Creation vs. Evolution (Earth, Eden, genesis, eternal, bible)

[Master Hoomer]

Originally Posted by Maize

I think it does not matter so much how we got here but instead where we are going and further evolving to. Yes, it is important to understand the past, but there comes a time when .

Yes...but spritually what if we are evolving into what we once were?

what if the end is the beginning....?

What if I had 3 nipples?

ps I'll ask Shivs about "to bind"....he's just lost a family member..so he isnt about....

[Runt]

This 7 directions stuff is stupid and makes no sense

In a Wiccan circle there are four Quarters (North, South, East, West) that correspond to four elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), plus the center of the circle where the alter is sometimes placed and is usually representative of the element Ether (often described as synonomous to "spirit"), and then we have the Heavenly Realm above the circle and the Underworld below. That is four Quarters, one Ether, one Up, and one Down. That also equals seven.

Furthermore, the ancient Celts put a special emphasis on the number seven, especially in the legends about the hero CuChulainn.

[Death]

Originally Posted by Runt

In a Wiccan circle there are four Quarters (North, South, East, West) that correspond to four elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), plus the center of the circle where the alter is sometimes placed and is usually representative of the element Ether (often described as synonomous to "spirit"), and then we have the Heavenly Realm above the circle and the Underworld below. That is four Quarters, one Ether, one Up, and one Down. That also equals seven.

Furthermore, the ancient Celts put a special emphasis on the number seven, especially in the legends about the hero CuChulainn.

This is wonderful, it doesn't however, stop the concept being stupid. As i said, you can plot any points with 4 references, not 7. You can plot any journey with any number of points made from 4 references. These others are superfluous and superstitious, for the most part.

[Alaric]

Well, the problem is usually that the Holy Books say something about it that really has to be twisted totally out of shape to fit current scientific understanding. Religions can't take that sort of reinterpretation; they live or die on the universality of their beliefs. Otherwise, the whole Bible becomes some abstract metaphor for life and it loses all authority. So from a religious point of view, it matters a hell of a lot which one it is.

[Master Hoomer]

Originally Posted by "Death
[color=darkred

This is wonderful, it doesn't however, stop the concept being stupid. As i said, you can plot any points with 4 references, not 7. You can plot any journey with any number of points made from 4 references. These others are superfluous and superstitious, for the most part[/color].

ok how about these UN stupoid directions!

BFEORE, BEHIND, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, WITHIN,.....

the 4 directions of wicca....with PERSON in the middle making UP DOWN and WITHIN.....

does this help death? lol

[Master Hoomer]

Well, the problem is usually that the Holy Books say something about it that really has to be twisted totally out of shape to fit current scientific understanding. Religions can't take that sort of reinterpretation; they live or die on the universality of their beliefs. Otherwise, the whole Bible becomes some abstract metaphor for life and it loses all authority. So from a religious point of view, it matters a hell of a lot which one it is


The image of the tree of life surrounded by 4 rivers is quite clear and easy to see as the 7 directions!.....read the bible!..lol

Not all religions are fixed and rigid..sorry this is incorrect...
Everything changes....including God...the cosmic dance of Hinduism(I forget which God/Goddess)

The bible is a lot more than abstract metaphor.....

but I could care less...about the Judaic/christian god reallly..the whole thing is a mess...

[Runt]

As i said, you can plot any points with 4 references, not 7.

You are being uncreative. You can plot a seventh point using six previous points. Here is how:

Draw a 3D cube on a piece of paper. Recognize that each side of the cube is a plane intersected by four other planes. Draw a dot in the middle of each plane. Connect each dot to the dot in the plane opposite of it. When you have done this, you will end up plotting a point in the MIDDLE of the cube.

(Who has seen Stargate? :P)

[deahca2]

Alaric:
Too broad a brush to paint ALL religions as not seeing scientific fact. There are intelligent people ( including those that use science daily) that belong to a religion and find no problem with science and can reconcile the belief in G-d with the nature of science. It doesn't have to be too skewed. After all most intelligent religious people don't take their bibles literally.

Deah

[Alaric]

Deah, I think the writers of Genesis really thought that the world was a bubble of air inside a universe of water, with some land sticking out of it - I don't have the Bible here now but I remember the first few paragraphs going something like that. And when they said six days, they meant it. But there's nothing wrong with that - its perfectly reasonable for them to have believed it. And the God that created it was an intrical part of that worldview. I don't accept that you can just cherry-pick, keeping the God but ditching the other stuff you don't like.

I've known lots of people who call themselves Christians to say that they believe in Jesus, but not Genesis, or else a very mutated version of it - but Jesus believed in Genesis. Or else all past versions of Christianity have been wrong, because that's what they assumed. It may seem a bit extreme, but I say that if you do not believe that God created the world in six days around 6000 years ago, you are not a Jew, Christian, or Muslim. You can believe in the God, but then you have to call yourself something else, or you're hijacking terms that mean something else.

[Green Gaia]

Is believing literally in a religion's creation story vital to being a member of that group?