Fallen humanity sure does like to blame their own faults on God
Faith,
As others have said, you can't have it both ways. Omnipotence isn't an issue, omniscience is. If you believe that Yahweh created a perfect world with perfect beings, then 'the Fall' could not have happened. If the Fall did occur, then the creator created knowing it would happen. This means x-bilions of creations (meaning souls) would exist that He knew would live a short pointless life and then an eternity of torment. These are his rules. Then you get to the strictly omnipotent argument, fair or unfair, he is God and you are not. This then leads to the argument of whether or not God is moral or is some kind of super-powerful bully. Do you see the dichotomy?
It seems so much simpler to me (as a non-Christian who once was a fundementalist) to believe that the Fall in Genesis is another isolated parable. Maybe relating to some event that occured in our past or not but illustrative of humanity's weakness. It might seem odd, but doesn't the fact that in no Jewish traditions is there a concept of the Fall as interpreted by Christians? Seems funny, they had thousands of years to ponder this and never came up with that meaning. I know that fundies will talk of blood sacrifice and the like, but if you are a true literalist you will find the connection wanting.
Now to the topic. I think it can be resolved. There is nothing inherent in the ToE that cannot be reconciled with Christianity. It is exactly the same as Gallileo's heresy. Christianity adapted. Modern Christians of all faiths accept that we are in a distant spiral arm of a galaxy which is one of billions. Why is it so much harder to accecpt that life on this planet, despite thousands of setbacks, was able to evolve a state of consciousness that allowed us to understand God's glory? Is a god that can 'poof' a creation into being better than a god that can create a system that allows infinite diversity on billions of worlds? (Lithodid-Man is a hardcore Trekker, btw)
ABE- removed a cut and paste error
This message has been edited by Lithodid-Man, 03-26-2006 07:07 AM
Doctor Bashir: "Of all the stories you told me, which were true and which weren't?"
Elim Garak: "My dear Doctor, they're all true"
Doctor Bashir: "Even the lies?"
Elim Garak: "Especially the lies"
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