quote:Originally posted by dearestnight_falcon:



Please tell me why it is that God would create a universe, that, from all observations that we make, appears to be very fucking old.

Why the hell would God try to trick us?

to "test" us?



You bring up an interesting point.

In 1857, English naturalist Philip Gosse, a early opponent of evolution, came up with explanation for the fossil and geographical evidence supporting evolution:

He answered this question. "Did Adam and Eve have navels? (Greek omphalos)?"

Since the navel is a sign of natural birth (from the cutting of the umbilical cord), Adam and Eve should have been created without one. But if Adam and Eve were both the model of the human being, they should both have one.

Gosse concluded Adam and Eve both had navels because they were created as if they had been born from a womb. He then suggested that they had also been created with memories of a childhood that never happened so that he would be a "normal" human being.

This speculation raised the possibility that all the physical evidence of the earth's age was created in 4004 B.C. so that the earth appeared millions of years old.

Why such a joke would be played on humanity was never explained by Gosse (who attributed it to a test of faith) and neither was Gosse able to answer the simplest question asked by critics: "How do we know that the entire universe wasn't created five minutes ago with all of human history, including the Biblical account of Creation, embedded in our memories as if it really happened?"

This just shows you that Creationism has been under attack since 1857, and even then it couldn't defend itself very well.

Some commentary from christians in the same period:

"If sound science appears to contradict the Bible, we may be sure that it is our interpretation of the Bible that is at fault." Christian Observer, 1832, pg. 437

"Christians should look on evolution simply as the method by which God works." Rev. James McCosh, theologian and President of Princeton, 1890

There was a time when people thought the earth was the center of the universe. They considered this to be an absolute fact, and that they had reached the pinnacle of science and thought. They knew it all.

And then something knew was found.

The lesson? Don't be like those in history and assume that you're right because you've got the newest idea.

Time will continue to march on. New ideas, new discoveries. You might be wrong. Don't be so absolutely certain that you're right.

This goes out to everyone; thiest, athiest, and anything in between.

quote:Originally posted by The_Rabbi:

You might be wrong. Don't be so absolutely certain that you're right.



Isn't that the truth.

Why does God create the world twice in the first two chapters of Genesis?

^^^

It's called a couplet.

The same thing happens when David becomes king.

They are all through the bible.

It's because the bible isn't the literal word of god. It's a book open to interpretation.

^ Nice work Sean.

It's a literary technique...

quote:Originally posted by inquisitor_11:

^ Nice work Sean.

It's a literary technique...

As is allegory.

Why do you have to keep trusting this document, "the Bible", after all these years? You still believe it's absolutely right and unflawed? You are wrong.