Originally Posted by MuseChaser
Sigh... we should probably (no, definitely... lol) leave this alone... but... science and Christianity (and some other religions) play together VERY well. How long do you think the first day was? A "day," as we know it, is approximately 24 hours long, and determined by the time it takes the earth to make one full revolution around its axis. The earth wasn't there on the first "day," whatever that was, so there's no way to infer from Genesis exactly how long those first six days were by mankind's current time measurement standards. The bible has been through a large number of translations and yes, interpretations. The word "day" in Genesis could just as easily have been "era," "period of time," "epoch," whatever.. who truly knows. How much of the bible is parable? How much is true factual history? No one really knows. I, certainly, don't pretend to. Certainly, large parts of the bible HAVE been shown to fit scientifically confirmed historically accurate occurrences and references.
The depths and shapes of one's beliefs or acceptances, at least mine and that of most people I know, are in a constant state of flux. For what it's worth, I still believe in Santa Claus, too... but Santa takes a VERY different form to me now than he did when I was 1/10th my current age!
I've seen too many wonderful, unexplicable things in my life (and yes, and sadly, probably an equal number of horrors, too, but it's far easier for me to accept the fact that people do bad things.. there's certainly enough examples of THAT on a daily, no, hourly, basis) to be able to DISbelieve in the existence of God.
Another thought - how is it beneficial for someone to think that there is no higher power or force for greater good above them? The humility that comes from focusing less on self and more on a greater good always, and I mean ALWAYS, results in not only making the lives of those around you better, but also brings YOU more happiness, too. I'm not suggesting that selfless behavior and humility are solely the province of Christians; please don't misunderstand me. I am saying that a belief in a higher power and a force for good beyond ourselves sure isn't a bad thing. On the other hand, if you believe that your higher power is telling you to go kill people, well.... something's drastically and terminally wrong there.
Hopefully, we can all agree that we are here to help one another.
If you hadn't tagged on "overall" after "unintelligent," I might have been able to keep quiet. Unfortunately, lol... diarrhea of the fingers attacked me again.
Best to you, pilot. 32w squawking VFR.
Barry
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