24 August 2011
How much of what we believe is what we want to believe and we believe it because our minds absorb only on what fits into our philosophies?
As a child I was told that God made the world. My parents and Sunday School teacher wouldn’t lie to me, of course it was true. Being home schooled, my mom had the ability to skim over bits of science that didn’t flow smoothly alongside Scripture. The “e” word was avoided for the most part and when brought up was treated with contempt. I could assume that all I needed to know for the beginning of the universe was spelled out for me in the first few chapters of the Bible. Last year I took a Biology course which lead me to completely different conclusions regarding the birth of our existence. Critical thinking became a vital skill for learning and gaining knowledge. I began to read the Bible critically from the beginning, asking questions and seeking answers. I discovered a lot of material that I had skimmed over because I already believed what I wanted to believe and that fit into my already formulated philosophy that God created the world.
Serious questions that arose were:
Why do Christians fear philosophies (the “e” word) contrary to the gospel?
If God can create a universe in 7 days, have a man swallowed by a giant fish, be thrown up three days later and live, become man and be conceived in a virgin, and be raised from death after three days we do not need to fear! Is He not mighty enough to stand up against weak worldly concepts?
What was the initial “light” and “darkness” created on day 1?
The sun and moon were created on day 4. Genesis 1
From the work of day 2, I get a vivid image of a sandwich of water, sky, water. Why is there no water above the sky? Where is it?
Some say the water above the sky was the source of the flood. As we are moving outward, the surface area is much larger, meaning there was a lot of water. If the flood truly did cover the entirety of the globe, where is all that water now?
Many stars are older than our sun. This is measured in light years. How is this possible as they were created on day 4?
Genesis 1:14-19
All for now!
Wow! Good questions! This is a subject that I’ve been interested in a for a long time, although I’ve never done much reading about it. If you come up with any answers, I’ll be interested to read about them.
You might also want to read the Wikipedia article on Theistic Evolution and just search the web generally for Theistic Evolution.