Most religious leaders are nothing more than power hungry cult leaders. Only when that power is truly threatened is when you see what type of person they really are.
I am not a creationist but I do accept the bible, to answer this question from a scriptural view point certain things need to be understood in relation to the bible, & that is that some parts of the bible are symbolic & other parts are literal, how does one find out which is which ? By reading the surrounding text & seeing how a certain scripture complements another………….plus a lot of research including the correct meaning of certain Hebrew & Greek words. Creationists say the earth was created in six literal days, does the bible say this? Upon reading Genesis Chapter 1 : 3 – 31 it certainly looks that way, but Gen 2: 4 goes on to say God made the Heavens & the Earth in ‘A’ day. So how can that scripture be reconciled with what was previously said in Gen 1 : 3 – 31 ? Clearly the days mentioned in Chapter one were not literal but represented a “period of unknown timeâ€, can this be backed up by the scriptures ? yes. For example the word Day in the bible can mean:- 24 hours 1,000 years Unknown long period of time. Upon reading Genesis it is clear that all of the 6 creative days have ended, but that is not the case with day 7. ( Gods day of rest ) Some 4,000 years into Gods day of rest ( day 7 ) the apostle Paul wrote that it was still in progress ( read Heb 4: 1 – 11 to confirm this for yourself ) so the seventh day has been continuing for thousands of years, it may reasonably be concluded then that each of the six creative periods, or days, was at least thousands of years in length & not literal 24 hour periods. So from a scriptural view point the bible does not say how old the earth is, other than it is thousands of years old…….maybe millions or billions, & from a scientific viewpoint it is billions of years old.
In both the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures, the word “day†Hebrew - yohm Greek - he.me´ra is used in both a literal and in a figurative or even symbolic sense, as you said meaning 24 hours or a longer time period.
Yes according to the bible Adam & Eve were created in the sixth day, but that day / creative period has now ended. Gen 1: 31 onwards:- “ After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all their army came to their completion. And by the seventh day God came to the completion of his work that he had made, and he proceeded to rest….†As I said earlier the 7th day is still in progress, but chronologically it is possible to establish a time line backwards in the bible which will establish a date for Adams creation, this being a little over 6,000 years ago ( but we are not talking about the Earths creation here, just mans ) Another point to note re Day being not a literal day but a period of time is this:- Gen 2: 17 “But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the ‘day’ you eat from it you will positively die†Did Adam & Eve die the DAY they ate of the fruit ? No, they later had children and from what I know it takes more than 24 hours to become pregnant & give birth, clearly showing that the term day refers to a time period of unknown length, not a literal day.
For the Bible Trivia Nuts, What is the only scripture outside of the first 5 books is written by moses (the vessel for Genesis Story) keep guessing.... figured it... yet?..... Ok... here it is.... Psalm 90. Ok, now what does this have to do with the thread? Psalm 90.4 "For a thousand years in thy [GOD] sight are but as yesterday..." Our understanding of time is meaningless when we try to understand God's. A millenium can be as short as the passing of a night. Steven Hawking had write up about how time is NOT constant (we all know this from Einstein of course, duh), but what is a day today, might be an eternity at the creation of the universe. He even wrote up how time DIDN'T exist. (for you thermal-dynamic buffs you understand the paradox here. I laughed too.). So, once again, I say this to myself. "How does the age of the world effect me?" For you guys, I say you need to ponder on this more, hang out in the this forum, and stay away from your sites, and let them fall into decay. tom
For some reason time goes by slower in Europe. I think it's because everything is so close together ...
I watched a documentary, on time and aging. Using America as the baseline, because it is in the center of North America: * Note: This was a generalization/averaging. In Mexico, people move slower, yet age faster, because of the average temperature. In Canada, people move faster, yet they age slower. Weight how if Time on earth was constant(for comparison), the biological clocks of Mexicans is on overdrive, while Canadian age more gracefully. So, time is a variable. Now get back to arguing, I haven't made much AS money today. muhahahahahaha tom
Correct, no mentioning on the actual number of magi, just that they came baring three types of gifts. Nuff with trivia, this is the Politics & religion forum, duke it out!!!!! tom
Nope. It's those blasted European clock monkeys hanging on the cog that makes time constant. They never should have been in charge of anything, let alone the clocks.
