According to Waldo Jaquith, 24% of Americans "don't know their ass from their elbow."
Why? Well, it's because 24% of Americans in a recent gallup poll believe in both creationism and evolution. Now, to Waldo, this apparently makes no sense.
To me, it does...because I'm a part of that 24%.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and force my religious beliefs upon you. However, I do believe that God created the universe. I also believe that The Bible is not interpreted in the proper context. I believe that some things are to be taken as "the word", while others should be interpreted as a lesson, or a guideline. Did God create the universe in 6 days? Well, maybe he did. Or maybe he didn't. That would explain the aging of the planet, dinosaurs, and other scientific findings.
Also, isn't it taught that, to God, a million years is but a second to him? Given that logic, how many years are in 6 of God's days?
Think about it...using that math alone, that means that God created the universe in 518,400,000,000 Earth years, then rested for 86,400,000,000 years.
Now, I'm not saying that this is true and that's how things are. You are open to your own interpretation of how the universe was created. However, I think it is entirely plausible that God could have very well created the universe, and allowed for evolution.
God knew that when he created human beings, they would be very curious in nature. So it makes sense that he would give us something to be curious about (dinosaurs, fossils, etc...)
I have other beliefs on this, as well. However, I'm just espousing my counterpoint to Waldo, who believes that I, and many other Americans, simply don't know our asses from our elbows.
I simply think that those who make such comments have closed minds to other theories or might be uncomfortable and lack confidence in their own beliefs. Then again, maybe they don't want to believe anything else. I guess they are entitled to that, too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
So God created dinosaurs to confuse humans and ultimately create yet one more thing for people to argue about?
Did he just skip the part where the dinosaurs actually lived and just bury bones around the planet for us to search for?
No, I'm believe dinosaurs and mammoths and all the other prehistoric animals that went extinct existed. However, if God is all-knowing, he would know we would be curious and try to figure these things out.
I never said my theories were perfect, lol. However, I do believe in the whole point, as it makes sense to me.
The details, well, that's for God to explain to me should I get the opportunity to meet Him.
I don't mean the following as a dig toward you personally, but I find the suggestion that anything too complex to easily understand or explain must be credited to, or is somehow proof of God's creation, to frankly be intellectually lazy.
You seem to be riding a fine line in between commiting to either idea. And perhaps that's Waldo's point entirely. I should probably go read his post now. :)
I can understand why you would think that way, but it's not being "intellectually lazy". Hell, I've read the Bible, parts of the Koran, Buddhist and Hindu teachings, and many other texts on religious beliefs to come to this conclusion.
I do have my ideas on the details, but what I'm saying is that I can't say "I am right" on what the details are because I don't have the capacity to prove something that only God can prove, you know?
It's not being intellectually lazy to say "hey, I have my beliefs, but there is only being that can say 'this is how it is' without a shadow of a doubt, and I'm not it."
As I said, I do have more detailed beliefs, but I'm not going to preach them as gospel. Also, I would be here forever discussing them.
However, I do believe that there are plenty of things too complex for humans to understand. That's part of my belief in God. That doesn't mean I don't think about these things, or try to figure them out...it just means that I know that I am like every other human, and I am limited in my ability to comprehend these things in their full nature.
Another thing that leads me to believe in God's existence is the fact that we only use 10 percent of our brains. We were created in God's image (as it states in the Bible), but we lack God's omnipotent power. Maybe we'd be closer to God-like if we were able to use 100% of our brains.
Just a thought, these are the types of things I ponder at night until I fall asleep, lol.
Very well. What I truely appreciate about the case you're putting forward is that you so clearly state it as your belief.
You clearly have studied various religious texts. But in the end, these are all still based upon faith as well. How much have you looked into the natural world from the perspective of the scientific method?
Also the idea of being 'intellectually lazy' again was not directed at you, but those that would look at something like the human eye and just assume that this marvel is so perfect and magnificently specialized that there is no way it could have evolved. To me it seems that an evolutionary explaination makes it even more perfect and magnificent.
