Some questions for Christians who accept evolution

[Colter]

Completely random question. Why does this thread and others look like this when viewing them from the main section page for this area and have the N/A? I thought maybe the threads had been closed but they're still active. I'm just confuzzled....

View attachment 160651

I'm not sure, the new format seems to have bugs that need to be worked out.

 

[Colter]

Ahhh, but we were warned against worshiping stars and planets like Venus and Mars. Are you suggesting they are gods because some confused them to be such? To believe we may be worshiping the wrong gods implies you believe there may be gods. Or was that just a strawman like your finches?

OT thinkers believed there were other Gods, they just saw theirs as the only right God. Genesis has Pharaohs Gods getting into a magic competition with the Hebrews God.

 

[AV1611VET]

OT thinkers believed there were other Gods,

[VERSE=Exodus 20:3,KJV]Thou shalt have no other gods before me.[/VERSE]Notice the small g?[VERSE=Jeremiah 16:20,KJV]Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?[/VERSE]

 

[TLK Valentine]

Notice the small g?

It's not being used as a proper name, so of course it's spelled with a small g -- basic grammar, AV.

 

[justlookinla]

There are other Elohim (gods) in scripture.

 

[Not_By_Chance]

If we can't trust God's creation to tell us the truth, then why should we trust God's word

It's ironic that believers in evolution can see this, but many Christians can't. I think one famous evolutionist said something along these lines didn't she, "I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day!"

That's why I take the view that if there is a conflict between what the Bible clearly teaches and some theory in science (no matter how many in the evolution-believing scientific community support it), then I make the assumption that the conclusions drawn by the scientists must be wrong. Christians who allow their faith to be manipulated to fit in with man's falllible ideas are opening themselves up to all sorts of problems. Until someone comes up with a valid way, based on known, testable physics and chemistry that a) the universe could form all on its own from nothing and b) how life could get started all on its own from lifeless chemicals, then to me, the non-divine origin of everything will remain just a fairy story - I don't even need to consider the rest of the story.

 

[bhsmte]

It's ironic that believers in evolution can see this, but many Christians can't. I think one famous evolutionist said something along these lines didn't she, "I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day!"

That's why I take the view that if there is a conflict between what the Bible clearly teaches and some theory in science (no matter how many in the evolution-believing scientific community support it), then I make the assumption that the conclusions drawn by the scientists must be wrong. Christians who allow their faith to be manipulated to fit in with man's falllible ideas are opening themselves up to all sorts of problems. Until someone comes up with a valid way, based on known, testable physics and chemistry that a) the universe could form all on its own from nothing and b) how life could get started all on its own from lifeless chemicals, then to me, the non-divine origin of everything will remain just a fairy story - I don't even need to consider the rest of the story.

I don't think that quote meant, what you think it meant.

 

[Colter]

It's not being used as a proper name, so of course it's spelled with a small g -- basic grammar, AV.

Those other gods matched Yahwah's powers.

 

[Loudmouth]

It's ironic that believers in evolution can see this, but many Christians can't. I think one famous evolutionist said something along these lines didn't she, "I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day!"

That's why I take the view that if there is a conflict between what the Bible clearly teaches and some theory in science (no matter how many in the evolution-believing scientific community support it), then I make the assumption that the conclusions drawn by the scientists must be wrong.

"The DNA evidence for evolution. I mentioned the ancient repeats we share with mice in the same location showing no conceivable evidence of function, diverging at a constant rate just as predicted by neutral evolution. One could only conclude that this is compelling evidence of a common ancestor or else that God has placed these functionless DNA fossils in the genome of all living organisms in order to test our faith. I do not find that second alternative very credible. After all God is the greatest scientist. Would he play this kind of game?"--Dr. Francis Collins, "Faith and the Human Genome"
http://tulsa.younglife.org/Documents/Francis Collins Article on Faith_Science.pdf

Would God change DNA sequences for no other reason than to fool us?

Christians who allow their faith to be manipulated to fit in with man's falllible ideas . . .

The idea that Genesis is supposed to be interpreted literally is a fallible human idea.

Until someone comes up with a valid way, based on known, testable physics and chemistry that a) the universe could form all on its own from nothing and b) how life could get started all on its own from lifeless chemicals, then to me, the non-divine origin of everything will remain just a fairy story - I don't even need to consider the rest of the story.

So you have no problem with chimps and humans evolving from a common ancestor? We have plenty of evidence for that.

 

[justlookinla]

Those other gods matched Yahwah's powers.

Those other gods did not have the power to create as Yahwah did.

 

[TLK Valentine]

It's ironic that believers in evolution can see this, but many Christians can't. I think one famous evolutionist said something along these lines didn't she, "I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day!"

Indeed -- Creationists have been their own worst enemy since the beginnings of the debate, but many are far too proud and vain to see it... thus, the vicious cycle continues.

That's why I take the view that if there is a conflict between what the Bible clearly teaches and some theory in science (no matter how many in the evolution-believing scientific community support it), then I make the assumption that the conclusions drawn by the scientists must be wrong.

How do you determine what the Bible "clearly" teaches, and what's open to interpretation?

For example, many creationists maintain that the Earth is only 6000-10,000 years old, even though the Bible "clearly" teaches no such thing.

Your thoughts?

 

[gordonhooker]

Ever heard of the Tower of Babel?

God could make Abram speak Swahili, if He wanted to.

Yes I have - it was a metaphor to help explain why there were so many different languages around at the time the exiles in Babylon wrote Genesis.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Those other gods did not have the power to create as Yahwah did.

How do you know?

 

[justlookinla]

How do you know?

Haven't seen anything they've created which compares to the creation of the one true God.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Haven't seen anything they've created which compares to the creation of the one true God.

First of all, you only have a book (and hardly an unbiased one, at that), that give your god the credit.
Second, even if we accept that account, all it shows is that they didn't create; the original claim was that they couldn't. Not all those with power feel compelled to use it.

 

[justlookinla]

First of all, you only have a book (and hardly an unbiased one, at that), that give your god the credit.
Second, even if we accept that account, all it shows is that they didn't create; the original claim was that they couldn't. Not all those with power feel compelled to use it.

I suggest you read Psalm 113.

 

[TLK Valentine]

I suggest you read Psalm 113.

I suggest you read post 655.

First of all, you only have a book (and hardly an unbiased one, at that), that gives your god the credit.

 

[justlookinla]

I suggest you read post 655.

That's what post 656 is in response to.

 

[TLK Valentine]

That's what post 656 is in response to.

Then perhaps it should actually respond?

 

[justlookinla]

Then perhaps it should actually respond?

It does.