Evolution?

[publius2k4]

I find it difficult to see how anyone can believe that the bible is not an accurate book of history, how they believe that Jesus of Nazareth did not walk upon this earth, or that the accounts of what he did and claimed to be are false or simply stories of legend. There is simply too much evidence that supports the biblical account. From ancient works of antiquity from Taciturn and Josepheoues, to more recent archelogical evidence. So I pose this, if the bible is correct and Jesus did walk upon this earth, and he performed the accounts that the bible says he did (again there is a mountain of evidence, too lengthy to write here) then accepting all this, how can we believe that God did not create the heavens and the earth? How do we say creationism did not occur and that instead, suddenly without any provocation that a big bang of sufficient force to create life suddenly occured? Life is too exact, too tightly intertwined to have happened by chance.

I am greatly enjoying the scholarly debate that is going on here between to well educated members of our forum. For those who are interested in reading about the mountains of evidence for the bible and for Christ, I point you to a good book called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. As for me, I came away from this book believing that it would take a greater leap of faith to be an atheist then to be a Christian.

I love you brother, but I've gotta disagree with you on this one;

The bible cannot be used as a historical guide. Each book in the bible was written by different people, and it was simply their versions of what they claimed to have seen. There may well have been a Jewish man born to parents named Mary and Joseph....but beyond that, everything is hearsay. None of the "miracles" Jesus performed can be validated because the results cannot be replicated in a controlled environment. And therefore, scientifically, the claims hold no merit.

You start your argument by saying "if the bible is correct" but we cannot use the bible as a scientific text. Also, we cannot begin our scientific inquiry with the answer and work back (god did it, now lets figure out how to prove it). You have to start with the question (How did it happen?).

Richard Dawkins wrote "The God Delusion." I highly recommend it.


****Edit; Please don't think I'm saying any of this in a rude way. As you said, it's a scholarly debate