The two are not mutually exclusive. If there is a God, then science is among his creations. Perhaps miracles work differently than you imagine. And science demands logic and proof. You can believe the earth is flat as a matter of faith, just don't try to tell me that science is wrong because of your beliefs. Faith cannot prove matters of science any more than science can prove matters of faith. It is impossible for us to know how God exists, how he appears, and what he expects from us, if anything. We're all guessing, including martin and including you, Salty. Whether our beliefs are based on faith, science, both or neither . . . they are still only beliefs.
A lot of you like to bring up my views on dealing with our nations enemies. I never said that I was a perfect Christian, and I'll answer for any misjudgements when the time comes. Genocide isn't the correct word to describe my views anyway. Stick to the point of the discussion...:hihi:
Salty, Thanks for not answering my question directly. So your answer is when God created man & woman in the garden of Eden.
God did not write the Bible. Men did. I know what the patriarchs think God is like and what they imagine his wishes are. But you have to accept it as God's will on faith alone. One would expect God has the power to make himself known to us directly and if he expected his will to be known, he would give it to us clearly and openly. Since he has not, we can only guess at his will. Your guess is based on faith, mine is based on logic. The universe was created, so there must be a creator -- a logical deduction I can accept. Beyond that I have no idea of the nature of God. I have no problem with your beliefs based on faith. Only with any consequent denial of other beliefs that are based upon science.
Perhaps we can arrange a deity to person collect call to your house Red. Once established He could walk you through His expectations and then open the floor to some Q & A.
Save your money red. His expectations are already listed out in the Bible. As far as a Q & A session, we'll have to wait until we arrive in Heaven for that. Don't forget, Adam and Eve were tempted by satan to eat of the fruit from the Tree Of Knowledge. They were told that by doing so, they would have all of the knowledge of God, and would hence be as powerful as Him. What some of you seek is just the same. We are not, can not, and will never be as powerful as God. We must accept this, and fuel our beliefs by faith.
That would do nicely. But in fact anything that could be considered direct comunication would be fine. A diety should have no trouble communicating with us if he feels it is important for us to know his will. Why would a diety communicate his message to a single band of semetic nomads in a pre-historic time? It's a diety! Why not repeat the message to all of us now that we have mass communication? If a diety doesn't demonstrate itself, its because it ain't there or it doesn't care. Or perhaps its simply difficult to recognize. Our cognitive functions may be far too primitive to comprehend the actions of a diety.
Salty, I will ask you the question I ask all evangelicals/fundementalists. Where does the Bible ever say it is the sole source of truth? God gave us a great revalation in scripture, but it is not His only revalation to us.
No one - not you or I - can say what is in God's mind or how his mind works. The difference between theistic evolution and atheistic is God. You give a literal interpretation to the Bible. But such an understanding of Scripture fails to give credit to the depth of God's word. When the Bible says God created man in his own image, he is not talking about a physical image. God is spirit and what he created in mankind that reflects him is his soul. Our immortal soul is the image of God; not our physical bodies.
