Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
I've believed the following theory for a while, but my wife just found out that I believed this last night. She thought I was nuts. Anyone else have a theory anything like this?
I don't think that evolution and creationism were mutually exclusive. I don't think that God said, "Let there be ..." and BAM there was. I figure God created the world through the natural order of science. God said, "let there be..." and some gasses swirled, exploded and the universe began as a big bang. God said, "Let there be animals ..." and protozoan appeared and started to evolve and eventually there were animals. I just assume that "days" to God were millions of years to us. I mean, shit! God always was and always will be, what does he know about days and months and years? Those were just words that Moses used b/c he couldn't wrap his brain around the timelessness of God.
God said, "Let there be man." and some monkeys started to evolve, and a few million years later, there was man. It seemed like a snap to God.
The fact that there is scientific evidence of the big bang and evolution, doesn't mean that there isn't a higher being creating the world and working through the physical laws of that world.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:58 pm Posts: 1148 Location: Green Bay
just_b wrote:
The fact that there is scientific evidence of the big bang and evolution, doesn't mean that there isn't a higher being creating the world and working through the physical laws of that world.
What evidence would you cite to prove the existence of a god?
_________________ When the last living thing Has died on account of us, How poetical it would be If Earth could say, In a voice floating up Perhaps From the floor Of the Grand Canyon, "It is done. People did not like it here.''
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
energystar wrote:
just_b wrote:
The fact that there is scientific evidence of the big bang and evolution, doesn't mean that there isn't a higher being creating the world and working through the physical laws of that world.
What evidence would you cite to prove the existence of a god?
There is no proof for existence of a God. There probably won't ever be. But I don't think evidence of evolution/big bang disprove the existence of God. So, I just don't understand why Christians attack evolution theory so much and say stupid things like Adam and dinosaurs lived at the same time.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 2:29 pm Posts: 6217 Location: Evil Bunny Land
I've basically held that same theory for a long time. I'm 100% sure of Evolution. I do believe that some higher power was behind the whole thing though.
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Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:58 pm Posts: 1148 Location: Green Bay
deathbyflannel wrote:
energystar wrote:
What evidence would you cite to prove the existence of a god?
What emperical evidence would you cite to undermine the existence of God?
I don't have any. Given that all of god's work could be described as "magic", there's no real way to disprove it. That's the beauty of religion.
I asked that question because just_b cited the evidence that supports evolution, but gave no evidence to support his belief in god. So I'm curious why he believes in god even if he has no evidence.
_________________ When the last living thing Has died on account of us, How poetical it would be If Earth could say, In a voice floating up Perhaps From the floor Of the Grand Canyon, "It is done. People did not like it here.''
Scientists, and in this case those who study evolution, are not really a group of people out to prove the there is no god. It's not a binary opposition. Scientists have a wide range of personal and religious beliefs as well. This includes Christianity. The difference here is, evidence for "design", or believing that god shaped everything from the big bang down to the evolution of each species, is purely subjective. There is no science that determines that this is the case. It's a religious belief that in the context of science simply cannot be included. But this does not mean that evolution is "anti-god" or anything else.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:36 am Posts: 3556 Location: Twin Ports
Skywalker wrote:
Scientists, and in this case those who study evolution, are not really a group of people out to prove the there is no god. It's not a binary opposition. Scientists have a wide range of personal and religious beliefs as well. This includes Christianity. The difference here is, evidence for "design", or believing that god shaped everything from the big bang down to the evolution of each species, is purely subjective. There is no science that determines that this is the case. It's a religious belief that in the context of science simply cannot be included. But this does not mean that evolution is "anti-god" or anything else.
Well put.
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:44 pm Posts: 8910 Location: Santa Cruz Gender: Male
deathbyflannel wrote:
What emperical evidence would you cite to undermine the existence of God?
That's really not much of an argument. What sort of evidence do you have that an equal but opposite reality doesnt exist behind every mirror? Or what evidence might there be to disprove that my car is really made of jello until I or someone chooses to look at it, and then at that exact moment it turns back into a normal car removing any traces that it was ever jello.
It's just a poor way to try and prove something, by saying that because you cant disprove it, then it exists or is true. I know you didnt say that exactly, but it was very much implied in your comment.
Last edited by Buggy on Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:04 pm Posts: 39920 Gender: Male
Both evolution AND creationism are supported in the scriptures. But our modern science is very underdeveloped and flawed in the way that think things happened. No one can deny that evolution hasn't happened, and in fact it is happening constantly. When you're born you're not in the body of a middle aged person, or an elderly person, you're in the body of a baby. But through evolution our bodies change constantly, you get taller, grow old, etc. But that does not mean that you are not the same person because of all this evolution. It's supported here in the essence of the Vedas as spoken by God:
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. (Bhagavad-Gita 2.12)
Now what Krishna was talking about wasn't about our ever evolving changing material bodies, but rather what fuels our given bodies, that being the soul. It is explained very easily to understand like this, that which is born must die, it may take 1 year, it may take a thousands years, but eventually all things that are born will die. The soul never comes into birth, if the soul is never born, it can never die. Therefore our souls are eternal, like Krishna, so our souls true-most desire is actually to serve Krishna eternally, we just tend to not realize this. This is because of what the Vedas call Maya, or Krishna's illusionary energy. Our "reality" is pure Maya, there is no such thing is these chairs we are sitting on, or the keyboards we're typing on. This is explained in the very first verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam:
O my Lord, Sri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Sri Krishna because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmaji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Krishna, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.
