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To: metmom
"This is what the Catholic Online Bible has in it."

That is not incompatible whit what I have said or quoted:

"We are told that God formed the man of dust from the ground. There is here something at once humbling and consoling. Something humbling because we are told: You are not God, you did not make yourself, and you do not rule the universe; you are limited. You are a being destined for death, as are all things living; you are only earth. But something consoling too, because we are also told: The human being is not a demon or an evil spirit, as it might occasionally appear. The human being has not been formed from negative forces, but has been fashioned from God's good earth. Behind this glimmers something deeper yet, for we are told that all human beings are earth. Despite every distinction that culture and history have brought about, it is still true that we are, in the last resort, the same. The medieval notion characterized in the dance of death that arose during the horrible experience of the black plague, which threatened everyone at the time, was in fact already expressed in this account: Emperor and beggar, master and slave are all ultimately one and the same person, taken from the same earth and destined to return to the same earth. Throughout all the highs and lows of history the human being stays the same -- earth, formed from earth, and destined to return to it.

But let us look a little closer, because here, too, the progress of thought in the last two decades helps us to grasp anew the inner unity of creation and evolution and of faith and reason. It was a particular characteristic of the 19th century to appreciate the historicity of all things and the fact that they came into existence. It perceived that things that we used to consider as unchanging and immutable were the product of a long process of becoming. This was true not only in the realm of the human but also in that of nature. It became evident that the universe was not something like a huge box into which everything was put in a finished state, but that it was comparable instead to a living, growing tree that gradually lifts its branches higher and higher to the sky. This common view was and is frequently interpreted in bizarre fashion, but as research advances it is becoming clearer how it is to be correctly understood.

Cardinal Ratzinger

2,229 posted on 12/14/2009 11:42:07 AM PST by Natural Law
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To: Natural Law; RoadGumby
RG:"And Natural, you have yet to answer when your Lemur-like ancestors evolved their immortal souls."

NL: At the moment in the process God selected one and called him ADAM and endowed him with a soul, reason, and conscience. No apologies needed or offered.

That is not incompatible whit what I have said or quoted:

It sure is incompatible with what you said earlier. You said that God selected one (lemur like ancestor) and endowed him with a soul, reason, and conscience.

There are only two possibilities. You are wrong or the Bible is.

Which one is it?

2,234 posted on 12/14/2009 11:46:02 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Natural Law
It perceived that things that we used to consider as unchanging and immutable were the product of a long process of becoming. This was true not only in the realm of the human but also in that of nature. It became evident that the universe was not something like a huge box into which everything was put in a finished state, but that it was comparable instead to a living, growing tree that gradually lifts its branches higher and higher to the sky. This common view was and is frequently interpreted in bizarre fashion, but as research advances it is becoming clearer how it is to be correctly understood. Beautifully stated by our Holy Father.
2,235 posted on 12/14/2009 11:48:11 AM PST by DGray
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