Or.. it means exactly what it said and 6 days meant 6 days... The point I keep making is that people, as well as religious leaders, will do their best to interpret the bible to fit their own agenda or beliefs. This practice becomes even more aggressive when defending something in the bible that doesn't make sense. But when something is easy to understand and cut and dry AND it goes along with what they believe, it's taken literally. So why can't people just accept and believe what their bible says literally? Becauase to do so would also be to accept things as fact that make absolutely no sense in the world we live in today with the knowledge we have today. Hence all the "research" needed to make it make sense So what if it did mean 6 days? That would have been fine and easily acceptable in those times when people believed there was a mystical God watching over them at all times with the power to do or change anything at will. When we didn't know about dinosaurs and everything that went on before we got here. And now... well, look at this thread. I've got half the bible believers trying to convince me that man and dinosaurs all existed together and the other half trying to tell me a day isn't a day.... in genesis... but sometimes in the bible when they say a day they mean a day....... See how that works? Why can't we all just admit that the bible is a book written by men before the time when we discovered things like dinosaurs existed. And because of that limited knowledge and understanding it has factual flaws.
George, personally speaking it maters not to if if these days were literal or symbolic of an unknown period of time, BUT, as I said with research it becomes clear that these 6 creative days were indeed symbolic, once again I'll give you two scriptures from the book of Genesis that confirm this point. and please look at this in an objective manner without preconceived ideas & you should then logically reach the right conclusion about this matter:- Gen 2: 4 "This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that God made earth and heaven" Here the previous 6 creative days are spoken of as being ONE day, clearly demonstrating that these days were symbolic of an unknown time period..........hoiw much clearer could it be ? Gen 2: 17 "But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.†Now that was said before they had children ( they had both sons & daughters by the way ) so looking at things from your point of view we are to assume that Adam & Eve ate the fruit, had sex, Eve got pregnant then gave birth to her children, then Adam & Eve died..........all within A day ? Now I know some people have a lot of energy & can do many things within a short period of time but this is streatching things just a little too far dont you think ? Again, & I labour the point, this scripture proves as clear as mud that the day was not literal, rather symbolic of a time period. As I said it comes down to research, it's all very well for you to make sweeping statements about this matter but your thoughts would hold more weight if you had some knowledge of what you were really talking about, & I mean that in a respectful way. What I said above has not been misinterpreted ( if you think it has please point out my error, I am always willing to learn ) it is what the bible has stated, not me.
Personally I think its just a collection of stories with meanings hidden deep within that was never supposed to be taken literally. Also it has been rewritten more times than Gtech has made stupid comments.
Onya czech! Another fine explanation. Research is the only key to finding out the "truth" of all things.
OK It's obvious I can't just give you blanket replies like the rest so I'll go one by one. You know I'd like to but the fact that Genesis says a day is a day while other books don't makes that a little hard. There's also the fact that you're asking me to look at biased research objectively, but what the heck let's give it a shot I'm no bible professor but I've read a book or 2. And from what I gather... "001:005 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." "001:008 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day." means that the heavens and earth part meant they were created in one day and not that the whole process took a day. But that the other things occured after. So I mean what are you saying, it took years for God to say.. "oh yeah, I should probably create light and darkness too.."? Bit of a stretch even for people who believe a man can walk on water. It's not my point of view. It's your bible. I didn't write it. No, parting the red sea was a stretch. This is nothing. Clear as mud. Absolutely perfect analogy. No offense taken. You're one of the few people here whom I think could actually set me straight IF.... if.... I am wrong. Funny thing is people here would probably never guess that I am not an atheist. I'm an agnostic and truth be told I would LOVE to be able to believe in the thing that seems to make chrisitans so happy, content, and whole. That's why I am so passionate in my attacks on people who alreayd believe. As I'm typing, in my head I'm screaming "prove me wrong damnit!". But alas, logic and science always win. I did my best.