Belly your view of me refusing your right to believe what ever you want is only in your mind - not mine. Reread my posts.

My position:
1. I am not a believer in a six day creation
2. I am not a believer in a universal flood
The Eden story represents a theological point and not actual history.
The flood represents a local known event that was widespread and predictable.

I have heard a theory that at one time the Jurassic Earth was surrounded by a 3 - 5 feet band of ice that allowed man to observe the starry universe in a magnified form and Noah recognised the approach of a metiorite that was to impact the Earth. The Ice melted and when the metiorite passed or hit the Earth the radiation shortened the life of man; before this even it hadn't rained, but warm mists arose from the Earth. The result of the ice melting exposed man to higher levels of radiation. The protein found in the skin that protects us from radiation now shortens our life span. before this event it is recorded humans had lived for several hundred years. Because there is no barrier from the radiation from the sun, our life span has been shortened. A theoritical possibility.

Trouble is TRTL, those deeply entrenched in their religion from birth, don't stand much of a chance to critically evaluate when you have been taught that it is a sin to question.

Most religious people I know do question, they debate and discuss issues surrounding their beliefs without in anyway diminishing their faith or spirituality. Many Christians accept evolution so we are really talking about the more ardent fundamentalists who are restricted from within and without from evaluating 'evidence' if that evidence goes against all they have been taught.

Thankfully within secular societies fundamentalism is slowly diminishing (a dying breed). As we evolve I think faith based beliefs will be tempered with more scientific debates and debates about what it means to be spiritual without necessarily the stringent and irascible fundamentalism that still pervades in some circles (not only in the Christian world).

If we accept that humans are naturally spiritual and find their spirituality in different ways, there will always be some faith based belief, Christianity, Islam, Reincarnation, Spiritual Mediums, Witchcraft, Paganism and Homeopathy could all be placed in that category. All come with a long history (although I hesitate at using the world Witchraft which was a label put on those who dared to disagree with the pervading thoughts of the day).

While we cannot dismiss the spiritual nature of human beings, we can hopefully temper it with some rational and considered debate all the time asking what it means to be spiritual; and at the same time continually evaluating and examining new evidence that sheds light on our past.

I agree with all of your viewpoints since joining OLO Belly and learned an incredible amount from you on many subjects. I thank you sincerely for this.

I comprehend what you are saying on this subject and agree with your viewpoints; however was a little concerned earlier on that you may have believed practicing catholics had over the past 20 -50 years swept paedophilia under the carpet. Am relieved this misunderstanding is cleared up.

Enjoy your week Belly and I will continue to read and learn from your posts.

TRTL

If you do nothing else today please watch the following video, it presents what would we make of history if we could rewind history like a video tape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOqhEfMOWg8&feature

It is also reassuring to listen to imaginative and reasoned suppositions.

Cheers

runner,

You have offerred an opinion. Where is your counter argument?

Hi Foxy,

I was surprised at this fortunate find. Evolutionary biologists note that records will be found for species which have been successful in the past and for those who have evolved, because they have adapted. Intermediates tend to have been not survived/matured because they didn't fit the old or new niche. Finding an example/sample of a small population millions of years old is therefore a challenge.

An albatross can fly hundreds of kilometres while sleeping, it is believed dolphins can hear in 3-D and humans can solve problems. I think many species are truly amazing, yet in different ways

Philo,

Thanks for the very ambiguous response there. I noticed you still couldn’t say that you accepted evolution, and to make things worse, you descended into a loopy idea that someone - without any evidence at all - had just made up...

<<I have heard a theory that at one time the Jurassic Earth was surrounded by a 3 - 5 feet band of ice that allowed man to observe the starry universe in a magnified form and Noah recognised the approach of a metiorite that was to impact the Earth.>>

So you can believe the above nonsense despite its fatal flaws and total lack of evidence, but idea of evolution just blows your mind.

Astonishing.

<<The Ice melted and when the metiorite passed or hit the Earth the radiation shortened the life of man>>

Do you realise that the only reason Creationists say that humans used to live for hundreds of years is because the chronology of the Bible so incredibly flawed, that that is the only way they can account for the errors?