Here’s what I don’t get about Christians (I’m one of a small bunch).
Many times throughout the Bible the concept of “A Thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years” to God. How is it we as Christians are forced into believing the beginning of time is fixed with statements such as this.
If the Heavens and Earth were created in 6 days, yet the Bible clearly states that time is relative...how are we so stuck on this point? Wouldn’t the most correct answer seem to be that God created the Heavens and earth in a time period in which time didn’t yet exist as we know it?
Everything else seems to fall in place with this in mind, right?
its 3 am...my toddler woke me up... Hopefully my thinking isn’t too fragmented.
The Bible does not say that time is relative in a general sense. In 2 Peter 3:8, in speaking of Jesus’ second coming, Peter is illustrating that what we consider “slow” is not slow to the Lord. The Lord is not bound by time; He is outside of time. BUT, He created time and put us in it—in the beginning.
Genesis is a literal account of the creation, and when the Lord says it was evening and morning the first day, etc., He means A DAY, a literal day, as we understand a day. That’s not allegory.
God is an infinite Being, Who is unimaginably powerful. A Being Who IS ABLE to create the world, the stars, the universe and all that is in them—Yes, He’s more than able to do it in six days.
I believe the christian bible was inspired by God, but recorded and translated with the fallible hand of man.
I’ve heard many say that God would not allow his word to be mis-recorded or mis-represented. If that were so, we would not need all the different versions/translations of the texts, to include the (laughable) new “Politically Correct” version.
Bottom line: I believe the bible was inspired by God and originally written so as to be understood by the (relatively speaking) primitive peoples of the age and that over time, (even if with all good intention) has been “translated” to the point where bits and pieces my have (ahem) “drifted” from the original intent. That’s not God, that’s *Man*.
Regardless, no one, not even the great Bill Nye or the smartest freeper can understand God until God grants Man that level of understanding and the ability to comprehend fully. In the meantime, I won’t fret if someone takes the Genesis creation account literally and I won’t fret if they take it figuratively. Why should I care how long it took? The point is that God created all and/or caused all to be created — however you want to look at it. God enjoys all the leeway he wishes to get his points across.
As far as I am concerned, Evolution does not preclude a creator and Creationism/ID does not preclude evolution. Humans trying to make sense of either is all too often the height of folly, but can make for interesting conversation if it can be kept civil. Unfortunately, far too many people are too heavily emotionally invested in the argument on both sides (whether they can admit it or not).
Anyway, that’s my $.02 from the peanut gallery.