Our Place in the Universe

Genetics is not the only field that shows clear indications of how evolution is an integral part of nature. However, beliefs are a powerful thing. I suspect that creationism (now ID) is going to be a conviction for some for the foreseeable future.

 

You and I should hang it up, Daniel; conventional christian logic would have Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Ghengis Khan, Vlad the Impaler, Dick Cheney and even Geraldo Rivera welcomed and embraced by their god for simply professing belief in him. All the reason in the universe just rolls off mindsets that warped.

 

Not simply belief... even the demons believe and they tremble (James 2:19).

 

Imaginary friends, phantom voices, irrational thought processes, failure to discern reality....it has all the signs of mental illness.

 

When you take the MEANING literally, but not the words, you are interpreting. YOU are deciding when the WORDS are literally true, and when there's a deeper meaning which the text conveys beyond the literal meanings of the words. As you say, parables were commonly used then, as they still are now, and have been as long as there's been language. Parables are an example of non-literal speech.

That's what allegory is. So, why couldn't Genesis be parables also? Or any other part of the Bible?

 

Oh, Daniel, it's all so simple! The parts you agree with are meant to be taken literally, and the parts you don't agree with are just a metaphor for something else.

 

^ Only if you're a fundamentalist. Otherwise it's just story-telling.

 

OK, so if I understand your question correctly, how do we know when the Bible is speaking to us allegorically? Well it appears that the Bible tell us so. In most of the cases in the NT, it actually uses the word “parable” right in the text.
A couple of examples:
Luke 6:39 “He told them a parable”
Luke 8:9 “As a large group was gathering, and people where flocking to Him from every town, He said in a parable…”
Luke 12:16 “Then He told them a parable”
The others, when taken in context it is understandable what is being conveyed are parables. The OT was a little different but a few cases used the word “parable”, a few others used the words “riddle” or “song”. Again, reading in context with the rest of the passages it seemed apparent that is what was being conveyed.


So the long and short of it is that the Bible tells us so. Therefore since Genesis didn’t start out with, “In the beginning there was a parable”, I am taking it to be a literal story of what happened.
I do want to thank you for pushing me to dig deeper into God’s word, it is always a blessing.


P.s. I did come across this passage (Luke 8:9) – [Why Jesus used parables] –
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’”
This reinforces what I have heard before; that non-believers, with a hard heart, are simply not going to understand. A person has got be right with the Author before they will be able to understand it.

 

:focus:

 

I see this, and like many others am convicted simply could not have "just happened" randomly...some kind of intelligence had to have started it.

Hope it goes back to topic.

 

But where did the 'some kind of intelligence' come from?

 

^ nothing of course.

 

No, no, no. It's turtles, all the way down.

 

This is why I'm an Agnostic.

Ask a religious person what created the Universe. They'll say "God." Then ask them how God got there, and they'll either say "I don't know" (correct answer) or "He was always there." Wrong answer.

Ask an Atheist what created the Universe. They'll say "Nothing" or "The Big Bang." Ask how the Universe was created, or what put the thing that became The Big Bang there and they'll say "I don't know" (correct answer). Although I have heard it said the thing that became The Big Bang was either always there, or it just sort of poofed into existence. Wrong answers.

Therefore, I just cut to the chase and just say "I don't know."

 

^ I don't know all the answers, either - nobody does.

Assumptions, faith, belief....call it what you will, many people make conclusions on things there is no concrete proof (yet.)

 

That's why I'm not just an Agnostic - I'm a Fundamentalist Agnostic: "I don't know, and you don't either" is my motto.

 

I know.

 

It would be better to go ... :focus:

 

There is currently a pastor being held in Iran for conversion from Islam. He has been sentence to death for converting from Islam to Christianity. Please pray for him and his family.