Jose Fly wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 2:58 pm
Sherlock Holmes wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 2:42 pm
Jose Fly wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 2:32 pm
Apologies if you've already explained but I want to be clear....do you believe the Bible describes a 6 day period of creation for the universe, the earth, and all of its first life forms?
I don't know, I really don't know, there are a great many factors involved. As you know there are "young earth" and "old earth" views and these can each be argued reasonably well from scripture, all depends on how one interprets things.
I've always felt that the Bible pretty clearly describes a 6 day creation period. What specifically in it do you see as possibly indicating something else?
There are indications in the Hebrew that the activity described in as the six day creation is a
recreation of a world once inhabited by angelic beings who rebelled and caused great physical destruction. The earth may have existed for billions of years until this destruction and God's recreation. You can look for more detail on this interpretation online, I won't dwell on it here.
Jose Fly wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 2:58 pm
I did for years favor old earth creation as the chronology conflicted less with my understanding of science back then. But as I've since learned there really is no way to scientifically prove the earth is ancient, this can only be done if we pick a particular set of initial assumptions, different assumptions leads to different ages so I don't pretend to myself that I "know" the universe is billions of years old. It does seem to be but we must be conscious of the fact that it only looks this way IF we assume certain things.
My experience of conversion and becoming a Christian is one of recognizing that I know nothing really, we choose our assumptions and build on them. This is why I truly try to be open minded, I take nothing for granted anymore, my self assuredness with science has long gone.
Again I see that as you being a solipsist. I mean, you just said you "know nothing", which makes me wonder why you were so reluctant to say that earlier when I asked you to name something you know.
I'm not a solipsist, if you think I've implied that, you are incorrect. I will say again, solipsism is a rational position to take, I do not take that position myself but one can and be completely self consistent. Understanding that solipsism is a rational position is not the same as being a solipsist. I understand some men are gay and I accept that as their right to do so, I am not myself but I respect their right and would defend their right.
Jose Fly wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 2:58 pm
Do you believe that, even though we cannot really know anything, we can at least be reasonably certain of things?
I don't know, I don't know what "reasonably certain" even means, how it differs from "uncertain". This is epistemology and why I suggested recently a thread be set aside for it.
Jose Fly wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 2:58 pm
It took a lot of effort to reach that point but I recognized that my God many years ago WAS science, WAS my worldview, everything had to fit into MY worldview, letting that go was hard for me, very hard indeed, but I see now that it actually matters not, it is unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
How specifically was science your god?
It was my materialist worldview that mattered to me, other worldviews did not, mine was the right one, others were wrong, my science based worldview was superior, correct. Religious, theological views were primitive, inferior - I trusted my own reasoning about nature to build my understanding of nature. I have since learned that we must trust God for our understanding, we must recognize that true, valuable knowledge is spiritual knowledge and spiritual knowledge is revealed never discovered. Without God we are like blind bats flying around, unaware of a deeper more profound reality.