5stringJeff
Senior Member
Kathianne said:Jeff, I'm ignoring the Powerman and atheistic posts.
Most here, know where I'm coming from. Last Friday I went to teach my 7th graders about Catholic doctrine in religion class regarding evolution and God. What many probably do not know is that the 8th grade science/math teacher at our school is 'Lutheran', but not really, he's an evangelist. Which would be ok, if he really was science based or at least would adhere to the school's doctrine.
I've been teaching the same lesson for 7 years. Starts out, "I know you've been taught in science that evolution is currently the accepted explanation of how man achieved this place..." Hands started shooting up, "Mr. XXX says that that is a bunch of hooey!" Fluxomed I said, "You must have misunderstood, the Catholic doctrine accepts evolution regarding science, but also believes that God began the process of life..."
The students reiterated what they had been told. I went and got the principal, who met the same as me. We got the pastor to come in Monday. He finally acquiesed to the students, that they agreed with a literal interpretation of the bible. "Yes, they said." He said, "fine." "So the earth is the center of the universe and the weatherman is correct in 'sunset' and 'sunrise' in that the sun revolves around the earth?" "No, that is silly, the earth turns on its axis." So the pastor asked, "Why the literal for creationism, especially when there is the 7 day story and the Adam and Eve story? Yet, you discount the literal explanation of the earth as the center of the universe?" Ok, they could deal with a prime mover and evolution. I think the 8th grade science teacher's days are numbered...
I totally see where you are getting at. I, like many evangelicals (or at least many that I've talked with about this) am an old-earth creationist. So I don't think that the Genisis account is contradictory with science's aging of the universe at 13 billion years. (I think I read somewhere that the word translated "day" can also be translated "era.")
However, I do object to the argument about the earth being the center of the universe. We all use the language of sunrise, sunset, etc., from an observational standpoint. The sun does, indeed, appear to rise and set, even though the reason behind it is the earth's rotation. So to say that the Bible is somehow literally false because it uses that language... well, I don't buy it. It's common language usage.