therein. I thought he made a good point, and made it well.

By: Bill Fortenberry

Bill Fortenberry — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:08:52 +0000

Just to let you know: Barton’s book endorsements do not necessarily reveal his personal beliefs and opinions. I wanted to find out how he conducts his reviews, so I sent in a request for a review of my own book. The instructions which I received in response, included a requirement that I “write a proposed endorsement that David can tweak/edit to his style.” This would seem to indicate that Barton does not actually read the books which he endorses. He probably just skims over a few random pages and then signs his name to whatever the author wrote for him. Personally, I think that this is a very bad policy, and I am not at all surprised that it has led to an endorsement of a book like Ballard’s, but this policy does make it difficult to argue that Barton actually agrees with Ballard’s conclusions.