Arthur---
But it was the people(The Catholic church representing the most powerful
force in this) who took everything literally that almost kept Christopher Columbus from sailing. "The world is flat and that is that" was their cry.
Yes, the Catholic church was and is a money and power-hungry entity not at all representing Christ or the Word of God. The same force that is behind the Catholic church is also behind the lie of evolution as the explanation for the orgin of the universe, chemicals and species.
If the Catholics would have read the Bible and believed it, they would have found that the earth is not flat, long before Columbus sailed (though many other people knew it was not flat at the time also--maybe they were reading their Bibles.
The Bible says in Isa 40:22 - "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth..."
I find it amazing thought that you can state emphatically "Hugh Ross-a proponent of the gap theory--but he is wrong".
This appears to come from the position that if anyone believes the world is older than 6,000 years he is on the side of the devil and helping hte evolutionary lie. This allows for no scientific investigation, logical thinking or testing whatsoever. I guess I can't understand why it is a "sin"(so to speak) to agree with the scientists that this planet is billions of years old. what makes that so hard to believe? Why does the world have to have started when man was created?
I did not say that it is a sin to believe that. Also, science is nuetral. Science deals with facts. I see no conflict in someone being a scientist and one who believes that the earth is 6,000 years old as the Bible says. In fact, the scientific evidence supports what the Bible says.
There is nothing that emphatically states this in the Bible. The Bible starts with "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. And the earth was without form and void. Who knows what interval takes place between "In the beginning" and start of the first day of creation? We simply do not know that.
There is no reason to believe that there was any time between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2. First, we read that the earth was without form and void. Then we read, "And God said...." and every time God spoke, he created something. There is no mention of anything inbetween. There was no creation until God spoke it into being. We know that there was not billions of years before God spoke because the first day ever was that day that God said "Let there be light." The Bible says that it was "
the first day". Not "a day", or even "a frist day". No- "
the first day." It's that simple. No need to throw in confusing, errant, imaginative thoughts about billions of years that aren't there.
This is the last argument I will make concerning this because I realize it becomes a no-win situation.
Ok.
It simply boils down to the old fight of faith only vs. faith and the allowance of scientific analysis when speaking of physics and archaeology, etc.
It is not about "faith only vs. faith and allowance for science". It is about faith and science, period. Show me the evidence for a billion-year old earth. That is scientific, isn't it?
I'm just one of those people that when I become sick go to a doctor---because I believe God has given us doctors and doesn't want us to simply beg "heal me, heal me" when a scientific way exists to gain healing.
I go to doctors, and the dentist too. My wife had a child recently. She went to doctors regularly and delivered at the hospital. No problems there.
It's like the old story of the man in the flood on a rooftop who cries to God to save him. A boat comes by but he says "No, No, God will save me". A helicopter flies overhead but he waves it off and cries "No, No God will save me!" He soon drowns and goes to heaven and asks God why he let him drown. "I didn't let you drown--I was in that boat, and in that helicopter, but you refused my aid". God has blessed us with doctors, and scientists, and inventors, etc. to help bless our lives---if we choose to ignore their voices completely we are shutting our ears to the voice of God. We sometimes want everything to be "mystical" when God will many times use a practical way to speak to us.
I am surprised at you, Joe. Obviously, you haven't read a word that I said. Where have I made God, the age of the earth, or any other such thing out to be "mystical". I clearly presented the facts and you say that I am trying to make it mystical? This makes no sense. Read it again.
I'm one of those people that when hundreds of scientists blessed with brilliant minds by the Lord come to an age for the earth am urged to accept it.
I'm one of those people who won't just blindly accept what a so-called "expert" will say, but rather I'll look into and study the case myself before making a conclusion.
It's not an accident that God has blessed so many with extraordinary intelligence. Not to use that intelligence would be a crime. For them to say "No investigation is necessary, the earth is 6000 years old like we've been saying since the days of Columbus and before, any other investigation is to align one's self with Satan."
We see a part of the world with a bit of that take on the world---it's the birth place of terrorists who believe their religion alone is right, and capatilsm is the Great Satan. Fortunately, here in the United States we have out faith, but we also use intelligence and God-given gifts to explore and gain more and more knowledge. To me, that is makes a lot more sense.
I'll stop now. --Joe
Well, Joe, I don't know who you are referring to here, but it sounds pretty messed up.
