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PENNY,

Sorry, I did not mean to alter what you said. Yes, I am Jewish (not by birth though) but I also believe in Jesus – trying to cover all bases!!  I am anything but observant though – I am a true true sinner!!. My main reason for becoming Jewish (I can't call it a conversion as I never had a religion) was because Jesus was Jewish and practiced all the Jewish observances/holidays throughout his life. I haven't yet decided if his death did away with the “old covenant”. The Bible says that these practices were to be “forever” and Jesus himself said that it would be easier to “pass a camel through the eye of a needle” than to change one of G-d's laws (or something similar to that). But I guess these practices were only to apply to Jews. Anyway that's a whole new topic.

CHARLES68

You are absolutely right that the Bible can be interpreted in many ways. I like to think that if you try and do things with a good heart you can't go wrong. Our scope of thinking and understanding is extremely limited and unfortunately we will always try to measure or understand something using our limited concept of reality. Isn't it a sin to try and conceptualize G-d? Aren't we supposed to simply accept that he/she/it IS?

SHADORUNNR

I also think along the same lines WRT Adam and Eve and the length of their lives. I also believe that G-d set them up with the apple knowing full well what Eve would do. I think anyone in the same position would probably have succumbed in the same manner. I imagine it was a part of the “plan” for us? WE also would live forever if all our cells would rejuvenate continuously? Something we will eventually figure out?

Any thoughts on the distinct ethnic cultures around the world? Were they created at the same time of creation or are they all descendents of Adam and Eve? I would think they were created separately.

Doesn't the Bible define a day to G-d as 1,000 years? I think this is given as a ref so that we may interpret the Bible better? It's true that we cannot create things only make things. I don't believe in Darwinian evolution though. Why would a single celled amoeba ever develop something as sophisticated as a human eye when the concept of sight isn't known? If evolution were true then there shouldn't even be any amoebas as they would have progressed beyond their simple form and thus would not be required. It seems that all organic and inorganic things have a specific place and role to play in our development. All was created for us to explore and learn from. G-d's way of teaching and entertaining us?

GEORGE061875

I can honestly say that I do not 100% believe in anything except that there is a higher intelligence that we owe our existence or consciousness to. I will not limit myself to thinking “within the box”. Anything is possible and nothing is impossible. It's just as likely that some aliens from space will show up someday and claim us as their race which they planted eon's ago. As long as a person is not harming himself or others then they can do as they please, as far as I am concerned. This life was meant to be enjoyed in a healthy and productive manner.

All Thumb,

Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. In Galatians, it explains that the law's purpose was to point to people's need for God. It's hard to follow every rule! But Jesus was the substitute that allowed Jewish believers to stop with their sacrifices. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb (or bread or ram or whatever offering).

Paul gave many instructions for Jewish believers, as to whether they should continue certain Jewish customs (circumcism, for example). But this wouldn't necessarily apply to you because you are not Christian.

Hope that helps.

I reread the creation in Genesis after my post instead of before...DOH! If I had reread it first, I would have reworded a few things, but my line of reasoning would be much the same. In Eden there was the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Only the tree of knowledge was forbidden. It is implyed that the tree of life allowed Adam and Eve immortality, before their sin. After A&E's fall from grace, a cherubim with a flaming sword was sent to guard the tree of life 'lest he put forth his hand and take also the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'. As for evolution, all beings are evolving. Some times it is rather subtle. For example, the average height of humans is about one or two inches more than during the times of Jesus. As I mentioned earlier, horses evolved into single hooved taller animals. Evolution largely depends on environment. Alligators, because of their smaller size, (compared to dinosaurs) survived the mass extinction of the great lizards. Because they were "just the right size" they evolved little, if any. They had no need. Giraffes, who have the name number of neck bones as a mouse, evolved a longer neck, because that's where the food was. The Earth has a simple rule: Adapt or die. Forced evolution. Whether mankind evolved from a lower life form noone can say for sure. In the long run, it probably really doesn't matter. If that information was really important, it would have been included in Genesis. And as I said before, HOW isn't important, WHO is. It really doesn't matter if you believe in the 24/7 creation or a Big Bang/Darwin creation. The end result is still the same. God made it so in the way he thought best. Anything more is just intellectual babbeling from fools like me.

And what you are discussing is what some refer to as microevolution as opposed to macroevolution. The former is adaptation of a species to its environment which no one disputes. The latter is evolution of one species to another (fish to lizard to chicken or small mammal etc.) for which no evidence has ever been found. Even those who believe in the Big Bang have difficulty explaining what happened before that instant or what caused that instant. That's why you find more believers among scientists than among the general public.

DT, good point about macroevolution. I never claimed to be a Darwinist, but I do think some of his ideas may have some degree of truth. But as you say, fish to lizard to chicken does seem a little far fetched.

Heres another question with no logical answers that I'm starting to use as my quote: If God can do anything, could he make a rock that he couldn't lift?

Question? Boy do I have questions! If a jester is out of work, is he nobody's fool? Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives? If the early bird gets the worm, does the second mouse get the cheese? Speaking of the early bird, is the worm it catches the "late" worm? If Barbie is so popular, how come we have to buy her friends? How come you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't wipe your friends on the couch? If you smoke after sex, are you going to fast? How do I set a laser printer to stun? If I am suppossed to back up my hard drive, how do I put it in reverse? I wish I had all the answers, but when I went to the river of knowledge, I only gargled. Here are some things I do know; You can fly like an eagle, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize a cat. ( Learned that one the hard way) I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe. Illiterate? Write for help at................

shadowrunner,
the answer is 42 !



(see http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/hhgg.html)

YES! The answer to life, the universe, and EVERYTHING is 42.


Just remember to bring your towel. And don't panic!

Ruth, oddly enough, 42 is my age. And my mothers name is Ruth. And the towel, cotton, or paper?