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FRiend, the Hebrew word is "Etz" as in "Etz Chaim", the Tree of Life. That's why, if you look up all the various Biblical translations, only seven, including the old King James render it "stock". All the rest, including the new King James Version translate Etz as "tree" (22 translations), "piece of wood" (8), "wood" (6), or some variation such as "sacred pole" or "wooden idol" (6).

Thanks, I'll remember that. My KJV threw me a curve.

My understanding of how the Materialist thinks comes from when I used to believe in evolution and all but worshipped at Carl Sagan's feet. I love astronomy.

So for another analogy: There are two different ways to study the stars. The Christian way and the evolutionist way. Outwardly, the two methods look exactly the same.

The Carl Sagan way, the evolutionists way is worship/religion but not of God. The Christian way is ALSO worship/religion.

DungeonMaster: "I love astronomy."

So do I, but sadly my talents for mathematics are much more at the "business economics" level than rocket science.
The one serious course in astronomy I took was enough to convince me I didn't really want to dig deeper... ;-)

DungeonMaster: "The Carl Sagan way, the evolutionists way is worship/religion but not of God.
The Christian way is ALSO worship/religion."

Most Christian denominations, including mine, teach that God is the creator of all natural-science, and so any study of such matters as evolution, or even origins of life, are really studies of God's plan, processes and creative actions.

People who deny God by default elevate something else into His place -- very often just themselves or their political ideology or, on occasion, the disciplines & assumptions of natural science.
Whatever, these are all false gods and help distinguish God's people from all others.