So cool, and the more believable of all the options as well.

 

Yes, I'd go along with most of that. Now obviously as a Christian I see the moment that we became self aware as being the moment we became aware of our mortality and our creator and this is all illustrated beautifully in the Adam and Eve true-myth. The Adam and Eve account opens up the story for all people of all ages and all levels of education at each stage in history. The fall then helps explain 'the problem of evil' where rebellion and distrust and selfishness and a seperation from God enters the world. In evolutionary and spiritual terms these events actually happened!

 

Genesis 3:19

19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

 

But God doesn't show mercy does he/she?
I thought we already established that?

 

isn't that a bit of an oxymoron?

 

I think you and others decided that, it was never "established". If you imagine that Bulldog, who called his creator evil, were to repent and ask for forgiveness, then the Lord would forgive him and take him back. That's mercy. He was incredibly merciful to me. The people to whom He shows no mercy are those who've been given the gospel, but reject it, refuse to acknowledge their sin and maintain that position unto the grave. That's the deal. None of us deserve God's mercy, just look at the state of the world! That He sent His only Son to atone for our sins is quite amazing!

 

Go on...

 

Not sure about the first 2 lines, sweat,face,bread?

However the other 4 lines sums up life quite nicely, no real need for the rest of the Bible,that is really how simple life is, we come from the stuff that makes up dust (And everything in the known universe) and once earth expires (which it will) I will once again be turned back into that same stuff.

No great mystery, no need to add God to the mix, everything and I mean everything that happens in the universe, happens because of a chemical reaction, stars form because of it, they die because of it. Whole galaxies and the entire universe formed because of that same process. This is a fact and can be explained by science, therefore I believe this.

Now here I will concede to you, did God put all that stuff here in the first place, who knows? It is possible, as are many things, Until it is proven I shall keep an open mind, as should you, sadly religion does not give you that option, which is a shame

 

Science answers the how, religion deals with the why.

 

A meerkat is aware of its own mortality, that's why it stands on its back legs looking for predators, so it doesn't get eaten, if it wasn't aware it could die (and is therefore mortal) its species wouldn't survive.

 

So do you agree our sun will one day grow in size and swallow our earth up whole? (it will, we see this throughout the universe) And in turn will make extinct the entire human race, does your religion explain why that's going to happen, is it gods plan to kill all his creations? What a nice chap

 

Are you suggesting a meerkat can contemplate? All you've demonstrated is a survival instinct that's common to all creatures.

 

Revelation 21:1

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

 

Problem is you won't see a new earth, you will however see the sun grow in size shortly before all humans on the earth die, unless we have managed to crack colonisation of a different planet by then, which, if we have will owe everything to science and nothing to god

 

All contemplation means is to think about something, I'm sure that thoughts are not exclusive to humans, it's just the subject of those thoughts that are more varied in humans.

God is a concept created by humans, therefore only humans can understand that concept, it is something made up. Animals cannot contemplate God, how does this mean anything though?

 

Can we please try and remember that what we're discussing here is the words/interpretations of people who believe they have experienced got? Not the actual words of the deity itself.

 

And that is why humans, the first creature to develop true intelligence, developed religion. The survival instinct combined with the knowledge you will cease to exist is pretty alarming.


So, let's invent a place we can go when we die.

 

yes, religion would have to explain exactly when (and the mechanism by which) humans had a relationship with god - as they slowly evolved from our ape like ancestors

it presumably would need to account for all the humanoids that did not evolve into homo sapiens (Neanderthals et al)

 

ha , nearly every time we go to S.A. we stay with zim exile friend of girlfriend and his family, 20 k west Joburg
Nearly every time for something to do other than visit a mall/soweto/ else hes suggested we visit maropeng/sterkfontein , cradle human kind . Hes never been himself but I think even his girls have been on school visits . Theyre regular church goers and he laughs at the possibility we evolved from apes , but I notice the laugh is a little more nervous with every trip we make

 

How can you have a true myth?

 

It's the best of both worlds for Christians


Or maybe it's Schrodinger's Myth, both true and not true until observed. True for Christians, not true for atheists.........

 

Almost like schrodingers immigrants, simultaneously too lazy to work and stealing our jobs.....

 

well this is creationist argument 101

"if we evolved from apes - why are there still apes"

off course this is a massive over simplification, we did not evolve from apes

but we share a common ancestor

it is based on the "argument from ignorance" fallacy

 

poltholer54 observes this in his video

"Being an atheist doesn't make you rational"

 

http://biologos.org/resources/videos/the-fall

I posted this on page two so apologies if you've already watched it. It's not particularly long.

 

https://www.scoobynet.com/non-scooby...l#post11793897

 

Simply fact is this bollox wouldn't have spread at all if it weren't for printing press, people with too much time on their hands ( scholars) and the power religion has had over the poor

 

yes its nonsense (creationist lite tbh)

firstly they all simply take the position god exists (as an act of faith) - in every single statement they make

so we still have the problem that only confirmation of the source is the source itself

listen in science and scientific literature a really good indication of "pseudo science" is when you read a scientific paper and the list of citations at the end all contain citations from the same author

validation of the bible only comes from references to the bible - yes good enough for faith based religion - but inadequate for science


the expanding "explosive" gas comparison to humans and humanoid self awareness is nonsense

 

It is an account that isn't historically and scientifically accurate in the modern sense, but which has shaped society to such an extent that it becomes 'true'. It holds deep spiritual and sociological meaning that could could not be described as false or as fact, hence true myth. I nicked it from CS Lewis and those whom he influenced.

 

Like Geezer, you simply don't get it. You don't have the necessary gifts to bridge the gap between science and spirituality. You're the men Polkinghorne talks about when he says that man "turned in on himself" and away from God. How are you going to present the problem of evil to bronze-age goat herders, illiterate peasants, children, anyone born before Darwin, my mum, the third world and Bristolians in a way that's accessible and can be delved in to as far as the individual's learning allows. The men in the vid' aren't explaining the how, they're explaining the why.