[cogitator]

You lost all credibility when you believe a theologian over God's Word. What does it mean to you to "have faith"? The Word clearly said "Thinking themselves wise, they became fools!" His ways are not our ways. They are without excuse. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. There are hundreds of examples of God being wiser and different in his reasoning than man. Why do we always think we can figure Him out? Just trust Him!

This isn't worthy of dispute, but... God's Word as we now have it in the Bible has been translated, re-translated, rewritten, recopied, and reinterpreted many times. So to really get a good sense of the meaning of God's Word, particularly regarding such problematic and difficult sections as Genesis, one must study it. Since I am not a theologian, my level of study is inadequate to the level of analysis that an accurate study of Genesis (and the Bible overall) requires. By consulting these sources in addition to my own effort at understanding, I've been able to achieve a reasonable congruency between the natural revelation -- which is what we see and what we learn about nature -- and the special revelation, which is God's Word in the Bible.

My original reply here was meant to underscore that there is no one "answer" or one fully-agreed to interpretation of the entire Bible. In my denominational affiliation, adherence to the fundamentalist literal interpretation is not required or preferred. And that's why I am not a fundamentalist.

[chuckles]

.....God's Word as we now have it in the Bible has been translated, re-translated, rewritten, recopied, and reinterpreted many times. So to really get a good sense of the meaning of God's Word, particularly regarding such problematic and difficult sections as Genesis, one must study it. Since I am not a theologian, my level of study is inadequate to the level of analysis that an accurate study of Genesis (and the Bible overall) requires...

Well, I have studied Genesis for 11 months(just that one book) and still haven't gone to the depths that are revealed there, but I can tell you that Jesus would have revealed any errors to His people had there been any. Jesus said "I would have told you had it not been so" concerning His building of mansions so we could be with Him. He did not come to fool us, decieve us, or keep us in the dark. The Dead Sea Scrolls proved that over thousands of years of re-writing and translations, the Bible was virtually unchanged. If you ever read about the rituals used in copying the Bible, you might have more faith in the product we now have. One letter wrong and the whole page was discarded. I have trouble with some of the newer versions, but we can always go back to the earlier more accurate ones.

The part about theologians is serious, however. Satan has entered out pulpits from seminary schools. You can find in most seminaries, teaching of every liberal stipe imaginable. Ever hear of "Rev. Spong"? Just because you have a PHD behind your name doesn't mean diddly to me.

Believe like you want to believe, but I'll take the teachings of God over theologians. I fear, however that questioning what God plainly said and calling it false is blasphemy and will be delt with harshly.