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For thirty years, Gallup has been asking Americans their views about evolution and human beings, and the results have been remarkably consistent and stable.
Last year, Gallup once again reported that nearly half of the country believe the Biblical version of events: “Forty-six percent of Americans believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.”
Does is matter? An all powerful God could do anything he wants including make a universe that is only thousands of years old look like it is billions of years old. Whether you believe all of this is 6 thousand years old or 6 billion years old (I am too lazy to look up how old they think the universe is this morning) is irrelevant.
Would a giant redwood tree created on day one have growth rings? Did Adam have a belly button? The real question is did God follow the laws he laid down when this universe was created when he created everything else? If he did, that tree had growth rings for years it never grew and Adam had a belly button that had never been attached to an umbilical cord and everything in this universe whether created in the blink of an eye or evolved over millions of years would appear to be older than it is because it was created in mature form. Therefore, one cannot conclude anything from looking at things as they are now. All one can do is study the laws God laid down on the day of creation. How he used them or circumvented them in the creation process, while interesting, is irrelevent.
Ask a question that matters. This one doesn't because you will find no answers here. Questions of faith aren't answered by science and questions of science are not answered by faith. All we know is what the universe appears to be and it appears to be billions of years old. Is it? We don't know. We can only go with what it looks like and that only matters to science. Faith can still believe it was created 6000 years ago and neither faith or science skip a beat. One only need accept that God used the laws he laid down to create everything which means everything looks like it evolved whether it did or didn't.
It doesn't matter how many people believe the world is 6000 years old. That is a personal matter of faith and has nothing to do with science.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-02-2013 at 03:55 AM..
Does is matter? An all powerful God could do anything he wants including make a universe that is only thousands of years old look like it is billions of years old. Whether you believe all of this is 6 thousand years old or 6 billion years old (I am too lazy to look up how old they think the universe is this morning) is irrelevant.
Would a giant redwood tree created on day one have growth rings? Did Adam have a belly button? The real question is did God follow the laws he laid down when this universe was created when he created everything else? If he did, that tree had growth rings for years it never grew and Adam had a belly button that had never been attached to an umbilical cord and everything in this universe whether created in the blink of an eye or evolved over millions of years would appear to be older than it is because it was created in mature form. Therefore, one cannot conclude anything from looking at things as they are now. All one can do is study the laws God laid down on the day of creation. How he used them or circumvented them in the creation process, while interesting, is irrelevent.
Ask a question that matters. This one doesn't because you will find no answers here. Questions of faith aren't answered by science and questions of science are not answered by faith. All we know is what the universe appears to be and it appears to be billions of years old. Is it? We don't know. We can only go with what it looks like and that only matters to science. Faith can still believe it was created 6000 years ago and neither faith or science skip a beat. One only need accept that God used the laws he laid down to create everything which means everything looks like it evolved whether it did or didn't.
It doesn't matter how many people believe the world is 6000 years old. That is a personal matter of faith and has nothing to do with science.
It doesn't matter? Of course it matters. And this coming from a high school chemistry teacher. The formation of the Universe is the entire basis of chemistry.
Count me among the slim majority of Americans who do not buy the literal interpretation of the creation story in the first book of the Bible.
I was raised in Conservative Judaism and there is a wide variety of opinions in Judaism with regards to creation; some Orthodox Jews also believe the same way as fundamentalist Christians but most Jews I know do not. Liberal Judaism does not endorse the young Earth theory. There are a few liberal (aka Reform and Reconstructionist) Jews who do, but there's not many of them! I've never met one personally. My parents have gone the other way in their old age; I went Reform and they are now Modern Orthodox. They also believe in the big bang, old Earth, and evolution.
It doesn't matter? Of course it matters. And this coming from a high school chemistry teacher. The formation of the Universe is the entire basis of chemistry.
How can it not matter to you? I don't get it.
Oh, it's much worse than it not mattering to her.
She's declared that the question itself shouldn't be asked. Which is not only stunningly presumptuous it's down right scary coming from someone who is standing in front of a classroom of students. Teaching science.
A teacher who doesn't want a subject discussed because she's decided there are no answers. Yes, that's how we educate the youth of America.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 12-02-2013 at 01:02 PM..
It doesn't matter? Of course it matters. And this coming from a high school chemistry teacher. The formation of the Universe is the entire basis of chemistry.
How can it not matter to you? I don't get it.
What does whether or not God can/did bend/break the laws of this universe have to do with the laws of this universe? All that matters is what the laws are not whether God bent/broke them at some given time. I don't study God when I study science (unless one wants to argue that to study the laws laid down on the day of creation is to study the mind of God or some faction of the mind of God). I study chemistry. I'm not God so it doesn't matter to me whether God can bend/break the laws of this universe becase know I can't so it's irrelevent to me.
This is also irrelevent to me from a religious point of view because I don't care whether the story of creation is literal or figurative. What matters to me is the simple statement "God created" not how he created or how long it took him to create.
So yes, this doesn't matter. Religion isn't the study of science and science is not the study of religion. One studies the laws of this universe and the other seeks to find why it all exists. For me there is a small amount of overlap because my study of science is why I believe in God. The more I study the laws of this universe the more convinced I am this did not happen by chance. However, I do not look to science to explain religion or to religion to explain science. They are separate. I just know that science leads me to believe that there is something that exists outside of this universe that caused this universe to come into being.
I do find it interesting however that the bible says that time had a beginning and and end and we now know that time is tied to space in the space time continuium which would also lead us to the conclusion that time had a beginning and will have an end. I find it intriguing that someone wrote this thousands of years ago in the bible. I find the forensic analsys of the death of Christ also intriquing. There is good reason to believe that he died and that those who saw him risen really saw what they said they saw (a great book on this is The Case for Christ which is a forensic analysis of the Christ story.). I find it interesting that they have explanations for the plagues of Egypt as well but there is no need to sweat it if science can't explain something in the bible because there is no rule that says God must follow the rules. I think it's cool when he uses those laws to do what needs to be done but it is certainly not necessary. To an Isrealite standing at the banks of the sea with pharoah's army closing in fast whether that sea parted by a miricle or because of a rare weather phenomena is irrelevent. Timing can be a miracle in itself.
However the age of this universe means nothing to me. It's all the same to me whether it is billions of years old or just looks that way because God made it in mature form.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-02-2013 at 01:12 PM..
There seems to be a stunning disconnect when the topic of religion enters ANY situation. You can take people who are totally succesful in their private and employed lives, people who employ common sense, logic, and reason to get through their day and achieve the great things they have in life, and the minute you bring up the Bible and their literal belief in it, it's like a switch shuts off in their brains. All of a sudden, blind faith is the name of the game, and anyone who doubts is an enemy of God. The common sense, logic, and reason they employ in every other aspect of their daily lives that has made them successful suddenly has no bearing when religion enters the equation. Critical thought is obsolete. REPENT OR BURN!!!
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