Another thing I dont really belive I am a Biblical Literalist just because I belive in Creation.
All Christians believe in Creation. See the Nicene Creed. It's clearly stated right at the beginning that "
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen."
What is at issue is not whether God created, but
how. Evolution is just as much God creating as your literal interpretation is. You are a Biblical literalist because you state that the Bible is literally true in everything, particularly in Genesis 1-3.
Most Christians have decided 1) that the internal clues in the text tell us that Gensis 1-3 is not to be read as a literal history and 2) the evidence God left us in His Creation tell us that God actually created by the processes discovered by science.
mattes said:
I belive everything in the Bible is true and happend.
Everything? Then Luke 2:1 means that the
whole world really was taxed. Right? You believe Japanese, Inuits, and Laplanders all paid taxes to Rome.
Yes, of course Bible uses imagery (like in Daniel when he is descibing the beast which are the nations) to describe things, but God gives me somthing called discernment and common sence to know when this is being used.
I apologize ahead of time, but that straight line is simply too good to pass up. The answer is: yes, so why haven't you used your discernment to figure out Genesis 1-3 isn't literal?
It doesnt matter if I am a minority just because the majority belives a certian way doesnt mean its right. You think Germany was right for killing jews because the majority of them belivied its ok?
Actually, the majority of Germans did
not believe Hitler's program was OK. That's why Hitler had to do it in secret.
One way to check whether your logic and conclusions are on track is to compare them to what others have decided looking at the same data you are. What you see is a large majority of dedicated, devout Christians concluding that a literal reading of Genesis 1-3 is wrong. This thought has run thru Christianity since at least St. Augustine of Hippo around 400 A.D. St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, John Wesley, CS Lewis, and many other prominent Christian thinkers have decided that Genesis 1-3 is not literal. They have not lost their faith nor retreated from Christianity. Your OP was that such a thing was not possible. Since it obviously
is possible, it should have tipped you off that perhaps you should read what these people wrote on the matter and how they reached their conclusions. It provides a check of your own reasoning saves you from reinventing the wheel.
Alright new topic: To belive in evolution you have to belive in Natural Selection. That means organisms have to die. But the Bible says (Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin..) Death didn't enter the world until Adam sinned. So how could Natural Selection occur?
Paul is referring to
spiritual death, not literal. If it were literal death, then Genesis 2:18 doesn't work: "You must not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; if you do you will die the same day." Did Adam die that very day? Nope. Adam lived 930 years.
Also, Genesis 3:22 makes it clear that Adam and Eve would have had to eat the fruit of the Tree of Eternal Life in order to live forever. They were going to die. Physical death was already in the world. BTW, if rabbits were never going to die, considering how fast rabbits make new rabbits, how long do you think it was going to be before rabbits overran the earth? Surely God would not have given rabbits their reproductive proclivity if there was no way to keep the population in check.
You said you were able to discern imagery. This is one place where you should have discerned imagery and haven't.
