What's your Religion?

I sure appreciate your civility in this thread Chris! Not that we aren't off topic alot her at TW, but this might be a more suited place to discuss your thoughts in the above post. Check it out sometime.>> http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/17484-creationism-vs-evolution.html


Oh, and for all those that know me, I better put up this smilie for cross linking these two threads, like I've done....oh.....so many times.

 

If not for macroevolution, how do you explain the shift in species on the planet? So, no more dinosaurs (except alligators) for example. Did god kill them all? And I suppose he just whipped up some mammals with fur to replace them one day?

As for residue limbs, I mean bones that look like they should go to a leg or tall, but the creature doesn't have those. Like our tail bone. We don't have tails do we? Why would we have a tail bone if at one bone long in the past we did. Or fish that have some of the bones for rear legs, but don't have legs. Basically, extra bits and pieces that are no longer used today. Why would they be there if the creature hadn't used those some time in the past?

The "Big Bang Theory" can theorize that massive explosions set about spraying material throughout space, and that material eventually accumulated into stars, suns, planets, etc. At that point there wasn't "nothing" but rather massive amounts of energy and materials. I admit to not knowing where those materials came from, but religion doesn't explain it any better. It asks me to "just accept" that God did it, and leave it at that. I'm not that sort of person. I stopped believing in santa clause, the easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc at a very young age. God is just a fairy tail that adults believe in, IMO. I can imagine things tumbling through space, growing larger like rolling a snowball down a hill, and eventually forming planets, asteroids, whatever. I can't picture a single guy creating all of that from nothing.

That also begs the question of if God made us, who made him? What does the bible say about that? He couldn't have made himself so he could make us.

 

Archaeological facts supporting biblical reference:
Walls of Jericho—discovery in 1930s by John Garstang. The walls fell suddenly, and outwardly (unique), so Israelites could clamber over the ruins into the city (Joshua 6:20)

The ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been discovered southeast of the Dead Sea. Evidence at the site seems consistent with the biblical account: "Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens."

The Hittites were once thought to be a biblical legend, until their capital and records were discovered in Turkey.

There is more, but these are a few facts that I know have been proven based off biblical reference.

Theory:
What about all the supposed scientific evidence that proves evolution? The truth is that the theory of evolution is based on huge assumptions about things that happened in the unobservable past. (Remember that the scientific method requires observation and repeatable research. So calling evolution “science” doesn’t make any sense.)
For instance, the theory stands on dubious dating methods. One is carbon dating, a method used to date dead plants and animals. All living plants
and animals contain the same ratio of two types of carbon, 14C and 12
C, which they get from the atmosphere and from space. When an organism dies, 14C begins disintegrating while 12C levels remain constant. Thus, measuring the 14C/12C ratio in a dead plant makes it possible to estimate how long ago the plant died.
Evidence for Creation: Increasingly, genuine science suggests a young earth,
which supports the biblical creation story. Bear in mind that even the most advanced techniques cannot detect 14C in specimens older than 80,000 years. In 1997, the Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth group (RATE) began an eight-year project researching data typically ignored or censored by evolutionists. One of their discoveries was significant levels of 14C found in various samples of both coal and diamonds collected worldwide.
The finding indicates that the coal and diamonds could not be billions of years old, as evolutionists claim.

Ultimately, something very simple but very important lies at the heart of someone who rejects biblical creation. If “in the beginning, God created” is true, then God is the supreme authority and, as His creation, we are subject to Him. Fallen human nature doesn’t like that arrangement.

Do you believe that God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days? If so, right on! Then you can also believe that He will give you a new heart through a similar miracle of creation. (See Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 5:17.) That is hope. Not trying to make a massive conversion or dump religion down everybody's esophagus, but this is where I stand. Not looking for an argument either, just sharing

 

I'll have to look into those specific ones. Always up for some reading.

As for the literal 6 days, hell no! In fact, I remember reading a book (can't remember the name for the life of me) where a teacher was put on trial for teaching evolution in school. One of his main arguments was that God did not create light on the first day. So without that frame of reference for what 1 day would be, how could anyone say how long 6 days was? Six 24 hr periods, or 6 million years?

Regardless, that wasn't my point. The Big Bang theory goes back to massive amounts of energy and material exploding outward, and then much of coming together to form planets and other objects. The bible says God created earth and everything on it with what exactly? Did he MacGyver us out of a paper clip, rubber band, used gum, and some pocket lint he found in his back pocket? Does he have a laboratory he used to whip us up like some huge terrarium to see what happens? Or did his parents just hand him the mother of all Lego kits to mess around with and make pets?

*That* is the part that bothers me in all of this. He just *magically* had all the shit he needed to whip us up out of nothing. Unless I'm missing an explanation for that somewhere.

And to an extent, the same thing bothers me about the science part because they have no idea what started the Big Bang, where the materials came from, or whats outside the universe. Are we just 1 small box in another box? What's beyond space. As in, space is a fish tank and what's on the outside of the glass looking in?

Neither science nor religion have an explanation for that. Science keeps working on one, and finding more data. What is religion doing? From what I've seen completely avoiding the topic. So I prefer to follow the team still learning, researching, and finding answers over the team that follows a book written long ago and never changes.

 

Only 2 things are a fact, you come into this world by yourself & exit the same way & what happens before & after is nothing more than conjecture, whether its theological or science based.

