A Survey This Is

[Luigison]

I believe in God.  He spoke to me on my computer.  I asked him, "What's up?" and he replied, "Stars."  Later God said, "Are you really a " "?"  I don't know what he meant, but you can talk to him too:  http://www.titane.ca/concordia/dfar251/igod/main.html

[Hirocon]

There are at least two miracles which science will never be able to explain:

1) The Universe exists.
2) Humans are sentient.

These facts are beyond the realm of science but are undeniably real and important.  They don't prove the correctness of any specific religion, but I see them as evidence of something spiritual.

[Yoshisaurus Rex]

Who said evolution and Christianity can't coincide? Some theories, like Earth coming from a chemical reaction seem logical... but I believe God made it happen.

It could be possible that some parts of evolution could work with creation, but there might not be too many.  For instance, Genesis 1:24 says that God made creatures to produce after their own kind and so they wouldn't evolve and produce different kinds of creatures.  And if the Bible were true, the Flood would be the reason for many fossils of dinosaurs and other creatures buried underground, instead of a huge disaster and then erosion. (If all creatures, including dinosaurs, boarded the ark then some of them could still be alive today, which many smart people have seriously claimed to have seen.  But I won't get into that again.)

I heard an interesting theory from a certain website that says that animals in the past used to be much stronger than they are now, but thanks to Adam and Eve's disobedience God cursed the world (Genesis 3:14-19) and the animals began to slowly degenerate.  So, this would cause them to be different from the animals today and give the appearance of mutations.  I'm not sure if I believe this but it does make a lot of sense in my mind.

Smfan1085: Sorry that I misunderstood you there.

Hirocon: I agree with you, but I'm not sure if that's the correct way to think of it as scientific thinking goes.  But some things will probably never be explained with science and I bet that the more we discover about the universe, the more confused we'll be.

Luigison: Heh.  I heard about that.

[Koopaslaya]

Alas, if you believe the Bible to be 100% literally true,  I would love you to explain this to me.

Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch.

(Genesis 6:17)
Where did Cain's wife come from if God created only Adam and Eve? You see, Adam and Ever are symbols for all of humanity, from its earliest beginnings. No matter how strongly you feel about the direct creation, you can not be right. Scientifically, it has been proven that the earth is more than 4,000 years old. I can feel that 2+3=10, but I will be wrong. I know you are now thinking: "nothing can be 100% proven." Well then, can chemical properties be proven 100%? No! But are they correct? Yes! There is no faith involved. There is faith involved when it comes to God.
The Bible is the words of God IN the words of man. We must also recall this message was written for an antiquated society.

Later in the Bible, it says one day is like 1000 years to God, and 1000 years like one day. Evolution happened. God was the uncaused cause for this evolution.

[Yoshisaurus Rex]

Woah!  I never noticed that before.  Thanks for pointing that out.  You would think that if Cain didn't have a sister that he would have to marry his own mom (eww), or else they somehow forget to mention his sister.  Good question.  Another good question is who are the people that Cain mentions in Genesis 4:13-14?  They could be the future children of Adam and Eve, which would include a sister for Cain to marry. (But again we have to ask why they didn't mention that)

I've heard that some people believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that would be more than 4,000 (unless 6,000 was what you meant).  In my opinion, it would be strange for God to tell people how he created everything in riddles and not just say it in plain terms (but that's me).  I don't know for sure if everything is literal and I hope that I don't sound like I'm trying to say it is.  I'm just questioning everything to find out what I can and learn more.

One thing I believe (sorry, I know it gets old) is that the world before the Flood was very different and because of that it could have made the Earth look younger or older than it is now.  I know how crazy it sounds but I've heard the theory of a water vapor around the earth that could filter out sunlight (Genesis 1:6-7) and then God used that as part of the water in the Flood (Genesis 7:11).  With the filter gone, the world would be very different and much warmer.  There's probably no way to prove this but I like the whole idea of a sun filter.

God's time may be different than ours but that doesn't mean that all time mentioned in the Bible could be more or less than it actually is.  Some things are symbolic but not all.  But there could be some things that are and we don't know.

[Koopaslaya]

I've heard that some people believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that would be more than 4,000 (unless 6,000 was what you meant).  In my opinion, it would be strange for God to tell people how he created everything in riddles and not just say it in plain terms (but that's me).  I don't know for sure if everything is literal and I hope that I don't sound like I'm trying to say it is.  I'm just questioning everything to find out what I can and learn more.

One thing I believe (sorry, I know it gets old) is that the world before the Flood was very different and because of that it could have made the Earth look younger or older than it is now.  I know how crazy it sounds but I've heard the theory of a water vapor around the earth that could filter out sunlight (Genesis 1:6-7) and then God used that as part of the water in the Flood (Genesis 7:11).  With the filter gone, the world would be very different and much warmer.  There's probably no way to prove this but I like the whole idea of a sun filter.

You are somewhat correct, but look... the people of the ancient times did not have the capacity of understanding the universe as we do. We do now, and we also can understand what Genesis is really about. Just look at the fossil record, if that isn't enough evidence for evolution, I don't know what is.

[Yoshisaurus Rex]

I heard an interesting theory from a certain website that says that animals in the past used to be much stronger than they are now, but thanks to Adam and Eve's disobedience God cursed the world (Genesis 3:14-19) and the animals began to slowly degenerate.  So, this would cause them to be different from the animals today and give the appearance of mutations.  I'm not sure if I believe this but it does make a lot of sense in my mind.

(I just put that quote there so I wouldn't have to say it again ;)).  How do we know what Genesis is really about?  It could be an example of something else but it doesn't say that it is, and other parts of the Bible people talk about it as an actual event.  And even though the people back then didn't have the technology that we do, they knew some things that we didn't right away, such as that the Earth is round, that there are jets in the ocean, and that there is life in our blood.  God told them these things and then we discovered them later.

I realize that there are many things in the world that suggest evolution, and I hear about the small mutations that some animals go through.  However, the evidence may not be for evolution but perhaps something else that we don't understand yet.  I hope that I'm not irritating people by disagreeing because I don't want to do that.  Maybe some parts of evolution and creation could mix together, but people don't have to agree with everything as long as they believe the most important things in life.

[Chupperson Weird]

In my opinion, it would be strange for God to tell people how he created everything in riddles and not just say it in plain terms (but that's me).

Yeah, except God wasn't the one doing the telling. It was someone (the person that set down that part of the Bible) who was trying their best to explain the world they saw around them. People of the past with their limited understanding made things up to fit what they did understand. You can't take some things, especially stuff like creation stories, literally. What about creation myths from other religions/mythologies? They must be wrong, huh? From the point of view of one of those religions, the Christian creation myth is "wrong" too. The earth exists. People have been trying to explain why forever.

[G-Dawg]

Wow it's a long post challenge. 7 in a row!

[Lizard Dude]

Way to keep up the trend.

[Yoshisaurus Rex]

Chup: Good point.  I guess that's another area that also takes faith.  I've heard about stories that are based on Noah's Ark and maybe some of these are true or partially true.

[Chupperson Weird]

There's a great flood story in almost every culture, if that's what you mean.

[G-Dawg]

Way to keep up the trend.

No...see I started a new one.

[The Chef]

Allow me to help out the cause with this one-line post.

[smfan1085]

There's a great flood story in almost every culture, if that's what you mean.

And this tends to support the idea that there actually was a flood. The story, if it really happened, would have been passed down for generations, changing slightly in certain particulars among various peoples.