LOL, it would now seem that if we understand metaphysics, we can accept that donkeys can talk, snakes can charm and humans can stay alive inside fishes.
Indeed, and that diseases are cured by casting out evil spirits...(by those who have been given special powers)! I wonder what evil spirit causes the flu...? :)
I think what is being said is "If you believe in God, then all of these things are possible."
MaPI or BB quoted, "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." and it dawned on me that there's no necessity for either of you to believe in the rights of humans.
For example, can you prove a right to life without reference to God? I'd be interested in hearing it.
Not understanding "metaphysics" is merely the tip of the iceberg of what the proud, but invincibly ignorant atheists don't want to understand.
I'll sum it up to begin: Whenever you run across any person who criticizes the Bible, claims findings of contradiction or error -- they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. They have to earn it from you. Here's why.
Obviously the vast majority of [people] spend their entire lives doing little more than reading the Bible in English (or whatever native tongue) and importing into its words whatever ideas they derive from their own experiences. This process is very often one of "decontextualizing" ..
It doesn't take very long to realize that a thorough understanding of the Bible -- and this would actually apply to any complex work from any culture -- requires specialized knowledge, and a broad range of specialized knowledge in a variety of fields.
Let's anticipate and toss off the obvious objection: "Why did God make the Bible so hard to understand, then?"
It isn't -- none of this keeps a person from grasping the message of the Bible to the extent required to be saved; where the line is to be drawn is upon those who gratuitously assume that such base knowledge allows them to be competent critics of the text, and make that assumption indifferent to their own lack of knowledge -- what I have elsewhere spoken of in terms of being "unskilled and unaware of it."
"...The genres of the Bible include narrative, poetry, proverbial literature, wisdom discourse, a treaty (that's what Deuteronomy is, believe it or not!), legal codes, genealogies, biography (that is what the Gospels are!), personal letters and general letters, rhetoric (an art form in the ancient world), riposte, and apocalyptic. ....."
HERE: Fields of knowledge required for proper study of the Bible
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Fundie atheists and their inane, so-called "Bible contradiction" arguments, are dealt with day in and day out HERE. Scroll down to "Chapter 14" especially.