Sand wrote:
In other words you're saying the bear's consumption of the children is not connected with the fact that the kids were nasty to the prophet.
I would say they are (though indirectly); however, to be truly honest, there simply isn't enough text to this story to do anything more than make presumptions. Most would presume by the initiation of a curse, on part of Elijah, that God is directly responsible for the bear's attack (Note: theists AND atheists are both guilty of this). It is reasonable to consider the possibility that these children were just a nasty group and moved from tangling with a bald fellow to tangling with two bears in some manner--with of course, deadly results.
Quote:
Do you really think the Bible is written in such a scatterbrained manner?
Scatterbrained? No. I would suggest it is written in a somewhat incomplete manner--in the sense that much detail is often lacking. Sadly, people are prone to inserting what seems plausible to complete it.