I've read a lot on evolution, Darwinism, and other scientific text, too. However, I guess part of what leads me to believe that there is a higher power are two things.
1) No scientific text can create a true "beginning" to the universe. Eternity, in my own mind, is a very hard concept to grasp and attempt to physically imagine (which goes back to things beyond human comprehension). While I believe that the universe may be eternal...it had to start somewhere, somehow. The "Big Bang" theory is solid, until you ask the question "where did that tiny point of energy that ended up exploding into the universe come from?" Then, it becomes a matter of various theories...none of which really provide an answer.
Secondly, even if everything has evolved from something lesser than it's present form...who's to say that this was not "part of the evolutionary plan" set forth by a higher being? Take, for instance, your example of the human eye. It very well could have been created by God as it is, or evolved from God's creation with a "God-given" ability to evolve.
But, of course, who knows what is the right line of thinking. Maybe we're all wrong. Maybe one religion IS right. We don't know, and that's part of the mystery of life...as well as the universe.
So then if it could or could not be God's doing, what's the point of including God in the equation at all? It's like you (or some) want to force God in there somehow, when it doesn't seem necessary.
I think you're interpreting my thoughts differently than how I intend for them to come across.
First, I believe that God has to have at least "planted the seeds" of the universe. Everything, in my own estimation, has to have a beginning. I also believe that something cannot come from nothing. If I believed that, I could not believe in either creationism or evolution.
And before you say "creationism is something from nothing", let it be known that in creationism, "something" came from the hand of God...which is far from "nothing", if you believe in God.
So, tell me, how am I "forcing" God into those beliefs? I believe that there had to be a beginning somewhere in the history of the universe...even if there is no end.
In my own estimations, beliefs, and conclusions...I believe that there is a God, and that he at least set things in motion. After that, it's a matter of what you believe.
Personally, this is where the faith kicks in. I whole-heartedly BELIEVE that God exists. There are a lot of intangibles that form this belief...much of it comes from life experience.
However, because I believe a lot in science, too...this is where it becomes a matter of applying faith to reason, and combining all of that with tangible fact, and making sense of it all.
I do feel comfortable in my beliefs, hence why I'm able to talk about it at length as I am. However, I also allow a "margin for error" because science and religion can both be wrong.
That's also why I don't force my faith and beliefs upon others.
I thank you for sharing. It is a fascinating topic, and one in which Whackette and I have dug into a few times.
I thank you for asking questions and discussing this topic. If nothing else, it should help dispell the notion that I constantly talk out of my ass, lol.
In all seriousness, I do appreciate the conversation. It is a very fascinating topic, indeed.
I'd enjoy continuing...I just think I'll need to digest and develop some more deep thoughts to bring to the discussion.
That and I'm swamped at the moment ;)
peace
It's not fair to write that "to Waldo, this apparently makes no sense." As you can read in the comments, I thought it through overnight, and the next morning I explained:
There’s the fuzzy part of the mind where it’s OK to believe in the supernatural, and there’s the rational part that recognizes that, really, there’s no such thing as the supernatural, or else we’d just call it “natural.” It’s with this in mind that I suspect that we can safely chalk up that 24% as supporters of evolution.
How is it not fair to say this? From your own statements, you're saying that to believe in evolution is rational, to believe in some kind of "higher power" comes from the "fuzzy part" of the mind. From this logic, you say that these people are "supporters of evolution".
I am a supporter of a combination of the theories, as I have espoused in both my original post and the several comments that followed while conversing with zen on this topic.
Or are you saying that this comes from the "fuzzy part" because it is hard to come up with tangible proof of God's existence?
Before I agree that it wasn't fair, I'd like some clarification on that...because to pretty much insinuate that one must choose between creationism and evolution, and there is on "middle ground" is a bit closed-minded, don't you think?
Post a Comment