Kim:
That is exactly my problem too. I have to wonder even more about it when I see many of these 'super-intelligent' beings taking as literal truth stuff that was written down thousands of years ago. That's not just the Bible - it applies to other religious texts as well. It seems obvious to me that at the very least these texts were written for their own times, and with the inherent drawbacks of lack of certain knowledge. An example I used earlier was the flat world. The Christian church believed fully that the world was flat and everything revolved around us - after all...that's what it seemed to say in the Bible right? In fact it was actually a heresy to believe otherwise in the beginning and before there was incontrovertible proof that it wasn't true.
I don't recall anything in the Bible that says that the world is flat. In fact, The Bible seems to teach a spherical shape for the earth. Look at Luke 17:3436 for example.
In either case the Bible is not an astronomy text. I would also be careful about using policies of the Roman church as an indication of what the Bible actually says. Similarly, I'd caution against excepting the arguement of the "skeptics" without further study because they are notorious for taking small sections of Biblical text out of context, placing it in their own context and using it to make points completely unrelated to any intended point of the Bible. While many of the arguements seem sound on their own, in most cases, a simple reading of the text in context renders the arguements absolutely laughable. When these arguements are presented to one who has actually studied the text in context, they are just raming both feet so far into their mouth that it would take one really gifted surgeon to remove them.
Similarly is it only me who finds it odd that according to the Old Testament the Jewish people are the 'chosen' people? Who wrote the Old Testament? Jewish people right? Doesn't this simply strike you as a rather biased claim rather obviously written by someone with a vested interest? If it does then might not other parts be similarly biased? If it doesn't.....I might have an old car you'd be interested in.
According to both the Old Tesament and the New Testament the Jews are the chosen people. Before assuming that this is due to some biase on the part of the Jews or some honor which they bestowed on themselves, one might spend some time considering what it means to be the chosen people.
God, chose one man, Abraham, from a rebellious wourld through whom he would build a nation. That nation would be the instrument through which he would impliment his salvation plan and would bless all the nations of the earth. The role of Isreal, has not proven an easy one.
Let's face it - if people were trying to get our kids to use school books that were hundreds of years (or more) old there'd be an uproar. Some things are as true as when they were first discovered...think Pythagoras, Archimedes...Isaac Newton etc. It doesn't mean that everything stopped with them though. I simply can't understand why Creationists would want to handicap their children in that way.
Gods word is one of those things that hasn't changed. Gods salvation plan from Adam through the events or Revelation is still in progress. In fact, events especially in the Middle east seem to be shaping up in a very interesting way, Biblically speaking. We don't need a new book, though take note, that even Christians consult other books for the purpose of studying other subjects.
I'm not actually "up on" what "creationists" are argueing for in regard to text book useage in schools. It's just not something I have a lot of time for but, personally, I haven't heard anyone suggest that all science books be replaced with the Bible. However, speaking of handicaping our children, I can't even fathom "people" handicaping their children by not teaching them Gods revelations to us. Though, I don't expect the public schools system to do it, to me, that is the monster of all possible holes that could exist in education.
It's interesting that you mention Isaac Newton. Are you aware of Newtons views on God and the Bible? I've just started reading some of his writings concerning the Bible and his Biblical interpretations but he seems to have spent as much time on Biblical studies as he did on science and mathematics. Smart man huh?
The issue goes beyond creationisnm vs. evolution. The other day I caught part of an interview on the radio...I only caught part so I didn't catch who it was being interviewed...but he presented some interesting ideas. He proposed that secularism in itself had become a "world view". Rather than being a bias-fee view he was of the opinion that it constitutes a view that has it's own unique bias. I never thought of it quit that way but I tend to agree. I'm all for the basic idea of the seperation of church/religion and state but secularism has just about become a religion of sorts. I don't believe that to limit all political debate/consideration to purely secular arguemnents is accomplishing the intended goal of the seperation of state and religion. On the contrary, it appears to be a rather solid alliance between the state and one specific world view. A world view, that probably isn't even close to being representative of the majority.
It has some interesting implications in a government that is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people. Which people? While it may not be completely accurate to describe our nation as "Christian nation", our nation has traditionally maintained values that are, somewhat, in line with a Christian view. Incidentally, many religions share much of their "moral code". Interestingly, we are now seeing legeslation (and attempts at legeslation) that is contrary to the "moral codes" of almost
all religions and only consistant with a purely secular view. How this view alligns with the "will of the people", I think, is repeatedly demonstrated in the the supreme court rulings that are clearly contrary to the way "the people" vote when given the chance. As time goes on and more and more of our "moral assumptions" are thrown out I would expect to see many more cases of this. Taken to it's extreme, we may be looking at the begining of what might be the next inquisition. That might seem an exaggeration, for now, but it isn't too far off from what a study of Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelation, ect reveal the Bible to predict. I'm kind of new to this study myself but the departure from God of society as a whole seems a necessary element of Biblical prophesy. One of many elements that we see playing out right before our eyes.
You want some scary evidence of Biblical truth? Study the Bible and watch the news.
