Many people ask, "Why did God put a tree there that he didn't want Adam or Eve to eat from?" That is a valid question, mind, and as I read the bible, I get this odd feeling that maybe God isn't as flawless as we make him out to be. It seems to me that throughout the bible, God really doesn't have some, "master plan" for us all, rather, I believe that he's just making it up as we go along. You see, I do not view God as some omniscient, cosmic overseer. Rather, I view him as a tinkerer or an inventor. I believe that we as "man", and the very world we live in is incomplete, a mere "blueprint" or a "schematic", if you will. I believe that as the years go by, God builds upon his grand designs or "inventions" little by little until eventually, we'll be perfect.
It's like how the Wright Brothers ran hundreds of flying tests on their flying machine(s) until they FINALLY found a design that enabled them flight. Weird analogy, but I hope you see where I'm coming from or where I'm getting at.
I know, I know, it's a weird view, but it's just how I see him. It doesn't help that I am very poor at articulating my thoughts and beliefs and putting them on paper so they'd make sense to anyone but me.
P.S.--- I commented on Jeremy Crew's post.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to have an evolutionary stand point concerning God and how we, as humans, have progressed. This is, of course, all under the assumption that an evolutionist believes that there is a God in the first place, and, yes, I realize that few of them do, but just bear with me. Assuming that the evolutionist believes in God, I would imagine that he would view God as a tinkerer or an inventor as you previously stated. This is due to the evolutionary idea that we started simple and grew to be more complex. However, this runs contrary to the biblical belief of our origins, as I assume (again assume) that we as Christians, believe in creation, which, in a nutshell, says that we were created this way, and it hasn't changed much since. However, I could be completely off in my interpretation of your interpretation, which happens alot I would imagine, so, forgive me if I'm wrong. That's just what I got out of it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe in God. I certainly wasn't calling to question his existence. Rather, I was offering a different interpretation of him. And might I ask how much hasn't changed since our creation? (Ugh, I could've worded that better...) For instance, why would God create us with something as useless as Wisdom teeth or an appendix?
ReplyDeleteApparently, I can't edit my comment. Now, sadly, I had to leave for class, so I fear I had to rush my previous comment, and I fear I might not have been too precise on what I mean.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a die-hard evolutionist, in fact, I believe that we can still believe in the idea of evolution all while believing in the existence of God. For evolution does not necessarily contradict his existence.
About the Wisdom Teeth and the Appendix I mentioned earlier, I believe that it supports my idea that God is in fact a tinkerer or at least is not QUITE finished with us yet, and thus, has an active role in our development. The Wisdom Teeth and Appendix are the "kinks" if you will in our schematic that has yet to be ironed out.
Another argument which supports my idea as God being a Tinkerer is in Chp.1 of Genesis, where it states that he was incredibly bored or depressed in the vast emptiness in space before he decided to create us. Much like how you give a really bored toddler a bunch of legos. What doe he do to kill his boredom? He creates!
I may have proven this today, but I would love to restate it here. How would we "evolve through natural selection" if death was nonexistent prior to the fall. It is not possible to be naturally selected if there was no such thing as death to cause it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd like to know where it says God was lonely, bored, depressed, etc. because I have never read this.
-Will
I must differ with you here. I realize that you are Catholic and may not take your religion seriously, as you said in your blog profile, but I, as a Christian, feel that it is my obligation to present you with my side of the story and how it has been taught to me.
ReplyDeleteEvolution does, in fact contradict God's existence. According to evolution, we created ourselves from a DNA soup, essentially. Evolution dictates that we do not need God, because we created ourselves, therefore God can not hold us responsible for anything. Evolutionists believe that we are here simply because we made it through the whole natural selection process (which I may point out is different from adaptation, but that's another story). We must also take into account that evolution contradicts the Bible, because it says that animals came way before man. And before someone pulls the whole, "well, it says He created the world in 6 days, but a day to God can mean millions of years,", I have an answer for that, too. Everytime the word "day" pops up in the Bible, it is assumed to mean 24 hours, regardless of the people/entities involved. So, in every other part of the Bible, everyone accepts a day to God to be 24 hours. Why would it make a difference in Genesis? Days, weeks, months, and years are all taken literally in all other parts of the Bible, so the same should apply to Genesis.
Supposedly, we are the finished product of obsolete beings. However, I do find it odd that primates are still around, since they are supposed to be our ancestors, according to evolution. Just a thought.
Also the appendix and wisdom teeth may be useless to us now, but years ago, this wasn't so. The wisdom teeth were present to help with chewing tougher substances. Meat hasn't always been as tender as it is now. The appendix was present for the same purpose, further digestion of tougher substances. Tough meat and certain plants are examples of this. Yes, I notice that we usually have to pull our wisdom teeth out, if they come in too much. Well, that is because we do not use them anymore, so our mouths eliminated the room for them. No, this is not evidence of evolution; it is adaptation, which, as previously stated, is different from evolution. According to the theory, evolution takes millions and millions of years. Adaptation can occur in a short period of time and can reverse itself in a short period of time. For example, if we began again to eat tough meat, our mouths would again make room for the wisdom teeth. So, why do we still have them? Well, they don't harm us in any way, and are still useful if the need for them should arise. So, why not keep them?
These are just some thoughts that I had to get out. I am not accusing you of being an evolutionist, I'm merely stating that there is no riding the fence, in this case. If you don't believe in creation, you believe in evolution. They cannot be mixed, because they do not agree. Is this publicized? Of course not, so, most people are unaware of this, especially in the churches.
This was not meant to attack or isolate you in any way. I just wanted to express my opinions, as well.
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