and has been for a decade now, so why the fuck would any twenty-something college student living in a first-world country NOT believe in evolution? I just don't get it.
*sigh* I debated with myself about posting about this, because I generally am a cream-puff and avoid conflict and confrontation as much as possible, but this has really been bugging me. I don't want to get into a huge argument, I just wanted to express my frustration with an opinion I can't comprehend. I certainly don't want to offend anyone, but you can't please everyone all the time, either. YMMV
Zelda, like flat-out not believing. "I'm a Christian, and I believe in the Bible and Adam and Eve." While studying a hard science in college. It just doesn't compute for me.
I truly think the two viewpoints can be compatible in some ways.
I'm a Christian (perhaps not 100% fundamentalist, but I am one) and I do believe, to a certain extent, that evolution is a reality. I mean, the evidence that things and creatures change over time is rather obvious. All one has to do is look at average heights and weights for men and women as compared to, say, Roman times. However, that doesn't mean that I need to buy that all things have changed in the ways supposed by some scientists. For instance, I still believe that God created the initial creatures and organisms that have been evolving, and I don't believe that we all somehow came to be from a general primordial soup in some distant past.
Anyway, just my two cents, and I respect your right to rant in reply :-) I certainly do at times, at my place, and I don't expect every reader to agree with me 100%, so why wouldn't I cut you the same slack, being as I'm a guest here? :-)
Chill. Most of the conflict comes in when people are incapable of understanding that science and religion are not only not incompatible, but fully integrated.
What hard science are you studying? What on earth makes you think the "Laws of nature" just occurred?
The part that confuses me, is that people can think that some supreme being willed everything into existence. It's ridiculous!
Far less ridiculous, though, by orders of magnitude, than believing it all showed up by itself, unbidden.
Science- real science, not the crap Algore sells- is the window into the mind of the Creator.
Og, I agree with you. And *I* am not studying a hard science, the person I'm referring to is. I don't think science and religion/God are incompatible at all. The wonders of the universe and our planet make it harder for me to disbelieve in a Creator, and the more I learn (in my own pitiful way) about how things work, the more I believe in God. I just don't like organized religion, ANY organized religion. And I think treating the Bible as a historical document is foolish and naive.
I believe the bible is an amazing historical document, in it's original form... but unfortunately it has been translated and interpreted by people with agendas and well as true historian, thou honestly many of them likely had an agenda also.
I think that Genesis is an amazing explanation of the beginning of everything written THOUSANDS of years before modern science and roughly follows how one might explain the Big Bang theory to a child. If one looks at is as poetry not a text book there is beauty and truth in there.
"@ Og, I guess it depends on what you think Supreme implies. :-) i.e. How big is God?"
By definition, a supreme being, the mentality of that supreme being, and the motivations of that supreme being will always be far beyond our comprehension. To attempt to attach any definition or attributes to a supreme being is always only ever an attempt to limit, and a meaningless game.
Christina: make sure that you understand that the things you disdain are all the actions of individuals acting (improperly) in the name of their creed. THe creed itself is not the problem, it is always the people who are the problem. And the question about "what hard science are you studying" was directed at the person to whom you referred, sorry if I din't make that adequately clear.
15 comments:
I'm a fifty-something college grad and I don't believe in evolution.
*sigh*
I debated with myself about posting about this, because I generally am a cream-puff and avoid conflict and confrontation as much as possible, but this has really been bugging me. I don't want to get into a huge argument, I just wanted to express my frustration with an opinion I can't comprehend. I certainly don't want to offend anyone, but you can't please everyone all the time, either.
YMMV
Like flat out not believe in it, or do they just question some of the details and/or the dogmatic nature of what passes for instruction?
Zelda, like flat-out not believing. "I'm a Christian, and I believe in the Bible and Adam and Eve." While studying a hard science in college. It just doesn't compute for me.
People still believe in gun control so.....
I truly think the two viewpoints can be compatible in some ways.
I'm a Christian (perhaps not 100% fundamentalist, but I am one) and I do believe, to a certain extent, that evolution is a reality. I mean, the evidence that things and creatures change over time is rather obvious. All one has to do is look at average heights and weights for men and women as compared to, say, Roman times. However, that doesn't mean that I need to buy that all things have changed in the ways supposed by some scientists. For instance, I still believe that God created the initial creatures and organisms that have been evolving, and I don't believe that we all somehow came to be from a general primordial soup in some distant past.
Anyway, just my two cents, and I respect your right to rant in reply :-) I certainly do at times, at my place, and I don't expect every reader to agree with me 100%, so why wouldn't I cut you the same slack, being as I'm a guest here? :-)
Because pickles don't really come from cucumbers.
Chill. Most of the conflict comes in when people are incapable of understanding that science and religion are not only not incompatible, but fully integrated.
What hard science are you studying? What on earth makes you think the "Laws of nature" just occurred?
The part that confuses me, is that people can think that some supreme being willed everything into existence. It's ridiculous!
Far less ridiculous, though, by orders of magnitude, than believing it all showed up by itself, unbidden.
Science- real science, not the crap Algore sells- is the window into the mind of the Creator.
I've got to agree with Og... realize there ALWAYS going to be people that take the opposite view for any number of reasons...
@ Og, I guess it depends on what you think Supreme implies. :-) i.e. How big is God?
Og, I agree with you. And *I* am not studying a hard science, the person I'm referring to is.
I don't think science and religion/God are incompatible at all. The wonders of the universe and our planet make it harder for me to disbelieve in a Creator, and the more I learn (in my own pitiful way) about how things work, the more I believe in God. I just don't like organized religion, ANY organized religion. And I think treating the Bible as a historical document is foolish and naive.
Christina - Bravo! You've managed to sum up my thoughts on religion in a marvelously succinct manner in the above comment.
I have to disagree with you slightly Christina...
I believe the bible is an amazing historical document, in it's original form... but unfortunately it has been translated and interpreted by people with agendas and well as true historian, thou honestly many of them likely had an agenda also.
I think that Genesis is an amazing explanation of the beginning of everything written THOUSANDS of years before modern science and roughly follows how one might explain the Big Bang theory to a child. If one looks at is as poetry not a text book there is beauty and truth in there.
OK that's my soap box...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110106/ts_nm/us_pope_bigbang
evidently the Catholic church agree with you too Christina
B
"@ Og, I guess it depends on what you think Supreme implies. :-) i.e. How big is God?"
By definition, a supreme being, the mentality of that supreme being, and the motivations of that supreme being will always be far beyond our comprehension. To attempt to attach any definition or attributes to a supreme being is always only ever an attempt to limit, and a meaningless game.
Christina: make sure that you understand that the things you disdain are all the actions of individuals acting (improperly) in the name of their creed. THe creed itself is not the problem, it is always the people who are the problem. And the question about "what hard science are you studying" was directed at the person to whom you referred, sorry if I din't make that adequately clear.
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