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seebs said:How do they conflict with any of the core ideas of your religion? The Catholic Church has accepted evolution as a workable scientific answer to scientific questions for years, probably even decades. No conflict here.
Sesjus_22 said:You see, the teachings that they give me in school seem, to me, to conflict with everything i learn in church, from my parents, etc. Dinosaurs? The universe's expansion? Big bang? Evolution? They all seem to conflict with the core ideas of my religion, and thus i have come here to request that someone explain to me how such ideas can be incorporated into my religion.
Me from another thread said:I would advise you to read Lee Strobel's book The Case For Christ, Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict, some information from Answers In Genesis <answersingenesis.org> and their books, such as their Updated & Expanded Answers Book that is available on their website <answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/index.asp> free of charge, among a wealth of other Christian books out there.
Other books in which Christians recount their amazing lives and testamonies are awe-inspiring and very strong proof that God is alive and still working in their lives, take for example Brother Yun's book The Heavenly Man, or Michelle Hamilton-Gregory's story outlined in A Mighty Temptest. Even less-'amazing' testamonies like how drunkards and prostitutes have turned their lives around is evidence that God's Word is working in their lives. Pitcairn's Islands with the HMS Bounty is another example of just how much the Bible's message can transform depravity into good, as is the transformation of the former blood-thirsty barbarians of the British Isles to decency further illustrates.
Even just consider the whole issue logically. How is it that if Jesus were not crucified (as the Qur'an claims) that the Gospel made such an impact on the world? Pilate or any of the other religious people - heck, even the ordinary bloke out on the street - could simply respond to the disciples saying that no such thing ever happened and ignore their message as they already know it to be false. The Gospel of Luke gives the impression that this event of Jesus' death was well known to practically everyone in Jerusalem (Luke 24:18). It is logical susicide to suggest that they could have pulled off such a lie as effecetively as they did.
Further more, since Jesus was crucified on the cross, then where is His body? The religious leaders and the Romans had every reason to produce the body if they had it and if it really were in the tomb as they would have destroyed the new faith before it even started!
Then you also have to consider the disciples and apostles themselves. In John 20:19 we read of a bunch of cowards, who were to afraid and embarrassed to even go outside for fear of the Jewish authorities let alone preach to thousands. Something must have happened to them such that Peter on the day of Pentecost got up and spoke authoritively to thousands of people without fear. They were so sure of their faith that they were willing to give up their life for what they believed. Just how exactly could such strong faith come from disciples who were scared and embarrassed about Jesus' death if nothing else happened? Peter was crucified up-side-down for his faith, while many of the others were brutally martyered for their faith.
Further consider the life of Paul - a young zealous Jewish man who actually thought that he was doing God's will by persecuting the Church! He was content in what he was doing, yet suddenly he changed his views and went from being the hunter to the hunted. Why would Paul who was perfectly happy and content in what he thought was serving God and doing His will suddenly become the very thing that he hated more than anything else if Paul hadn't really seen Jesus? He was so sure of his faith that it led him to his death in 65 AD.
GreenLeader said:Hello Sesjus_22:
Have you ever thought that those ideas may be false or are compatible with your faith? For example, I believe that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible in several places! There is much evidence to suggest that humans have actually lived and walked with dinosaurs, for more information, please the chapter from the Updated & Expanded Answers Book that talks about dinosaurs <answersingenesis.org/home/Area/AnswersBook/dinosaurs19.asp> or Answers In Genesis' Dinosaurs Q&A section.
As for the redshift of starlight, please see the article Doppler toppler? by Michael Oord <answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i3/doppler.asp> for a different interpretation of the evidence by Halton Arp (who is not a creationist by the way) or the section from Astronomy and the Bible <answersingenesis.org/Docs/399.asp#66> that gives four possible interpretations of the redshift of starlight evidence before closing with the comment:
"Any of these four explanations, alone or in combination, may be responsible for red-shift. We do not know enough about space to be certain of the source of stellar red-shift."
One 'new' theory about how we can see stars that are millions of lightyears away in a young universe by Dr Russell Humphreys in his book Starlight and Time appears to explain both the redshift of starlight and the microwave background radiation, please see <answersingenesis.org/docs/267.asp>.
The big bang also is not as strong as you may think, it has many problems that must still be sorted out, take for example its light-travel time problem <answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i4/lighttravel.asp> among many others available at <answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/astronomy.asp>.
Since what you learn at school will be covering a wide range of areas ranging from fossils through to mutations and so on, I suggest that you look at Answers In Genesis' Questions and Answers section of their website <answersingenesis.org/home/area/qa.asp> and then select the category that something may fit in and see what they say about it. If they do not mention anything about a certain evidence, then write to them and question them about it. They'll usually get back to you within two weeks or so.
The really exciting thing about Christianity is that it is defendable and reasonable! There are answers out there!You'll notice that I've given you a lot of links (just copy and paste them into your browser's address bar) to Answers In Genesis, that is because they are the primary Christian apologetics site that I know of and provide great material. Another one is the Institute for Creation Research <icr.org>.
As for evidence that Jesus is alive, consider the following that I posted in another thread:
GreetingsSesjus_22 said:Hello. I am unsure as to whether this is the appropriate place to post this. Let me introduce you to my problem: while i have been baptised, and raised as a christian, i am finding difficulties coming to terms with my religion. Simply put, i am having problems justifying the feasability of roman catholicism in my head. Now this worries me a lot, and i am in dire need of substaintiating evidence that can help me convince myself that i believe in god. You see, the teachings that they give me in school seem, to me, to conflict with everything i learn in church, from my parents, etc. Dinosaurs? The universe's expansion? Big bang? Evolution? They all seem to conflict with the core ideas of my religion, and thus i have come here to request that someone explain to me how such ideas can be incorporated into my religion.
Please help me restore faith in god.
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