I used to believe in creationism. Then, I read a book, and believed in theistic evolution (God set it all in motion). Now I believe in straight evolution, yo. And it's one of my favorite subjects to read/learn/talk about in the world.
Well, if just flat out reject Christianity or religion in general, then I guess you shouldn't. But if you're a Christian apologetic, trying to see if Christianity and science are mutually exclusive or if they can be compatible, knowledge of the Bible is a good thing. DFWRocket is arguing that despite the teachings of many conservative fundamentalist pastors, the Bible doesn't necessarily negate the possibility of evolution and an old earth and there are many of us who don't discount science and don't believe that dinosaurs roamed the earth with humans only a few thousand years ago. PS - I've mentioned it before that I get paid to play music and a conservative Baptist church. The pastor is in the middle of a series where he going over how the earth is under 10,000 years old and how the 7 days of creating is Genesis were 7 literal days and how there were dinosaurs on Noah's ark, blah, blah, blah. The guy is driving me nuts. Seriously, I can see how people easily get turned of off religion and Christianity if these are the people they think of when the think of Christians. If I were agnostic or an atheist and somebody brought to one of these sermons in an effort to convert me, it's only strengthen my position as a non-believer.
I gotcha. My question was more in terms of "why should ANYONE believe what the Bible says"? I'm always intrigued by the reasoning.
I hear you. I've struggled with a similar issue. I know that the main reason I'm a Christian is because I was raised as one. I firmly believe that if I was raised in a Jewish household, I'd be Jewish and if I were raise a Muslim, I'd be Muslim. Unfortunately, it's an issue I haven't been able to fully resolve. I made the case for believing in God using Pascal's Wager (before I even knew what Pascal's Wager was). But I've yet to resolve it further. I still consider myself a Christian, I never found a reason to switch religions or stop believing all together, but I'm open to the possibility that I could be wrong. I guess that's why I look at the Bible more critically that the conservative Christians in my church. I believe in the core beliefs of the religion but when there are controversial issues of interpretation, I'm content with taking the simple position of "I don't know" and tend to reject the opinions of people who dig their heels into the ground and say "my interpretation of the Bible is exactly right and if you disagree with me about anything then you are wrong." But if you are a Christian, I do thing you should believe what the Bible has to say. Maybe not word for word literal, but at the very least in one form or another. It is the governing Word of Christianity so if you don't believe in it or don't care what it has to say, I don't see how you could call yourself a Christian. As for why non-Christians should believe in it, I can't answer that. I'm don't evangelize. Maybe due to my own issues, but I never try to convert people or push my faith on them.
I believe in a mostly uninvolved God who set things in motion knowing what would transpire. Basically, I believe in a God who looks at the big picture, not individual threads in the tapestry of life.
Dear creationists, Read this: ... before you spout on about how God set evolution in motion or that we evolved from monkeys or that evolution is "just a theory". Thanks!
Ok I have to ask this. If there were dinosaurs on Noah's ark what happened to the dinosaurs? Did Noah goof up and not get a male and female of each so they couldn't reproduce or did he get sick of them halfway through the flood and tossed them overboard? I apologize if this sounds snarky but I am really really curious what the answer is.
I get this question a lot because I use this screen name on a couple of different boards. Funny thing is, I picked it because I'm totally non-religious. However, I do believe that if there is a creator out there....he has absolutely no clue he created us. In other words, if someone/something created the universe, we are just a bi-product. Ants on a rock as far as I'm concerned.
Is it possible to "believe" in something that is fact? I don't really have to believe in evolution, it's proven. Creation, on the other hand, requires belief.
Also, my new mancrush Neil deGrasse Tyson has an interesting take on "intelligent" design: <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4238NN8HMgQ?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4238NN8HMgQ?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
You can NOT believe a scientifically proven theory. You'd be considered crazy, but it's still possible. So yes, you do BELIEVE in evolution. It's just the word "in" that confuses you. If we said you BELIEVE evolution, it wouldn't make you as insecure about how your beliefs resemble those of religious people.
His explanation was that dinosaurs just died out like so many other species that have gone extinct. He thought it was silly that we know all these species go extinct from natural causes but for dinosaurs, there needs to be some cataclysmic event.
I don't really agree with this, the wording has nothing to do with it, but to the person who said they don't believe in gravity in my rep list, you made me lulz.
