At 9/18/07 03:05 PM, JohnnyWang wrote:
You know, I was under impression that "God created man in his image", and various other passages in the bible (one having him visit Abraham in physical form) would poin to that direction.
But what is Gods image? You're assuming that this means that God is just like me and you when in all actualit "in his image" is refering to the spirit. The Bible states that God isn't made of flesh and blood like me and you but he's made up of Spirit... that's John something or another. Creating man in his own image means he created man with spirit. Nowhere does it state God is an old man with a white beard floating in the sky like so many athiests assume. God is not of this world... nor flesh, nor blood.
In fact, you have to think of God as being outside of our physical dimensions. It would be like trying to explain this world, to the world of cartoons. Cartoons are 2 dimensional and they'll never be able to understand the three dimensions that we exist in because their laws and physics won't allow them to comprehend what we are. yet here we are, creating them...
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we're Gods cartoon but the idea is the same. God is outside of our dimension which puts him outside of our laws of physics. He can exist before time because he created the time that we know... in fact some people actually believe this is why there are so many diffrent relegions. It's all about perspective as to how you see and interpret God. Picture a 3 dimensional triangle touching a piece of paper with a cartoon on it. One cartoon is going to see just the tip or a dot. Another is going to see a straight line, and a thrid might see a one dimensional shape of a triangle... it all depends on where the 2 dimensional object is in relation to the 3 dimensional object touching it's world.
Because there were so many species of huge lizards, and for some reason, none of them, not even the ones big as houses were mentioned.
Ole English Sheep Dogs weren't mentioned in the Bible either. Neither where camel spiders, and Blow Fish. Whats your point? Besides that, look at who God was talking to when the Bible was written. he wasn't talking to modern man with the internet and higher education. He was talking to poor people and shepards. Can you imagine the look on Moses face had God told him to write down "In the beginning God synthesized DNA in a kaolinite matrix, enzymatically catalyzed by ... ."... I bet most of the people here don't know what means.
The Bible wasn't written to answer every question man was ever going to have, it was there to answer the questions of the time. It's there to explain, in lamens term, the existance of God. I don't think God saying "Also I created Dinosaurs" really matters because anyone with any common sense will realise that Dinosaurs count as "everything" and the need for specifics isn't neccessary.
Once again, if God named every animal he ever created the Bible would be so huge you wouldn't be able to pick it up... let alone read it, understand the message, and give a fuck about anything it says.
Can you cite passage for that?
It's all about translation. People often forget tht the Bible was written in Hebrew, not English. And in Hebrew there are two words for Create. One of these words was used to describe all creation that man can't do (bara) and the other was used to explain any form of creation that man could do (asah).
The Bible, in Hebrew, states that God created (bara) the universe and then created man (asa) from the Earth. I believe you'll find this in Genesis 1:27. (or somewhere around there, I don't have the bible memorized)
In other words, asa is the same thing as saying "formed". Man can create a bowel from clay. We shape and form it into a usable tool. That's what God did to create man... he shaped and formed us fromt he Earth. And he still is... that's evolution. But it's all about walking the middle path... those that refuse to belive in God think the bible says we just poped out of thin air. And those that refuse to agknowledge science think we just popped out of thin air. Both ideas are wrong and anyone with an open mind can see the bible discussing the ever changing form of life... Genesis does discuss this. In fact it talks about the evolution of plants as well as the evolution of life that started in the waters and crawled it's way on to land. Where, excatly, I have no idea... read Genesis.
I've read large chunks of the bible. Back when I was still religious, mind you. And off course, not all of us know science like the back of our hands (because, you know, it covers a lot of things. What's wrong with accepting what people who have studied these things say?)
We'll it's pretty wrong to say you don't believe in something you know nothing about. I can't claim that "Moby Dick" is a shitty novel without reading it so it's pretty unfair for one to claim the Bible is full of lies if one hasn't actually read it for themself.
The same goes for the opposite side of the spectrum as well. A lot of people don't understand just how perfectly balanced the universe is. In fact, it's so perfectly balanced to allow for the formation and growth of life that science almost rules out the possiblity of chance simply by understanding how the world works.
Take the expansion rate of the universe for example. If the universe expanded faster then it is, even by a slight amount, it would be impossible for Galaxies to form. But if was slightly slower, the universe would have collapsed long ago.
The list goes on...
You know, supose this planet was made balanced by design. This would mean, that our lives would not be threatened by a giant asteroid crossing our orbit in 2029.
Why not? Is God unable to destroy his own creation? Last time I checked he could. Of course, you're also assuming that this asteroid isn't a part of his plan... life couldn't exist at all if wasn't for asteroids. They carry minerals that the Earth doesn't have. This is like saying God doesn't exist because we have volcanos... completly ignoring the fact that Volcanos and earthquakes are what keep life enriching minerals circulating the planet.
Once again, take the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs ate gymnosperms (sporebearing plants like ferns). You and I eat angiosperms (plants with fruit and seeds). If it wasn't for the dinosaurs, angiosperms wouldn't have been able to take over the planet like they have. Then an asteroid hit and eraticated the dinosaurs on the planet... which paved the way for angiosperms and man. here you have a clear cut case of a natural disaster put in place to further the development of the planet, not destroy it. Just because you don't understand the plan, doesn't mean that a plan isn't in process.
And if we are to believe the bibles moral guide, god uses a tactic usually called by legal specialists as "antrapment". He gives us free will, but punishes us if we take use of it.
Once again, that's only if you believe the extremists. God doesn't care if you have fun or fall in love... but it's not implied that one should go out and shoot heroine and sleep with ever hooker in the state. Then again, if you do, and you honestly feel bad for doing so, he'll forgive you. You're not punished for using your free will at all. You're only punished if you abuse his system without care.
It's like building a shitty skyscraper ontop of a fault line and then blaming God when it collapses and kills everyone inside. it's not his fault you acted like an idiot. Next time, don't build a really tall building on a known fault line. You can't willingly jump off of a bridge and then get pissed off at God because he didn't stop you from hitting the ground. He gave you the ability to know not to jump off the bridge. If you do it anyway, that's your fault.
The only people that think God punishes you for using free will and the extremists. Walk the middle path and the truth will be known.