Time is not a diety.

I have two basic questions about your post.
1. Why should we believe that the bible creation story is the one true creation story? Why don't we assume the American native, Hindu, etc. creation story?

2. How can an ID proponent claim that bible creation story bible is true, but then you can discard certain parts of the bible creation story? And how do you decide to toss out certain parts of the bible creation story?

Thanks!

How about Marduk killing Tiamet and creating the world out of her body...

Well, that's no more and no less of a believable assertion than someone walking on water or making wine from water.

umm.. I never implied that it was less believable.

And to further raise the validity of your questions... What about the millions and millions of humans who existed during the early times who had never heard the Hebrew/Judaic doctrine of religion? What about the Chinese people thousands of years ago? What about the Japanese Samurai? What about the American Indian? What about the African tribes who existed during the time of Christ? A tremendous question indeed.

I abhor any religious view which is exclusive, in other words, says only these people will "make it".

So, just what does the Christian Bible say about this? The answers are in there.

The Bible says that God "winked" at these other religions. Winking means he let it pass. Apostle Paul also mentions the fact that the Greeks worshipped the one true God without even knowing it, they marked a statue, "To The Unknown God". How many other peoples were also worshipping God in their own way? One only can imagine.

But the one thing that is very consistent in Humans. We all have a conscience, and a desire to seek something higher. Whether it be the African tribesman or the Japanses Samurai or the American Indian, they all "knew" there was something higher than theirselves.

So.

1) I am not a proponent that the Bible creation story is literal. At the same time however, it is amazing how real it relates the history of the universe, almot in the same fashion that science has discovered today. Those thousands of years ago when those words were first penned, they had no knowledge of how the universe was created, that the Earth was a small entity in something much larger, yet even so, Genesis states, God created the Earth and it WAS VOID AND WITHOUT FORM. Just stop and think about that for a moment... and then think about where the Bible also mentions that a "Thousand years to God is but one day, and one day a thousand years". It is emphasizing the fact that Time stands still for a Divine Being who is everywhere at the same time. A billion years to this Divine Being is but a twinkle of an eye. There is no time with God. So how is it the universe can seemingly be 15,000,000,000 years old or more? I believe it cause the Bible insinuates it.

2) Because the Bible contains a multitude of analogies and parables. In fact, Jesus spoke almost entirely in parables, at least what is recorded. Revelations is one huge parable.

In the grand scheme of things, this is not important to my personal salvation and my belief in Christ. Whether I believe in Adam as a true single human, or whether he represents a a generation of peoples is not important and does not affect my personal belief in Christ.

Many many years ago, belief in a god was prevelant because people had no other answers for the questions about the universe and life. The irony of science, at least for myself, is that the more science discovers about how the universe ticks and the complexities of even the smallest form pof bacterial life, the more I believe in a master Creator. In essence, the wonderful discoveries of science have done more to bolster my belief in an Almighty than it has to reduce it.

But *that* was the intention. God created the foundations of science so that the more we discover, the more we draw closer to Him. Man did not create science, God did, and we are only starting to learn how to use it.

It's possible to walk on water. You should run at, IIRC, 75 kilometres per hour. At that speed the surface tension of water should be enough to hold a grown man.

Wine from water is also pretty easy with Instant Wine.

...all answers made possible by Science!

LOL @ Legend

I saw Elvis at Wal Mart this AM! He's evolved into an illegal alien.

But this "conscience" is a protection mechanism of society. It is for a large part nurture ("don't steal") and, I guess, another part nature ("don't kill the own species"). I do not feel however that this conscience can be linked to religion.
About this seeking something higher, I think that humans have always wanted to explain things. Without a proper scientific approach, stories were the norm. And what is more exciting than stories about higher beings? I've read somewhere, "people invented gods to reassure themselves, to explain things they couldn't understand, then made up stories to feel scared of these same gods." But that's basically also what you say yourself, below.



But where do you make the difference between the literal and the implied meaning of the Bible? Or, what meaning does the Bible have if it is only allegorical?
Besides, according the the bible, the order is (day 1) Light and dark, (day 2) heaven and earth, (day 3) water and dry land, (day 4) Sun, moon, stars, (day 5) birds and sea creatures, (day 6) land creatures and humans. Hardly the accretion disks that formed millions of stars, one insignificant one of which in the end was a little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.



The scary thing about parables is that they are often multi-interpretable.

I guess that's where we differ. I don't see a deity at work. I see that a second-year student "industrial design" could have designed a smarter body than we humans - or just about any other animal - currently have - hardly the work of a deity.

But I do love the discussion!