College graduates are creationists at the same rate as everyone else...

[The Funketeer]

You can be a devote Christian and a scientist. But you won't ever be able to combine the two identities and retain your integrity in either. They are mutually exclusive, science forever being the "why?", and religion the unrelenting "because!".

I'm a Christian. Baptized, confirmed, choir singing, sunday school teaching, mission tripping Christian. I also believe in evolution, know that dinosaurs and people never coexisted, understand that the world didn't flood the way many interpret the Noah story and acknowledge that the bible contradicts itself in many places. Thankfully I don't need your approval to retain my integrity. Deal with it.

[Tyr]

*sigh* I've heard it argued by theologists that if the flood was localized, god would have just told Noah to move, instead of telling him to build a big ship, unless of course he planned to take Noah fishing or something. There are also great flood myths from the Aztecs, or was it the Myans, I forget which now.

Its been suggested that when the asteroid of doomyness struck the earth that it caused massive wide scale flooding, not enough to wash over the Himalayas, but enough to bury large sections of the globe under massive tsunamis. This could also coincided with the fire and flooding that supposedly comes at the end of Ragnarok, as well as the whole fire and flood thing that happens in the myths of several Native American tribes. While there isn't enough water on earth to make water world. I do believe that large sections of the world could be hit with massive flooding at once. Though there is a theory that such an event could have caused massive changes to the earths landscape. Mount St Helens for example took mere minutes to radically alter the environment around it when it erupted.

And now I'll continue on my jungle primordial kick...time to dance!

[Corrina]

The asteroid of doom that killed the dinosaurs struck MILLIONS of years before humans ever existed.

[Tyr]

The asteroid of doom that killed the dinosaurs struck MILLIONS of years before humans ever existed.

I never said I necessarily supported the Bibles version of a great flood. Or that I buy the creationists idea that the earth is a lot younger then Evolution claims. Just that I believe in the possibility that one happened. Now how the myths of several cultures would match up with the whole fire and floods thing that supposedly happened when the asteroid struck earth millions of years before even homo erectus was thought to have come on the scene is a mystery. And I would love to explore that.

In any case I'm busy with my sexy Dino hunting fun time, and your ruining it Corri, stop that!

[Morrison_Lad]

It's not necessarily surprising that groups of people would develop similar mythologies. Mythologies represent certain methodologies for people to come to grips with all sorts of issues with which they are faced.

People are basically the same all over the world. They have to deal with similar issues. So they make up the same sorts of tales and stories to explain these things.

[Patrick Gerard]

*sigh* I've heard it argued by theologists that if the flood was localized, god would have just told Noah to move, instead of telling him to build a big ship, unless of course he planned to take Noah fishing or something. There are also great flood myths from the Aztecs, or was it the Myans, I forget which now.

Here's the thing. The same theologists who say that God doesn't speak in metaphor seem awfully keen on being experts in God's methods and motivations, despite the Bible being pretty much full of God telling people not to do that.

[Tyr]

Here's the thing. The same theologists who say that God doesn't speak in metaphor seem awfully keen on being experts in God's methods and motivations, despite the Bible being pretty much full of God telling people not to do that.

I believe the idea behind that was that if the flood was as localized as some have claimed, that God would have told Noah to merely move to a safer location, unless it was impossible for him to do that in time. Perhaps it was a way to emphasize the magnitude of the flood.

[zemo]

I'm a Christian. Baptized, confirmed, choir singing, sunday school teaching, mission tripping Christian. I also believe in evolution, know that dinosaurs and people never coexisted, understand that the world didn't flood the way many interpret the Noah story and acknowledge that the bible contradicts itself in many places. Thankfully I don't need your approval to retain my integrity. Deal with it.

Bullshit. You are either intentionally misreading what I say or are being willfully obstuse. The very fact that you are acknowledging that the Flood didn't happen as written in the bible, and that the book is contradictory proves that you are keeping you religious and your scientific persona apart. You are proving my point. In the words of a great philosopher: "Deal with it".

[sunbird]

Bullshit. You are either intentionally misreading what I say or are being willfully obstuse. The very fact that you are acknowledging that the Flood didn't happen as written in the bible, and that the book is contradictory proves that you are keeping you religious and your scientific persona apart. You are proving my point. In the words of a great philosopher: "Deal with it".

Actually, you're just proving that you've been convinced by the more extreme edges of fundamentalism that the only way to interpret the Bible is their way and that everyone else is not a True Christian (TM). In fact many Christians are able to see large tracks of the Old Testament as allegorical, the New Testament as well. Peter was not literally a Rock, the Earth was not literally created in seven days. There are as many ways to read and understand the Bible as there are people that can look at it, and the majority of Christians do not subscribe to the idea that it is literal uninterpretable truth.

[zemo]

Actually, you're just proving that you've been convinced by the more extreme edges of fundamentalism that the only way to interpret the Bible is their way and that everyone else is not a True Christian (TM). In fact many Christians are able to see large tracks of the Old Testament as allegorical, the New Testament as well. Peter was not literally a Rock, the Earth was not literally created in seven days. There are as many ways to read and understand the Bible as there are people that can look at it, and the majority of Christians do not subscribe to the idea that it is literal uninterpretable truth.

Aaaaaannnnnd again, that wasn't my point. You can see allegories everywhere you want. You can believe everything you want. You can not mix up religion and science. And if you see the stuff as an allegory, then hey, good on you, you won't. If you don't believe the great flood is a literal truth, then you won't try to find scientific proof of it. As I said, you can not mix, combine, whatever you want to call it, your religious and your scientific persona and retain your integrity as either. If you see the bible in large tracks as allegory, then hey, that is excellent, you will never try to scientifically prove any of it.

I don't see how this is so hard to understand. I am not denying anybody the right to their belief, not that I had the power if I wanted to. All I am saying is that if you are of the "everything in the bible is truth" persuasion, and you try to combine that with science, you won't be either a good Christian in your own worldview or a good scientist. If you see the bible as a lot of allegories, then you won't ever try to combine those allegories with anything scientific, you won't try to prove them, which is exactly what creationists are trying to do. Are you a creationist? No? Kickass, then this does not concern you.