So if the higher spiritual beings like the demigods are placed into illusion when compared to Krishna, our material bodies and material "universes" let alone one world are pure illusion. The only thing real is the soul and our relationship with Krishna. Now with that comes into play the role of creationism, man defiantly did not evolve from monkeys, because monkeys do not exist, just like humans do not exist. In the law of karma when you die you are either(depending on your karma of your past life) liberated from this material hellish life, or your soul is placed into another body, forcing you to live again in the seemingly endless cycle of births and deaths. It is explained in the Vedic scriptures that only souls in human bodies can attain Godhead (God back home to Krishna) so how can the theory be supported than monkeys somehow turned into humans. A monkey doesn't have the ability to understand Krishna, very few humans are ever able to understand Krishna, and serve Him properly. But fortunately Krishna is the most merciful, and will accept anyone who is truthful and pure in wanting to know Him.
In the true reality of things there is one reason and one reason only why we are here on this earth, because we fell away from Krishna and because of this we were forced to take birth in this material world. It is said that once one attains liberation, he will never fall away again, simply because after billions of births and deaths no soul would ever make that same mistake twice, and rather serves Krishna eternally in His abode. We're a lot more lucky than we realize, we took birth in human bodies this time around, if we don't utilize it properly know(trying to know Krishna) we are easily throw back into animal and insect bodies, taking countless births before we are able to another birth as a human. We are all from Krishna (but not Krishna Himself) and it is in our natural to want to be back with Him, that is the real lesson in creationism and evolution.
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:58 pm Posts: 1148 Location: Green Bay
Buggy wrote:
deathbyflannel wrote:
What emperical evidence would you cite to undermine the existence of God?
That's really not much of an argument. What sort of evidence do you have that an equal but opposite reality doesnt exist behind every mirror? Or what evidence might there be to disprove that my car is really made of jello until I or someone chooses to look at it, and then at that exact moment it turns back into a normal car removing any traces that it was ever jello.
It's just a poor way to try and prove something, by saying that because you cant disprove it, then it exists or is true. I know you didnt say that exactly, but it was very much implied in your comment.
I agree. I've noticed that when I inform people tha I don't believe in god, they usually respond with "why not?". As though I'm supposed to believe in god until I can prove otherwise. That's kind of a backwards way of looking at it...I'm supposed to believe in something until I can prove that it's not true?
_________________ When the last living thing Has died on account of us, How poetical it would be If Earth could say, In a voice floating up Perhaps From the floor Of the Grand Canyon, "It is done. People did not like it here.''
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:58 pm Posts: 1148 Location: Green Bay
godeatgod wrote:
No one can deny that evolution hasn't happened, and in fact it is happening constantly. When you're born you're not in the body of a middle aged person, or an elderly person, you're in the body of a baby. But through evolution our bodies change constantly, you get taller, grow old, etc. But that does not mean that you are not the same person because of all this evolution.
I don't see a link between aging and evolution. Sorry.
_________________ When the last living thing Has died on account of us, How poetical it would be If Earth could say, In a voice floating up Perhaps From the floor Of the Grand Canyon, "It is done. People did not like it here.''
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:51 pm Posts: 14534 Location: Mesa,AZ
I don't think it's a coincidince that every account of the creation we have follows the same order as the geologic record, assuming those accounts are somewhat literal.
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energystar wrote:
Buggy wrote:
deathbyflannel wrote:
What emperical evidence would you cite to undermine the existence of God?
That's really not much of an argument. What sort of evidence do you have that an equal but opposite reality doesnt exist behind every mirror? Or what evidence might there be to disprove that my car is really made of jello until I or someone chooses to look at it, and then at that exact moment it turns back into a normal car removing any traces that it was ever jello.
It's just a poor way to try and prove something, by saying that because you cant disprove it, then it exists or is true. I know you didnt say that exactly, but it was very much implied in your comment.
I agree. I've noticed that when I inform people tha I don't believe in god, they usually respond with "why not?". As though I'm supposed to believe in god until I can prove otherwise. That's kind of a backwards way of looking at it...I'm supposed to believe in something until I can prove that it's not true?
Awesome. You are a God to me. I mean,....a great guy. Yeah. But good points.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:05 am Posts: 8045 Location: Arlington Heights, IL Gender: Male
I am taking an Evolution class and a Religion class this semester, so it is very interesting to compare the two. Also, being brought up a Catholic i have always believed in creation, however, being a geology major it is impossible for me to deny evolution. I would say that have pretty much the same theory as just_b.
However, i remember hearing something along the lines that if .1% of any of the necessities for life were changed, then life would not be sustained. Its hard to believe that nature could get that percise on its own
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
I wonder if this is the kind of belief system that the Right is afraid kids will develop when allow hedonists to teach little Christian babies about evolution?
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
I don't think it's a coincidince that every account of the creation we have follows the same order as the geologic record, assuming those accounts are somewhat literal.
Can you elaborate?
Geology does not support a global flood, for example. I'm not sure geology supports a single thing in the genesis account. In fact, creationists often attack the geologic record.
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:22 am Posts: 21 Location: Au Canada
Quote:
I agree. I've noticed that when I inform people tha I don't believe in god, they usually respond with "why not?". As though I'm supposed to believe in god until I can prove otherwise. That's kind of a backwards way of looking at it...I'm supposed to believe in something until I can prove that it's not true?
Similiar to what ive experienced. In one of my classes this year, i sit next to a christian (very intense individual) and the way she acts or discuss' things in class relating to her view on her religion makes me have more dis-respect for the religion over all. I know she doesnt represent the "christian people" as a whole but, shes just so annoying. Its hard to seperate. She's so intense im afraid to mention that "her way" isnt the only way, etc:?
When you say, I dont have a faith, people think that your a pessemistic (sp?) person or something. Or that you are truly really doomed or severly depressed because you dont have faith in the general western "God". That pisses me off more then anything. Ive had to sit through a couple classes of that coming from my teacher.
(on topic)Evolution talk has always interested me. but i find it hard/difficult to fully understand. in my mind.
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