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but - this requires a certain amount of self awareness - and brutal honesty
for me it's easier to believe nothing - it's harder to believe something
I have to trust my own common sense - but also my own suspicions
this is where the trouble starts....
The irony is; [the Bible] evolved just the way it was supposed to
It is like attempting to understand God and why he seems so imperfect. It is certainly what HE seems to want us to think. Why?
Originally posted by Spiramirabilis
but as far as Non-Christians for Creationism goes - it looks like you have plenty of evidence that they exist
Originally posted by Astyanax
So you're a mystic - one of those who believe they have direct experience of the divine.
Have you written about your experiences anywhere? I should like to read them.
I understand that, to the mystic, experience transcends doctrine. Regrettably, the experience is, in its essence, incommunicable to others.
Of course, that hasn't stopped some mystics from trying, and the results have often been quite beautiful. Written descriptions of mystical experience often bear a strongly erotic character, as in the Ecstasy of St. Téresa of Avila or the poetry of St. John of the Cross. If you're interested, you can find links to their important works on this page. Even the great Jalaluddin Rumi tended to couch his adoration for God in sexual terms. Although this is not the thread for it, I'd be interested in hearing your comments on that odd phenomenon. Perhaps you could u2u me, or start another thread in an appropriate forum.
All very interesting, but I must beg leave to doubt whether mystical experience brings with it any insights applicable to the creationism-vs.-evolution debate. As Rumi puts it, 'I closed my eyes to creation when I beheld His beauty.'
In my opinion, mystical experience signifies atypical activity, perhaps hyperactivity*, in an evolved homeostatic feedback system one may describe as the religious instinct. Ordinarily, the function of this system is to mediate between consciousness, with its illusions of will and control, and the instinctive drives of the unconscious, which threaten these illusions. We can talk about that in another thread, too, if you like; perhaps I'll start one on the subject.
The irony is; [the Bible] evolved just the way it was supposed to
Says who? Could you please provide some evidence for this hard-to-believe assertion?
Originally posted by MatrixProphet
The Bible evolved just the way it was meant to, is accurate if you understand its premise. WHY was the Bible written, and WHY is it so inaccurate? WHY does it not really reflect God's words, and WHY didn't he divinely make sure that it would be totally accurate? And better yet, WHY has it lasted for millenniums?
Are you a mystery fan? Have you ever broken down a mystery novel and looked beyond the story to see how it was written? I am an author...
Sitll, at least He made the toys Himself. I suppose that's better than God the Couch Potato, staring glazedly at the universe with a remote control in one hand and a heer in the other.
Maybe someone should write that story.
After all, nothing we do is going to make any difference: He's not going to listen to our prayers anyway, because answering them will mean tinkering with the clockwork, and He wants to see how things will pan out without His tinkering.
Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
Christians and atheistic scientists hog up all the attention and air time with their views but they are not the only two explanations.
Originally posted by Skyfloating
I could list at least 10 other ways of seeing it that make more sense.
Originally posted by TheWayISeeIt
I think I speak for all of us following this thread when I say, please do!
In the current war raging between "Evolution-Theorists/Atheists" and "Creationists" most think its a given that Creationists are somehow Christian, Fundamentalist Christian or, at the very least, religious. This is not true
Evolution however, does not explain our origins or the origins of the Evolutionary Process.
Proposing our entire existence to be the result of a chain of coincidences that have arisen from dead matter is entirely unsatisfactory as an "explanation" to our origins.
From a metaphysical standpoint, we could also be talking about souls, oversouls and Creation-savvy Wizards who design planets, design animals, design humans...just as we design things.
Evolution as something that "explains our origins" can easily be debunked within only a few seconds...by tracing back and asking "and so where did that come from?"
Judging from our own experience and observation has humans, we can see how things come to be. And they do not come to be "coincidentally", but by us creating them. The Internet for example, was originally created and only now follows a pattern of evolution and "natural selection".
Thanks very much. Its an outrage really. Not only are both not the only ways of seeing the world, they are not even the most sensible. I could list at least 10 other ways of seeing it that make more sense.
Evolution and Creationism may not be diametrically opposing ideas, but for the time being - I see no good reason to suppose an intelligent designer.
Nothing wrong with saying "I dont know". Which is what I would have hoped my schoolbooks do sometimes...or "official sources" do some times...
So the objection is not at those myriad of explanations but as pretending them to be satisfactory in establishing "where we are from".
Everything mankind has created was initiated deliberately, by the power of our minds. Why should it not be that way with everything?
Telling kids "Your life is a meaningless coincidence and you come from nothing" is questionable though.