wheredowego said in post 1:
Evolution theory may be man-made. But how about dinosaurs? Aren't dinosaurs real? Why didn't the bible talk about dinosaurs? Perhaps it was mentioned somewhere in the bible, but every thing was vague. How did the Noah Ark kept the dinosaurs? And dinosaurs weren't supposed to be 65 million years ago?
Dinosaurs could have evolved beginning some 230 million years ago, and then all died off some 65 million years ago, without contradicting anything in the Bible.
Creationism includes what could be called the double-gap theory, meaning that there could have been two different gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the 2nd gap between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5. Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billion years ago, when God first created the planet earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, some 4.5 billion years could have occurred, in which God could have allowed his own created process of evolution to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also gone outside of evolution and created new species miraculously, instantaneously, already fully-formed, whenever he wanted to (cf. punctuated equilibria).
Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only about 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm, such as a comet strike, had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), and had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so that the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space as a "rogue planet" (astronomers estimate that rogue planets in our galaxy could outnumber the stars in our galaxy). Genesis 1:3 to 2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of 6 literal, 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land, and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens,
after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.
Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; there, the original Hebrew word translated as "earth" can simply refer to a certain "land": e.g. Genesis 2:11).
After that, God planted the plants of the local, Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9) and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). Then God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). Then God miraculously created in the Garden of Eden an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).
Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago (based on Biblical chronology), yet there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as about 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens (or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution) as far back as about 200,000 years. Also, all the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate or are as old as the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or coexisting hominid forms we don't consider to have been fully human like us (such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis), could have all been created by God (or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution) over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.
And this doesn't even get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens (or similar or far more advanced life-forms) could have been created by God (or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution) billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about 14 billion years old, and there are something like 100 billion different galaxies, each containing something like 100 billion different stars. So even if only one star out of every 10 billion stars has an inhabited planet, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And on most of these, God could have begun his miraculous work (and the work of his created process of evolution) billions of years before beginning his miraculous work (and the work of his created process of evolution) on the earth.
wheredowego said in post 1:
Who wrote the bible in Genesis? How would anyone else know except God, who created the world in the first 6 days? Who could knew about Adam and Eve?
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God . . .
2 Peter 1:21
. . . holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
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wheredowego said in post 3:
But the bible says the earth is only 2500 years old? How could the dinosaurs come 65 million years ago when God create the world only about 2500 years ago?
The Bible doesn't say or require that the earth is only 2,500 years old (or only 6,000 years old, as is often asserted). All it requires is that Adam was created about 6,000 years ago. For various scriptures make it possible to estimate the year BC that Adam (as opposed to the earth) was created, by working back from the year BC that Solomon's temple began to be built. Historians say that it began to be built about 966 BC. And the scriptures show that it began to be built 480 years after Israel's Exodus from Egypt (1 Kings 6:1). And Israel had spent 430 years in Egypt before the Exodus (Exodus 12:40-41). And Israel entered Egypt when Jacob was 130 (Genesis 47:9). And Jacob was born when his father Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:26). And Isaac was born when his father Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5). And Abraham was born when his father Terah was about 70 (Genesis 11:26). And Terah was born when his father Nahor was 29 (Genesis 11:24). And Nahor was born when his father Serug was 30 (Genesis 11:22). And Serug was born when his father Reu was 32 (Genesis 11:20). And Reu was born when his father Peleg was 30 (Genesis 11:18).
And Peleg was born when his father Eber was 34 (Genesis 11:16). And Eber was born when his father Salah was 30 (Genesis 11:14). And Salah was born when his father Arphaxad was 35 (Genesis 11:12). And Arphaxad was born when his father Shem was 100 (Genesis 11:10). And Shem was born when his father Noah was 502 (Genesis 11:10 and Genesis 7:6). And Noah was born when his father Lamech was 182 (Genesis 5:28-29). And Lamech was born when his father Methuselah was 187 (Genesis 5:25). And Methuselah was born when his father Enoch was 65 (Genesis 5:21). And Enoch was born when his father Jared was 162 (Genesis 5:18). And Jared was born when his father Mahalaleel was 65 (Genesis 5:15). And Mahalaleel was born when his father Cainan was 70 (Genesis 5:12). And Cainan was born when his father Enos was 90 (Genesis 5:9). And Enos was born when his father Seth was 105 (Genesis 5:6). And Seth was born when his father Adam was 130 (Genesis 5:3).
Adding up the numbers of years above, we see that Adam was created about 4114 BC. This lines up with the fact that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC. If Adam was created about 4114 BC, this means that 6,000 years since Adam's creation were completed back at the end of about 1886 AD, and that the 7th millennium began about 1887 AD. (But this doesn't require that the millennium of Revelation 20:4-6 has started yet.) Also, it's curious that the next year (1888 AD) Blavatsky published her book (The Secret Doctrine) referring to the "New Age". Also, it's curious that the Mayan calendar begins in 3114 BC, exactly 1,000 years after 4114 BC. Also, the numbers of years in the scriptures referenced above show that Abraham (who was first promised the land of Israel by God: Exodus 32:13) was born about 1948 years after Adam's creation, just as the modern state of Israel was established in 1948 AD.
