i really need to talk to someone

[shernren]

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Which made man a spiritual being? Genesis 1 or Genesis 2?

Most Christians might answer Genesis 2. But when you look closely, in the Hebrew, "living being" of Genesis 2:7 is exactly what God calls the animals created on Day 6 (Gen 1:24). And in Gen 1:29-30, it is not just humans who have the "breath of life" in them, it is all animals which do.

In fact, it is Genesis 1 that God declares humans as spiritual beings. We are made "in His image", which does not just mean that we "look like God" but in fact, that we are to be God's representative to nature. We are to be the physical manifestation of God's spiritual power ... that is what an "image" is. It is how you see something. We humans are to be how nature sees God. Because of that, God connects with us.

So yes, we are animals, but we are also more than animals. Our biological makeup is the same, but we live on a whole different dimension of the spiritual world which they cannot understand.

 

[Willtor]

ok but he did create animals seperate from us? because he put adam and eve in charge of all the animals on earth, to rule over them or something

It would be more meaningful to say that He set us apart from the rest of nature. We are different, not because we are made of something else, but because He willed us to be so. He intended for us to be "stewards" of nature (including the other animals). More significantly, we are set apart because He intended for us to live in relationship with Him. In this sense, we are created in His image.

 

[gluadys]

ok but he did create animals seperate from us? because he put adam and eve in charge of all the animals on earth, to rule over them or something

You don't need to be different to be in charge. Is the President different from other humans because he has been chosen to be in charge of the American government?

Just so, humans can be (and are) animals chosen and equipped by God to be in charge of the other animals.

 

[LoG]

I should have stayed in school longer so I would be edumacated enough to do the required mental gymnastics and be able to accept TE.

Seems to me that the more educated one is the more one tends to take the bible as a myth.

 

[Dannager]

I should have stayed in school longer so I would be edumacated enough to do the required mental gymnastics and be able to accept TE.

Seems to me that the more educated one is the more one tends to take the bible as a myth.

Don't you mean "the more one tends to realize that an allegorical Genesis account fits the facts better than a literal reading thereof"?

 

[Willtor]

I should have stayed in school longer so I would be edumacated enough to do the required mental gymnastics and be able to accept TE.

Seems to me that the more educated one is the more one tends to take the bible as a myth.

I don't think it takes a lot of education. I think the main hurdle is the realization that the society in which you live is one of many different societies. Not better or worse, per se, but different. They are different in the ways in which they relate to each other as people. Certainly, I'd imagine a little education about forms of literature couldn't hurt.

Also, it's not so much that the whole Bible is myth, but that certain portions of it (e.g. the opening passages of Genesis) look very mythical, both in form and in content. It is the same in identifying Revelation as an apocalypse. Both in style and in content, it looks like an apocalypse, so we read it as such.

 

[chaoschristian]

I should have stayed in school longer so I would be edumacated enough to do the required mental gymnastics and be able to accept TE.

Seems to me that the more educated one is the more one tends to take the bible as a myth.

Did you get this from the Spirow Agnew school of debate?

 

[The Lady Kate]

Seems to me that the more educated one is the more one tends to take the bible as a myth.

So would you consider education to be detrimental to faith?

 

[random_guy]

So would you consider education to be detrimental to faith?

It seems so. Education makes people realize that Zeus isn't the cause of lightning.

 

[LoG]

Seems to me that the more educated one is the more one tends to take the bible as a myth.

So would you consider education to be detrimental to faith?

Most TE's are adamant that believing the bible is a myth does not affect their faith, therefore according to them it wouldn't be true statement. I have no opinion on it because I'm not a TE.

Education has been proven to have a detrimental effect on "ouside of the box" thinking however.

Education makes people realize that Zeus isn't the cause of lightning.

Lol, of all the comments you could have used here, you had to use one that has a substantial amount of proof of it having been an actuality a few thousand years ago.
Hopefully you're educated and thereby have proved my point.

 

[random_guy]

Lol, of all the comments you could have used here, you had to use one that has a substantial amount of proof of it having been an actuality a few thousand years ago.
Hopefully you're educated and thereby have proved my point.

Okay, you caught me. That was extreme exaggeration. However, polls show that the more educated someone is, the less likely they think we found WMD in Iraq. Of course, you can feel free to have faith that we have found them.

I never understood the anti-intellectual movement in America. It seems to be the source of the majority of the problems going on here now. Of course, it's slowly spreading to other countries.

 

[Willtor]

Okay, you caught me. That was extreme exaggeration. However, polls show that the more educated someone is, the less likely they think we found WMD in Iraq. Of course, you can feel free to have faith that we have found them.

I never understood the anti-intellectual movement in America. It seems to be the source of the majority of the problems going on here now. Of course, it's slowly spreading to other countries.

I wasn't even aware of it until I moved out of Boston. I always thought it was an unjust stereotype. I wonder if it's a by-product of affluence?

 

[The Lady Kate]

Education has been proven to have a detrimental effect on "ouside of the box" thinking however.

Can I assume that in the contex of this thread, Biblical literalism is considered "outside the box" thinking?

 

[Pats]

Pat, science does say that we came from dust, if only you would listen to creation and not fear it.

Do not fear God’s creation Pat, or any other creationist out there, God’s universe is laid before us to read, just as much as the Bible is. Creation may tell us a different story than we read in the Bible, but if Christianity is right and God is the creator, then both stories are from him and both have meaning to us. We should not ignore God’s spoken word, creation, and only concentrate on His written word.

Wow, you read all that into my simple statment of faith regarding Creationism? You must be psychic.

Besided the fact that I secretly feel all TEs are evil and am afraid of God's creation, are there any other feelings I'm having you'd like to tell me about? [sarcasm] Because, I really think it goes a long way in furthering these discussions when we put words into eachother's mouths and infer thoughts and feelings not conveyed by the poster.

[/sarcasm]