Honesty is always to be preferred to the alternative. Welcome to the club.
I find the idea of a Creator not only more spiritually satisfying, but also more logical when I take in the beauty of Creation.
Good for you. We don't have to agree to discuss the ideas involved.
So, to continue, do you, because of your faith, reject out of hand the further idea that God could have created us through the mechanism of evolution? (Which appears to be the subject of this thread).
Or, tenatively going a step further, that God placed the fossils in the ground to play a joke on us? That the light we see in our telescopes was created some 6000 years ago to fool us into believing in an old universe?
Feel free to jump in and agree or disagree with anything you find particularly heartwarming or objectionable. Be warned that we often have to deal with the bizarre postings of medved, Gore3000, and f.Christian and so are not likely to be dissuaded from our views without strong evidence and extensive rational discourse. ;^)
So, to continue, do you, because of your faith, reject out of hand the further idea that God could have created us through the mechanism of evolution? (Which appears to be the subject of this thread).
I believe micro-evolution to be scientific and rational. I believe macro-evolution to be a fraud as a science, and a danger as a belief. I don't reject that God could have created us through the mechanism of evolution, I think God could have done anything. I just don't see his NEED to. I.e. a hummingbird made "poof" by a word, or generated over time, is still a miraculous creation that requires SOMETHING INTELLIGENT at it's origin. (I feel the same way about mangoes and a host of other wonder-ful things.)
Or, tenatively going a step further, that God placed the fossils in the ground to play a joke on us?
But even in a mere 6000 years a lot of things have died. Why shouldn't there be fossils? There haven't been any non-embellished "missing links" found however, never mind the bazillions of fossils there should be were macro-evolution true.
That the light we see in our telescopes was created some 6000 years ago to fool us into believing in an old universe?
Besides the theory that the speed of light is slowing down, just because that's the speed of light, it doesn't mean they didn't just come on one day. I think our minds are relatively puny in the scope of the size of the Universe, and I honestly lose less than little sleep on these questions.
A lot of speculation is out there over even the exact nature of our Universe. There's the big ball theory, the mirror theory... personally it's as important to me as the circumference of a bowl. I'm more interested in how I fit into that Universe, how I obey all it's laws... especially the ones I can have control over, the "love your neighbor" one comes to mind.
Feel free to jump in and agree or disagree with anything you find particularly heartwarming or objectionable. Be warned that we often have to deal with the bizarre postings of medved, Gore3000, and f.Christian and so are not likely to be dissuaded from our views without strong evidence and extensive rational discourse. ;^)
EVOLUTION=DEATH---!---Evolution is a tool of THE ENEMY!!! Be his ADVERSARIES!---OR---be his VICTIMS---!!!
(But only because you suggested it.)
However, my preferred last words on the subject?
If I could jump in – even though the question was not addressed to me: my faith does not cause me to reject out of hand the possibility that God used an evolutionary mechanism to create the creatures that now inhabit the world. I just find the claims of evolution as an explanation for the world that we know unpersuasive.
To use the skull as the initiation of this thread as an example, the assumptions that are made, based on the fragment that was found as the explanation for a whole new cosmology is patently ridiculous. We are dealing with the planes of the skull’s bones, the thickness of tooth enamel, and the length of canine teeth here. We have not come across an ancient erector set with assembly instructions. But on this slim “evidence” “evolutionists” are ready to completely revise their previous explanations of how we got here.
The difference between die-hard evolutionist and me is that I do not need evolution to explain my role in the universe. That allows me to look at fragments of bone without requiring them to have sacramental qualities and the answer to the riddle of my being.
”Or, tenatively going a step further, that God placed the fossils in the ground to play a joke on us? That the light we see in our telescopes was created some 6000 years ago to fool us into believing in an old universe?”
Well, I do not expect to have the answer to that in my lifetime, or yours. I suspect that man will be debating the creation of the universe until the end of time. But to me those are interesting but not ultimately critical questions. I am willing to accept a hypothesis that God created the universe by an exercise of will, and has a plan for that universe and everything in it. Meanwhile, others can theorize to their hearts content, each theory “destroying” the previous answer to everything.
”Feel free to jump in and agree or disagree with anything you find particularly heartwarming or objectionable. Be warned that we often have to deal with the bizarre postings of medved, Gore3000, and f.Christian and so are not likely to be dissuaded from our views without strong evidence and extensive rational discourse. ;^)”
I hope that rational discourse can persuade some. Others use this topic as an outlet for aggression or retribution for past hurts. Those, only the spirit of God can persuade.
Peace.