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wheredowego said in post 16:
Sometimes I wonder if God can appear infront of everyone, or with "realistic" evidences to prove God existences, I supposed surely, without a doubt, everybody will believe in him.
People can know that God exists simply by seeing everything else that exists (Romans 1:20, Psalms 19:1-4). The universe couldn't have created itself from nothing by physics, because of the first law of thermodynamics. So something outside of physics had to have created the universe. The term spirit is used to refer to that which exists but is outside of physics. So what created the universe was a spirit (John 4:24, John 1:3). And this has to be an uncreated spirit, because nothing, not even a spirit, can create itself from nothing, for in order to create itself, it would have to already exist. The term divine can be used to refer to a conscious entity which exists but is uncreated. So the uncreated spirit who created the universe would be divine. So just by being able to see the universe, people have no excuse for denying the existence of a divine, uncreated spirit (Romans 1:20, John 4:24, Psalms 19:1-4). And this spirit must have eternal power (Romans 1:20), because the first law of thermodynamics requires that the energy in the universe is eternal.
Because knowing that God exists is the only reasonable response to seeing the existence of the universe (Romans 1:20), when educated and intelligent people refuse to admit that God exists, this is only because they're intentionally choosing to be unreasonable, choosing to be foolish, regarding God's existence, because of their human pride, their unthankfulness to God, and their desire to continue in sinful actions (Romans 1:21-22, Psalms 14:1). But there's no salvation in simply believing that God exists (James 2:19). Believing in Jesus Christ, the human/divine Son of God, and his sacrifice on the Cross for our sins, and his rising from the dead on the 3rd day, is the only way for people to have their sins forgiven so they can avoid having to go to hell when they die (John 3:16,36, Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
wheredowego said in post 16:
To me, believing in retribution is a sin. Right?
No, in that there is divine retribution (Romans 12:19).
wheredowego said in post 16:
Retribution means, you actually believe that bad people will end up having bad things to happen on them. But you don't actually just believe... you do "want" bad things to happen to them.
We must never want that, as opposed to wanting people to repent and be forgiven by God (1 John 1:9). For if we don't forgive other people, then God won't forgive us for our own sins (Matthew 6:15).
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wheredowego said in post 17:
I "gave up" on reading the bible... because I felt that my heart wasn't there reading the bible... because I don't understand a single thing in there.
Start again with the Gospel of John. And ask a question in this subforum whenever you don't understand something. That's why this subforum is here. There are many people here who know the Bible well and can answer any question that you may have. And it will give them pleasure to do so. It will in no way be a bother to them. So ask away, as much as you want.
wheredowego said in post 17:
And the sacrifices that Christians have to make, like killing a lamb? Isn't that alive ?
Christians don't have to make any animal sacrifices, like the Jews had to do under the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Hebrews 10). For Jesus' sacrifice of himself on the Cross put an end to the need for any animal sacrifices (Hebrews 10).
But with regard to what Christians must sacrifice, see e.g. Romans 12:1 and Luke 9:23-26.
wheredowego said in post 17:
And in the olden days, they pray to an altar ?
What verse are you thinking of here? For God never commanded anyone to pray to an altar, instead of himself.
wheredowego said in post 17:
I guess I'll be faithful and learn the truth along the way.
The best way to learn the truth is to eventually (when you're ready) read every word of the Bible for yourself (Matthew 4:4) over and over again. It ends up explaining itself once what it says has become engrained in your memory, and you see the connections between verses regarding something in one place in the Bible and other verses regarding that same thing in other places in the Bible. It's by comparing and combining related verses from different places in the Bible that we arrive at correct doctrine (Isaiah 28:9-10; 1 Corinthians 2:13).
It's also a good practice to always end each reading session with a prayer for understanding and remembrance of the whole Bible.
One way to read the whole Bible, over and over, is to think of it as 7 volumes:
1. Genesis to Deuteronomy
2. Joshua to Esther
3. Job to Song of Solomon
4. Isaiah to Malachi
5. Matthew to Acts
6. Romans to Philemon
7. Hebrews to Revelation
You can read a chapter in each volume every day. This will keep you current in every part of the Bible. After a while, there won't be any part that you haven't read recently enough to remember what it says. When you reach the end of a volume, simply start again at the first chapter of that volume. In this way, you will be cycling through smaller volumes like #6 and #7 much more often than larger volumes like #2, but the smaller volumes are so much more dense with doctrine that it can be profitable to read them over and over more often.
Also, you can listen to recordings of people reading the Bible, whenever you need to keep your eyes on something else while you listen (such as keeping your eyes on the road while you drive, or on a cutting board while you're preparing food, or on your clippers while you're trimming a hedge). In this way, you can listen to the Bible throughout the day, whenever you don't need to be thinking about something else (such as at your workplace). Also, you can listen to the Bible even while you're going to sleep, so that it will become part of even your subconscious mind.
