The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Bible Contradictions Resolved in a Multiverse

First, Invernessian didn’t say that. I did.

Second, because your statement includes “As far as I know,” it is an epistemic possibility, by definition. On the other hand, the “As far as I know” part says nothing about the actual truth of the statement “this is speculation based on assumptions.”

Genesis is not a manual on science. Even thought Young Creationists, make it out to be. Since I was a math major, took some physics courses and know some PhD physicists at Aragon National Laboratories - guess what? It’s easier for me, to back Old Earth and Big Bang. If I knew some PhD biologists, zoologists, etc. - guess what? I’m be more on board, as an evolutionist.

Now the conservative evangelical Wheaton College, did produce this textbook:

Let’s look at this article, shall we?

Let me quote a bit:

Many (perhaps even most) Christians around the world today believe that God used the big bang and processes of stellar evolution and gradual geological change over millions of years to make the world what it is today. Some of these Christians also believe that God used the process of neo-Darwinian evolution to bring different life-forms into existence. The former are called progressive creationists and the latter are called theistic evolutionists.

So what should I lean towards - progressive creationists or theistic evolutionists? That’s really what I’m agnostic about. Though I lean more towards the former.

This interesting newspaper article puts Genesis and science into perspective.

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Steve. What you quoted me as saying was not by me! I believe it was Lancia’s post. You should have known that I am not nearly as erudite as Lancia :slightly_smiling_face:

You should have also realized I could not have been the author since I don’t believe in tens of thousands of years, let alone “tens of millions”.

Apologise in writing, send me a few hundred bucks, and I’ll forgive your defamation! :yum:

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Good grief Randy - you were a math major ALSO? What haven’t you experienced personally, studied at the college level, or know someone authoritative as a friend in? I just am not worthy!!! :slight_smile:

Come now, Dave. You are an expert, in ALL things Trump and Republican. I can’t even scratch the surface. :rofl:

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As you know, I don’t believe death preceded the Fall of Adam and Eve, so I don’t believe that mankind gradually arose through the mechanism of “survival of the fittest.”

And regarding the apparent old age of the universe, let me quote Dr. Danny R. Faulkner (MS Physics, Clemson University; MA, PhD Astronomy, Indiana University; and he then taught at the University of South Carolina for 26 years), from his article, “Seeing Stars in a Young Universe”:

We need to recognize that God used many processes during Creation Week that are different from processes today. He didn’t make Adam instantaneously out of nothing, but instead formed him from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). God used a similar process to make the land and flying animals (Genesis 2:19). And he caused the plants to grow rapidly out of the ground on Day Three (Genesis 1:11–12). In other words, God rapidly and miraculously matured many things during Creation Week. It seems both logical and theologically consistent that, in a similar manner, God could have rapidly “matured” the universe, bringing the light from distant objects to the earth in a way similar to trees instantly sprouting and rising to full height.

In addition to creating the physical universe during Creation Week, God also created the laws that govern it. What if these laws were not in full effect until the end of that week, as we see when God created mature plants, land animals, and the first two humans?

Instead of bringing starlight to earth according to physical laws, God could have miraculously solved the light travel time problem on Day Four, before putting the laws that govern light travel into effect. After all, nearly everything about creation was miraculous.

I still think that everything that was made–that is, everything that is not God, e.g., angels, men, galaxies, animals–was made during the first Six Days of Creation Week.

Also, I believe that the first six days of Creation Week quite possibly prophetically anticipate six millennia from Creation to Second Coming, with the seventh day/millennium being the Messianic age of peace,

2 Peter 3:8
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

This idea is called the “Millennial day theory”:

The Millennial day theory, or the Sabbath millennium theory, is a theory in Christian eschatology in which the Second Coming of Christ will occur 6,000 years after the creation of mankind, followed by 1,000 years of peace and harmony.…The view takes the stance that each millennium is actually a day according to God (as found in Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8), and that eventually at the end of the 6,000 years since the creation, Jesus will return. It teaches that the 7th millennium is actually called the Sabbath Millennium, in which Jesus will ultimately set up his perfect kingdom and allow his followers to rest. The Sabbath Millennium is believed to be synonymous with the Millennial Reign of Christ that is found in Revelation 20:1-6.

Many Jews similarly believe the Millennial day theory:

According to classical Jewish sources, the Hebrew year 6000 (from sunset of 29 September 2239 until nightfall of 16 September 2240 on the Gregorian calendar) marks the latest time for the initiation of the Messianic Age. The Talmud,[4] Midrash, and the Kabbalistic work, the Zohar, state that the ‘deadline’ by which the Messiah must appear is 6,000 years from creation. According to tradition, the Hebrew calendar started at the time of Creation, placed at 3761 BCE. The current (2019/2020) Hebrew year is 5780.

