Reconciling Genesis origin story with Science

Who instilled the fear of going to hell in you?

We agree that people do need to solve the problems at hand, because that is our responsibility to do so.

God does exist, Alex, and what education does for everyone is teach how God works, which is mainly through the spirit, and the spirit can be a powerful thing. God is not a Genii and thinking He isā€“or believing others think thatā€™s His roleā€“is probably the number one reason for atheism.

Think beyond.

Yes, the big bang created literally everything. Before the big bag, our universe, our light, our everything, did not exist.

No one. I know there is no hell.

But Iā€™m not gullible.

Thatā€™s what Iā€™ve always been curious aboutā€¦why are some people gullible and others not?

What happened to ā€œlet go, and let God?ā€

The definition of gullible is easily deceived. Have you considered the possibility that those who do not believe are the more easily deceived?

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Some of us go with, ā€œTake up your cross and follow me.ā€

Umā€¦no. :grinning:

Even if I grant you, for the sake of argument, that God exists, there is absolutely no proof that he is a loving God, in fact quite the contrary.

When I was small, I heard someone observe that what we see in others is often a reflection of what we see in ourselves. If I see gullibility in someone else, where is the gullibility in me. Kind of reminds me how closely united we humans are to one another.

I understand people choosing to be anchored to only the physical where proof can be arranged, but there is something also to be said about flinging oneself out beyond the physical and into the spiritual. Godā€™s love is there, and it cannot be doubted. Wish I could love like that.

You must be very nervous if news about a serial killer comes on TV.

There are over 328 million people living in the US. The FBI estimates out of these hundreds of millions there are probably 50 serial killers who are active at any one time. People who tend to walk alone all hours of the night and into the dawn are not the nervous type, even when they cross the stray cougar or wolf. Ever find you have walked unknowingly into a rattle snake nursery?

Or are you too nervous to walk anywhere unless it is high noon? :wink:

Seriously, we live in a wonderful world. Some of us simply dwell in and absorb the beauty that is also around us in both people and nature. When darkness comes, as it comes to all, the beauty of the sunrise always awaits. We are blessed.

One difficulty with the Genesis origin story is that there are two inconsistent stories in Genesis.
Genesis 1 has plants created on the third day and man on the sixth, but the second story, 2:5-7 says that Adam was created before there were any plants ā€œNow no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung upā€

Genesis 2:3 ā€œSo God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. ā€¦ In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,ā€

The writer is recapping Godā€™s creation. ā€œHe had doneā€ - past. ā€œWhen they were createdā€ - past.

Genesis 2:5 "when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung upā€“for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground-- 7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. "

The writer goes back to the time ā€œwhen there was nothing planted on the earth.ā€ and before God had created man. That time had passed.

Genesis 2:8 ā€œAnd the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.ā€

Genesis 2:8-10, The writer says ā€œGod planted a garden.ā€ He describes what God planted in the Garden of Eden, that was exclusive to Adam and Eve for their use - to sustain them while they lived in the Garden. Then he says ā€œHe put the man in that garden.ā€

Cultivated plants needed a man to tend them, not just plants in general. The trees are only the trees in the Garden.

Many historical accounts have an overview of events that lead up to an event. The goal of this writer was to put emphasis on a particular event.

Genesis 1 gives us the big picture - the sequence of events. The Garden of Eden was a major event in the Genesis story. It shows the fellowship between God and his creation of mankind in the beginning.

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Why do you think the second account says man was ā€œcreatedā€ before animals? Bearing in mind that Biblical Hebrew does not have past, presently and future tenses. Instead, it has a completed action and an incompleted action form, both of which can apply to either the past, present or future.

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We all have the opportunity to solve our own problems with or without Godā€™s help. There is nothing nobler about choosing to reject Godā€™s help. Heā€™s done a lot to fix our freewill-endowed world, but in a lot of places what heā€™s done is spurned. You canā€™t blame God for people rejecting his solutions. Unless you object to your having freewill.

According to Geneses 2.19 the creation of animals occurs after the creation of man and woman.

Also, why tell two different creation stories?

Revelation 21:1

Sounds like a habitable exoplanet with a different set of constellations in the sky to me.

DO you own this software? If you did you could take a Photo of the sky from a real exo-planet and watch the changes in real time.

Starry Night 8 | Astronomy Telescope Control Software for Mac/PC

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