Biblical timeline

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chambero

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TJ said:
chambero said:
To me, it comes across as somewhat arrogant as a human to be adamant that God just went "poof" and the world and everything in it existed just as it does now.  That is a feeble-minded attempt to explain something that has to be unimaginably complex.  I believe that natural selection/evolution is an incredibly complex and elegant mechanism that God used to create our world.  We don't begin to understand but a fraction of it.  There fact that it is so complex and "long-term" is proof to me that is divinely guided and not random.

Why couldn't an All-Mighty, All-Powerful God simply "speak" as the Bible claims & the world come into existence?  .   

God certainly could have, but there is a whole lot of evidence from many different angles that indicates that wasn't how he chose to do it, aside from the initial "beginning" of matter.
 

ELBEE

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Did you guys ever consider this whole thing could be one big eternal science project for God? I had those thoughts a lot when I was a child. Sometimes "child-like" Faith is the only answer.

The key to the whole thing is "OMNIPOTENCE"! That concept can't be grasped, but can be accepted!
 

chambero

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I suspect and believe its all (how it was done, its purpose, our purpose, etc) is way more wonderful and complex than our little brains can imagine or even try to put into words!
 

shortdawg

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If I had some of you in my Sunday School Class we could have some interesting discussions for sure.

What does Billy Graham and K-States kicker have in common ?
 

CJC

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coyote said:
I have a question, and since we talk a lot of genetics on this site, How did Adam and Eve populate the world with out getting defects?

I asked my wife a question close to this today. Why did God not start over when Eve took a bite out of the apple.
 

Belties R Us

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I know that the bible is not wrong on anything. I think the earth is around 2-5 thousand years old.
 

aj

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Billy Graham and K-States kicker can both make 50,000 people jump to their feet,throw their arms in the air, and yell JESUS CHRIST!
 

ELBEE

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Why did God not start over when Eve took a bite out of the apple.



:(  That's what I'd do if my little girl was bad. get rid of her and go get another one? ? ? ?  :'(
 

Dusty

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I have a problem when people pick and choose certain verses of the bible to quote and then use those verses as the reasons they do the things that they do.

I think the bible is to be interpreted as whole and then go from there.  There are a lot contradictory statements in the bible.
 

ELBEE

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Dusty said:
I have a problem when people pick and choose certain verses of the bible to quote and then use those verses as the reasons they do the things that they do.

I think the bible is to be interpreted as whole and then go from there.  There are a lot contradictory statements in the bible.


I think instead of contradictory, you ment paradox! Please look it up! ! !
 

chambero

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Billy Graham is one of those amazing people that doesn't come along very often.  I had a religous philosophy class in college as an elective.  Our professor had written a pretty famous book about him.  Graham's influence on people and this country is absolutely amazing - and from what I can tell was always done with the best of intentions - which is very unusual.

He was very close to every president until very recently and was always consulted and present when a decision was made to go to war - if I remember correctly from WWII right up to the first Gulf War.

I read something recently that indicated Mr. Graham is in very poor health and close to the end.  I think his wife recently died.  You would have a hard time finding a better example of a truly good man. 
 

Dusty

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ELBEE said:
Dusty said:
I have a problem when people pick and choose certain verses of the bible to quote and then use those verses as the reasons they do the things that they do.

I think the bible is to be interpreted as whole and then go from there.  There are a lot contradictory statements in the bible.


I think instead of contradictory, you ment paradox! Please look it up! ! !

So is it "eye for an eye" or forgive people???
 

TJ

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Dusty said:
ELBEE said:
Dusty said:
I have a problem when people pick and choose certain verses of the bible to quote and then use those verses as the reasons they do the things that they do.

I think the bible is to be interpreted as whole and then go from there.  There are a lot contradictory statements in the bible.


I think instead of contradictory, you ment paradox! Please look it up! ! !

So is it "eye for an eye" or forgive people???

Picking & choosing verses is indeed very wrong.  The whole Bible needs to be taken in context with the rest of it. The Bible itself even says that in 2 Timothy 2:15... "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."   "Correctly handling" means taking it all within context.  Waaaay too many take verses out of context! 

ELBEE is right, there are no contradictions... paradox is a much better word. 


"Eye for an eye" is addressed to a nation, more specifically... OT Isreal (Govt). 
   
"Forgive people" is what "individuals" are supposed to do. 

Even in the NT, Govt has the right to carry out punishment for crimes.  Romans 13:4... "For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer."      Taking the verse in context... "He" is actually referring to a ruler or to Govt.  "Bear the sword", sure sounds like capital punishment is OK to me.

Here is an example of a popular verse taken waaaay out of context to defend the opposite position...   People harp on Romans 12:9...""It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord."  And they claim that nobody, not individuals or the Govt should punish any wrongdoers & we should instead just leave it all up to the Lord.  Yes, individuals should never take the law into their own hands, although individuals have every right to defend themselves... for an individual revenge = NOT OK... for an individual defense = OK.   When it is a matter of revenge (after the fact), we as individuals should leave it up to God & "His servant" which is the Govt.  Just a few verses after Romans 12:9, in very the same Book of Romans, is Romans 13:4 (above).  Romans 13:4 clearly says that Govt can punish people because they can be considered God's "agent of wrath to bring punishment to the wrongdoer."  So it is not at all wrong for the Govt to punish a criminal.   

