Blood, Water and Magicians (1b)

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> CCBE

> At this point we see no textual reason to  'grant that Aaron and Moses changed

> ALL of the water in Egypt into blood'. What we do agree with is that Moses and

> Aaron changed all of the water in Egypt into blood that is categorised in the

> text. ANY water not categorised in the text immediatley sinks your whole

> argument. Please textually demonstrate your assertion that 'ALL', as in 

> absolutely no exceptions, of the water in Egypt was turned to blood? A failure

> to do so from the text invalidates your argument of logistically impossible.


JEFF:
If CCBE had been reading posts to the list, it would have seen that
Egyptians used ground-water wells to get their drinking water.  If these
wells were undrinkable, then digging in the sand for drinkable water would
have done them no good.  If they were drinkable, then there was no reason
for them to dig for water in the sand.  If drinkable water fell as rain,
then there was no reason for them to dig water in the sand.

So just where did the Magicians water come from, if it was not from the
nile, or from a well, or from rain then there doesn't seem to be any other
source of water.  And, anyway, if there _were_ a source of water, then why
were the Egyptians digging in the sand?


> CCBE

> We have demonstrated that your logistic impossibility is not textually based

> and hence invalid eisegesis by yourself. Hence we stand by our valid exegesis

> of the passage, that in stating the Egyptians did likewise the existence of

> water to use is asserted.


No, from here it looks like a consequence of the text that there was no
drinking water available.  It's not an immediate consequence, but it's a
consequence.

Let me try to say this in a more connected fashion.

1. Egyptians dug for drinking water in the dirt.
2. The only reason that Egyptians would dig for water in the dirt is if no
   other source of drinking water was available.

   I have not heard a credible suggestion about what "other source" there
   was, so if CCBE has addressed this claim, it has only to refer other
   Errancy readers to the post where it did so.
3. Egyptians used groundwater wells as a source of drinking water.
4. If there was no drinking water was available from the normal sources,
   then there was no drinking water available from groundwater wells.
5. If groundwater wells were unavailable due to being turned to blood, and
   normal "well cleaning" processes (empty and wait to refill) were not
   sufficient, then the groundwater must have been turned to blood too.
6. If groundwater was turned to blood, then digging in sand would not
   produce drinkable water.
7. If there was no drinkable water available, then there was no water
   available for the Magicians to "do likewise."

   As has been pointed out, maybe the Magicians used some plasma
   salt-water gunk which had been filtered by sand to do their
   trick.  However, I haven't seen CCBE say that it approves of this
   harmonization.  If all CCBE is claiming is that egyptians turned blood
   plasma into whole blood, gee, I guess this whole line of argument fails.

   So, CCBE, why not just dismiss this whole line of logical argument by
   admitting that when the bible says "likewise" it means "likewise, except
   using blood plasma instead of water"?

Speaking of which, what blood type _was_ the blood in the river?  Was it
human blood, or animal blood?  Inquiring minds want to know...

Ooh, one last thought.  Obviously, the bible doesn't mean that _all_ the
water turned to blood.  Just consider the water which makes up 80% of the
volume of some cheeses.  Heck, just consider the water in the magicians'
bladders at the time the plague started!  Smart fellows that they were,
they probably went out into the city and told some residents that they were
to be subjected to a "blood test."
	Magician: The Pharaoh orders you to take a blood test.	Just pee
	          into this cup for me
	Egyptian: What kind of blood test is it to take a urine sample?
		  I'm no Magician, but I know a thing or two about my
		  internal biological processes!
	Magician: Till says that some arab turned _all_ the water in Egypt into 
		  blood.  We're doing some tests to make sure.  Just pee
		  into this cup for me!
	<sounds of a waterfall, perhaps Niagra>
	Magician: [to Magician 2] Nope, that's urine!
	Magician 2: It sure smells like urine..
	Magican: Say, isn't there an etheopian eunich joke that starts that
		 way?
	[Off goes Magician and Magician 2 to ``do likewise'' with this
	urine^H^H^H^H^Hwater in the presence of Pharaoh, Moses, Arron,
	and YHVH; the Egyptian pauses to read the cue-card floating
	in the heavens, then goes down to the Nile to dig in the sand.
	Lots of other Egyptians follow him.]

Jeff
-- 
\/ http://www.freshmeat.net/                     Jeff Epler jepler@inetnebr.com
Real wealth can only increase.
		-- R. Buckminster Fuller

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