The Order of Creation

[katiesevenfour]

Would anyone be able to shed light on why there are two differing orders of creation within the bible? To my mind it's because it was changed by men over the years and they didn't edit very well and remove their contradictions once the new material had been written. I'm sure there are other views than mine. The orders are as below. In the second account, women are made from a man, not equal to men as in the first account. I would guess because this is a reflection of the times it was written in when men were seeking to dominate women and make them second class citizens, an achievement that still exists to this day in many countries around the world. Not an achievement of God who considers all beings equal regardless of gender, colour, race, religion or sexuality in my humble opinion. It's humans who have a problem with the boiling pot of diversity alive on our planet today, not God.

The Differing Orders of Creation:

Genesis 1:11-12 and 1:26-27 Trees came before Adam.
Genesis 2:4-9 Trees came after Adam.

Genesis 1:20-21 and 26-27 Birds were created before Adam.
Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 Birds were created after Adam.

Genesis 1:24-27 Animals were created before Adam.
Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 Animals were created after Adam.

Genesis 1:26-27 Adam and Eve were created at the same time.
Genesis 2:7 and 2:21-22 Adam was created first, woman sometime later.

[Oldfarmhouse]

Now let's look at religion. The most recently created religions such as Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, Scientology, or Transcendental Meditation -- are no more advanced than the religions of long lost ancient cultures.

Have the methods of contacting and recieving information from deities improved in any way? Have the description of deities improved? Has the method of prayer advanced? Is believing stuff that's not true done in a more sophisticated manner today than it was 20,000 years ago?

Nope.

Actually, I would say that religion has significantly progressed since 20,000 years ago, or even 200 years ago. Followers of many ancient religions used to carry out human and animal sacrifices and invoke violent rites to gain "power" or appease the gods. Followers of earlier versions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism thought it moral to kill individuals and groups of people who didn't believe, enslave human beings, restrict the rights of women, etc. Today, practicing religious fundamentalists are peaceful, and their main "actions" include passing out evangelical pamphlets and giving emotional appeals to nonbelievers in an attempt to convert them. I'd call that progress.

~haven

What I think you are talking about is the advance in societal construct that is independent of religion. Societies do change. Religions do change.

But we are comparing apples and oranges here. What I am talking about is the methodology within religion. Have they come up with more advanced methods of praying to and receiving information from deities?

It's true that religion is not a technology and comparing it to technology may be completely unfair. If it were a technology there would be no religion because it would have been proven to be obsolete some millenia ago.

It does, however, operate like a business and it opeartes much like a biological organism. Today we live in a society in which it is established that we do not need what religion has to offer. People can and do get along just fine without it. Those who do fine without religion are increasing in number in the USA. So we can apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to the sociological phenomena of religion. The religions that survive are those which can adapt to the environment in which they live. For example, you brought up social issues, such as, slavery, womens' rights, and sacrifice. The Southern Baptists was a denomination of Christianity in which the members were convinced that God thought that slavery was really great. Are there Southern Baptists today? Yes. Do they support the institution of slavery? No. They had to adapt in order to survive -- if they stuck with the pro-slavery gig they may not have vanished completely (the KKK still has some members) but there would be very few left.

Just as most species have gone extinct -- most religions have too or they have evolved into something that has little resemblance to what it once was.

As far as religion in the US today goes -- we have a buyers' market. The supply exceeds the demand by a lot. The percentage of people who feel they must have the item is shrinking and so the existing religions are fighting for the biggest slice of pie they can get.

I'm just kickin' back and watching all the funny stuff that goes on because of this. Religion, for me, is a spectator sport.