And the Book of Romans was written in a time period when the Roman Govt was corrupt & horrible.  Christians are to "respect Govt", even Govt that they disagree with strongly.   That doesn't mean that they can't speak out against it though.

Again, there are no contradictions in the Bible, it's all about context. 
 

GONEWEST

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As far as an "eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" vs. forgiveness,  you have a historical account of Old Testament times Hebrew law vs. the New Testament teachings of Christ. No contradiction. But the mere that there are perceived contradictions, to me, proves the existence of evil in the world. The function of evil is not to "tempt" but to deceive.

As far as a literal time line, I think Chambero, as usual, has some good points. The thing I know for certain is that I don't know all there is to know. The complexity and order to life and the physical universe can only be rationally explained by a Creator. By dating the earth or life on it by the scientific standards that our minds can understand is to limit the power and ability of the Creator. However, the timetable of 7 days could be a human interpretation of the creation.

Also some scientist and geologists have pointed out that the earth could have been easily shaped as it is today in the amount of time indicated by a strict "biblical" time line.For instance,  I have attached a picture of what it known as the "Little Grand Canyon", a state park in GA. It's a very, very big hole. It is very similar to the Grand Canyon's sandstone geology. In the late 1860's this was the flat land of a cotton plantation. It has eroded this much in 150 years. And some scientists believe the Grand Canyon was formed in one great event, like the flood for instance. As a side note, isn't it ironic how many cultures all over the world have "the flood" in their history of  the world?  Also Chambero, aren't there geological indications in a river bed in TX that would indicate Dinosaurs and humans living at the same time?  Topics like this are fun to discuss, but the problem I have with all the time and effort spent on them is that these kind of discussions take away from the bigger, more important idea that we are a small part of a universe that was made by a Creator that is beyond our imagination in all areas, knowledge, power, and love.



 

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j3cattleco

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GONEWEST said:
the problem I have with all the time and effort spent on them is that these kind of discussions take away from the bigger, more important idea that we are a small part of a universe that was made by a Creator that is beyond our imagination in all areas, knowledge, power, and love.

I also happen to believe in an extremely literal interpretation of the Bible.  But I agree mostly with what GONEWEST stated above.  I am not going to claim to know it all, but the problem with most discussions about Theistic Evolution or other Apologetic debates is we loose sight of the main points of the gospel.  The total depravity of man, the need for an atonement, and the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as that atonement. 
 

chambero

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GONEWEST said:
Also some scientist and geologists have pointed out that the earth could have been easily shaped as it is today in the amount of time indicated by a strict "biblical" time line.For instance,  I have attached a picture of what it known as the "Little Grand Canyon", a state park in GA. It's a very, very big hole. It is very similar to the Grand Canyon's sandstone geology. In the late 1860's this was the flat land of a cotton plantation. It has eroded this much in 150 years. And some scientists believe the Grand Canyon was formed in one great event, like the flood for instance. As a side note, isn't it ironic how many cultures all over the world have "the flood" in their history of  the world?  Also Chambero, aren't there geological indications in a river bed in TX that would indicate Dinosaurs and humans living at the same time?  Topics like this are fun to discuss, but the problem I have with all the time and effort spent on them is that these kind of discussions take away from the bigger, more important idea that we are a small part of a universe that was made by a Creator that is beyond our imagination in all areas, knowledge, power, and love.

The dinosaur footprints you are talking about are near Glen Rose.  And the answer is no - there are no human footprints associated with the rock formations those footprints are in.  There is a really weird religous group with a "compound" close by that purports that and if you saw it, I assure you would not let your children get close to what amounts to a cult compound. 

Erosion can and frequently does happen very quickly in soils and very soft, weathered rock near the surface.  Look at how much soil we lost during the depression and the subsequent deposits where the stuff landed.  But that is a whole different scale than the major river canyons in the world.  Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?  It's scale is overwhelming.  I really would call it a religous experience to be standing at the edge of it and thinking of your personal significance in this world.  Seriously, pull up the Grand Canyon on Google Earth and then look at the size of the area in Georgia.  And the rocks/soils at the Georgia site aren't at all like most of the rock formations exposed in the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon gives you a peak into the "guts" of the earth - very old igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Go talk to an oilman about the age of oil and natural gas deposits.  The vast majority are real deep and real old - predating the dinosaurs.  The greatest mass extinction on earth didn't occur when the dinosaurs disappeared - it occurred about 286 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period when almost everything (plants, fishes, amphibians, etc) disappeared.

One of my favorite bits of geologic/biological trivia - Did you know that grass is a relatively modern development.  Grass didn't exist when the dinosaurs did - vegetation was mostly ferns and coniferous trees.  Grass developed well afterwards. 
 

aj

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Gods still up there laughing, so he has to be alive. Who says he can't take a dirty joke. Willie Nelson chapter 11 proverbs Way lon 19.Oh lord forgive me. ;D
 
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