Believing something to be true & KNOWING something to be true are completely opposite of one another

 

Fink

 

The 6 day question was more a rhetorical one, but that's cool. I assume you wouldn't believe that God created the world in 6 days since you don't believe in God.

At any rate, nobody is ever going to tell you that God pulled out a recipe book and fabricated planet earth out of X, Y, Z materials. He's God, therefore he created the world... I know I know... 'but Ben... what the hell? HOW?"

I can't answer that. Why? Because I believe that God DID create the earth, and therefore partially believe that the big bang theory is correct. BANG God created the earth period. In order to believe that God created the earth you have to believe in God which therefore would mean that you must believe that people who wrote the book were inspired by God. How do we believe these people? How do we know the book is real scientifically? We go back to archaeology and prophecy which could take all day but if you want we can start diving in.

Best way to rule out atheism vs christianity is to find out who God is, what He is, and what he did for you. Obviously it all starts in Genesis...

So why put faith in an evolving theory that keeps, well, evolving? Wouldn't you rather put your trust into something solid that can be proven? The Bible can prove way more than the big bang theory. So even if all your questions can't be answered off the bat, the bible still holds more truth than the latter.

 

Whatever you feel like getting into, I'll read.

Religion has just never provided answers to me. I went to church, did Sunday school. It all seemed like BS and contradictions even at an early age to me.

I read a fiction series of books called Rama. The premise of the book was the universe was all created by super beings (they didn't say God, but you could kind of infer that). To them, the universe was a bit like a sandbox or fish tank. They set things in motion and watched out it played out. So the earth and everything on it was made by them, or indirectly by them causing the big bang and watching what happened. I can't remember the details. It was fiction, but makes the most sense to me. Someone else got the ball rolling, and then evolution took over.

 

With all due respect Ben what you state as fact is in reallity your opinion & what you believe to be fact is what you have been told or have read which is cool & I respect that. The Bible is subject to many interpretations & evolution is exactly that, it evolves therefore is subject to changes as evolving is change in definition...

 

You must be out of your ever loving mind if you think the bible has "answered" more questions. The bible is a book written by some dudes 100's of years after its main character died, then parsed down by Constantinople and the First Council of Nicaea (325AD) and force fed to uneducated people who didnt know any better so that they could be controlled and bled free of their money. If thats your idea of truthiness I feel sorry for you.

I pose a question to all you theist out there. If you were born in an arab country would you be islamic? Or would you have seen the "light" and converted to christianity?? Same goes for Isreal and judaism. Or how about you poly-theist out there? If you were born in India would you be hindu? What if you had been born to pagan parents?? Think you would be worshiping the the trees and the sky??

 

You're right that the bible is subject to opinion, therefore we all have opinions of it but no the bible does not evolve or change never has, never will. Want to call that my opinion and not fact? No problem. Just like I could say that it's your opinion that the bible does evolve... but opinions of solid information that does not change is independent of evolution. To evolve the theory must change, and the bibles theory does not change- however, our opinions can change which is independent of that. We could go in circles forever... it's okay, with all respect to each his own.

Nope, not out of my mind. The bible has answered more questions than the big bang theory and refutes the theory with carbon dating (read my post above).

?What? Doesn't matter where people were born or what religion they were born into.

 

So where's the proof of Moses parting the Red Sea? Is the proof just because a book said it happened, therefore it's true?

 

That's a bad example. I saw a show about testing bible stories, and that was one of the ones the prove plausible. Strong persistent winds could have pushed the water to expose a sand bar/under water bridge. Wish I could find the one I saw, but I couldn't.

Like in this video, around 4 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR50uC_1Krg

 

The wind was so strong it moved millions of tonnes of water but the people just stood around no problem ?

 

Haven't been to this topic since I joined so here I go:
Im Agnostic, I dont believe in ANY religions views as i dont know. Period. I dont think that you can logically believe that the world was created in 6 days. I dont know about the Big Bang Theory. I think thats Science's way of combating the religious people's beliefs. I personally do not care where the world came from, nor where it's going. If you sit and think about these things seriously you'll waste the life that you luckily have. I used to be a Christian not by my choice but my parents. A couple months ago I decided that I dont believe that Jesus Christ is even real to start with. How is this God that people in my church worship all day and night be that good? Halfway across the world we have nothing that would indicate that God is good. People are warring with each other day and night and people are being destroyed by hunger,thirst and disease. I seriously doubt that if they were believers that they have much belief left in them. That is just one of the reasons I am the way that I am. Im laid back, I am willing to hear anyones opinion about anything because I am not offended by anyones beliefs in whatever they may believe in or try to push mine beliefs over there's because its simply different from mine. If religion wasn't in the world I truly believe that things would be much,much different than it is today. Alot of the world's current problems can be blamed on Religion.

Well thats me in a nutshell. I respect all religions. Just dont believe them. That is all.

-Cam

 

LOL Hey man, I just said it was apparently possible for the sea to part. I never said people actually crossed it.

Although you bring up one my BIGGEST problems with religion: contradictions or lack of logic. Like you pointed out the sea may have parted, but how would they not get blown away with the water?

 

I guess to believe an impossible story you really do need faith

 

And a blindfold.

 

There is no room in this thread for common sense or logical thinking. Please refrain from trying to plant ideas like this in here again.