The belief that the seventh millennium will correspond to the Messianic Age is founded upon a universalized application of the concept of Shabbat—the 7th day of the week—the sanctified ‘day of rest’.

Of course, there is certainly disagreement among young earth creationists (whether Christian or Jew) about the date of the Creation of the world; for example,

-The Byzantine calendar: 1 September 5509 BC

-The Hebrew calendar: 6 October 3761 BC

-Archbishop James Ussher: 22 October 4004 BC

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Scientists who are Christian, will be divided about Evolution, Old Earth, Young Earth, Big Bang, Seven Day Creation, etc. - until the end of time. To me, any position with science…as long as it acknowledges God as the creator, Christ as the redeemer, etc. - is NOT a show stopper. ONLY when the science becomes a DOGMA, is it this - in my book.

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It’s like this quote talked about at:

There’s also a modified view of John Sailhammer. In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Then at a particular time for whatever reason (perhaps the fall of Satan because he was in the garden) “the land” was covered in darkness because there was a thick cloud covering as it tells us in Job. We often see this in the Bible when God brings judgment on Israel He will come on His glory cloud and cover the heavens bringing darkness over the land. “The land” in the first five books of the Bible is most often a reference to the promised land of Israel. So, what you have in Genesis One is the Bible identifying the God who created everything with the God who prepares a good land for His people. It’s the land of Eden. This is where God makes a beautiful garden placing the man there, It goes like this:

In the beginning God created the heavens and earth (Universe, sun, moon, stars, plants, animals over billions of years)

“The Land” is an uninhabited wasteland with darkness over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God brooding over the waters in the land. It’s from this perspective that the events of the creation days unfold.

Light breaks through to the observer (Spirit) in the land

The foggy atmosphere is cleared as God separates the waters below from the waters above (clouds) making the sky.

The waters are gathered into oceans as the dry ground emerges in the land of Eden.

Fruit trees and seed bearing plants are formed in the holy land

The clouds break so that The sun moon and stars become visible to the observer (Spirit) in the holy land

God makes the tame plant eating animals to inhabit the land

God then makes man and will place him in a garden in the land of Eden.

On that score I might point you to an older post of mine over here…

Yeah, I kind of like this view. Makes more sense.

As a lifetime member, of the Theosophical Society…Chiefly for their extensive library collection…Well, I was browsing through their winter programs. And normally they offer some “exciting” esoteric philosophy programs. And also programs, in the Wisdom Tradition - contemplation and healing ways.

Then I noticed a new entry - Beekeeping 101. Since we talked here about evolution, I’m saving the beekeeping - as a backup course. I’ll try first for a wisdom tradition program or course.

In case that fails, I can always fall back on plan

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And I leave everyone, with this interesting article:

Well thanks for the lecture on your thoughts about “as far as I know” , I know we all appreciate it.

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Sorry Invernessian, what in God’s name was I thinking?

A few hundred $U.S. is like $20K Canadian, I think? Do you even use money up there, or is it still barter? lol

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But you do not really seem to appreciate it . . . as far as I know.

Epistemically speaking I do, as far as I know.

Well, since you know for sure what your feelings are, saying “as far as you know” about those feelings is as good as a metaphysical truth when it comes to your feelings, as far as I know. So thanks.

This is a forum bug. It has happened at least a hundred times on these boards. The nested quote function seems to be broken, as this frequently happens. You can, however, fix it after the fact via an edit.

To clarify further, quoting the wrong person isn’t a mistake. The software is bugged in certain situations when you quote someone who quoted another person.

That’s why I always say something like this - following the quote.

AAA to BBB.

Otherwise, we might have confusion - like this video illustrates! :crazy_face:

And just to recap. My view is God as the creator and Christ the redeemer. But Old Earth, Big Bang, Progressive Creationism, and Zombie Evolution (when Z-Hell (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) commences) - are my scientific positions. :crazy_face:

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So with Zombie Evolution…we go from Zombies from The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead…and morph into zombies, like those in the movies Get Out and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. But it’s still unknown, if these are Biblical zombies or Scientific zombies (i.e. science run AMOK). :crazy_face:

And here are the two leading positions, that go along with Big Bang and Old Earth - for normal species creation.


OK thanks Gabe!