Do you believe in evolution?

Status
Not open for further replies.
rossum said:
“Love others as you love yourself.” – Bhadramayakaravyakarana sutra, 91.
Click to expand...
We would say that love requires suffering. “Compassion” - sharing the suffering of the loved one. In fact, love without suffering is missing something. We are willing to sacrifice (suffer) our own interests for the sake of the loved one.
 
Do you treat other historical texts that have less documentary support the same way? Hannibal crossed the alps by elephant? The way Julius Caesar died, or the way Nero died? Or the life of Socrates? You don’t accept any of those?
 
You’re rejecting the New Testament. I’m looking for your standards and what kind of consistency you have in evaluating such things.
 
There seems to be some evidence for microevolution but I don’t believe in macroevolution. I favor creationism such that God first created out of nothing the basic material of the physical universe and over time, whether that be long or short, fashioned or formed together out of this basic material more or less by supernatural creative activity all the various creatures of the heavens, the earth, and seas as we more or less see it now. Analogous to God’s creation and formation of the heavens, the earth, the seas and all that is in them is a builder building a house. The builder first gathers the material/s for the house; then lays the foundation, then the first floor, then the walls and roof, the external siding and so on.
 
Last edited:
Four authors, (more beyond the Gospels) writing of events with mutiple details, in different literary styles for the purpose of communicating documentary reports and interpretations of those events. You sweep them all into the category of fiction. Again, I don’t see your standard here. You see “nothing more” than fiction to documents that have historical accuracy on many events and explain the existence of Church communities that can be traced back to the very time of the writing of those texts. They were all deceived, but you are not?
 
First one, within 30 years of the events described. You couldn’t remember clearly major events in your own life from that length of time? We have 4 parallel accounts of the same events, with people willing to die for the truth of the testimony and with church communities created amidst persecution to preserve and share those same accounts.
 
Noose001 said:
The point was, someone tried to exaggerate by saying God ordered the killing of unborn children which is not the case.
Click to expand...
God ordered the killing of the married (non-virgin) women. How many women? Let’s do a rough estimate. We know there were 32,000 female virgins, most of whom would have been unmarried children, say 30,000 girl children. That means about 30,000 dead male children in the pile of bodies. A total of 60,000 children.

A newly married wife will not have any children. A long married wife will have, say, ten children – no contraception and a high infant mortality rate. That gives an average of five children per mother. 60,000 children / 5 children per mother = 12,000 mothers in the pile of bodies with their sons.

Given 12,000 or so married women, some of them are going to be pregnant. Assume they are aged between 15 and 65. Allow menopause at 50, so only 35/50 of them are fertile: 12,000 x 35 / 50 = 8,400 fertile women. Assume one pregnancy every two years (24 months), that is 8,400 x 9 / 24, giving just over 3,000 pregnant women in the heap of corpses. Some will have been carrying twins, but the numbers are approximate enough that the added deaths from twin pregnancies will not change the order of magnitude of the calculations.

That is why I say that God ordered the killing of pregnant women, because pregnant women were included in the thousands of married women God ordered to be killed.
 
They didn’t have enough accuracy to record the miracles, teaching, trial, crucifixion, resurrection, His being seen by 500 afterwards and His message?
As stated, you do not use the same standard towards other historical events that have far less testimonial support.
 
Noose001 said:
Why would fictional stories mention real places and real practices and real timelines?
Click to expand...
You haven’t read War and Peace, have you. A lot of real places: Moscow, Borodino. A lot of real timelines: Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.

Homer mentions Troy, a real city. Homer also mentions the Greek gods. Do you not bother to think through your arguments before posting them?
 
Last edited:
Not after, during or rather inspired by God to reflect the details as if ‘current’. The idea of after is misplaced.
 
Evidence of different testimonies and that they didn’t care about making them match, which would be the normal way a forgery would work.
If all four were exactly the same, you’d like that better?
 
rossum said:
God ordered the killing of the married (non-virgin) women. How many women? Let’s do a rough estimate. We know there were 32,000 female virgins, most of whom would have been unmarried children, say 30,000 girl children. That means about 30,000 dead male children in the pile of bodies. A total of 60,000 children.

A newly married wife will not have any children. A long married wife will have, say, ten children – no contraception and a high infant mortality rate. That gives an average of five children per mother. 60,000 children / 5 children per mother = 12,000 mothers in the pile of bodies with their sons.
Click to expand...
You can put the analysis fine but saying that God ordered the murder of unborn babies will always be wrong because He did not. That’s what i was pointing out.
 
rossum said:
You haven’t read War and Peace, have you. A lot of real places: Moscow, Borodino. A lot of real timelines: Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.

Homer mentions Troy, a real city. Homer also mentions the Greek gods. Do you not bother to think through your arguments before posting them?
Click to expand...
If a fictional story mentions real places, real practices and real timelines, many people in those places during those periods will always confirm as witnesses and believe what is said to come later hence Christianity.

And it is more credible especially when it is said before it happens, with real timelines and real places. all you have to do is wait and see if it is true.

That’s the difference between Buddhism, other faiths and Christianity.
 
Bill_B_NY said:
We have 4 parallel accounts of the same events
Click to expand...
We have only two accounts of the birth of Jesus, neither of them from eye-witnesses. The two accounts are inconsistent, as was pointed out by Schuerer in 1895. It is reasonably obvious that these stories were pious fictions, written to make it appear that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as the prophecies required.
 
Why? How did you come to the conclusion that they were written after the events?
When do you think the last book (revelation) was written?
 
Noose001 said:
You can put the analysis fine but saying that God ordered the murder of unborn babies will always be wrong because He did not. That’s what i was pointing out.
Click to expand...
Your God is not omniscient then. I know more than your God because I know that killing a pregnant woman will also kill her unborn child(ren). Why do you worship a God who knows even less than I do?
 
rossum said:
The two accounts are inconsistent, as was pointed out by Schuerer in 1895
Click to expand...
1800 years later you think he noticed something that they didn’t notice in the 1st century? Why not correct the pious fictions back then, if it’s all a fraud?
Mary, the mother of the Lord, was an eyewitness. She lived after the death and ascension of Jesus. You think she didn’t tell anyone the story?
 
rossum said:
Your God is not omniscient then. I know more than your God because I know that killing a pregnant woman will also kill her unborn child(ren). Why do you worship a God who knows even less than I do?
Click to expand...
Not true. You think you know but you don’t.
Sin and death is the consequence of man from the beginning to end. That’s what the bible teaches.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top