The point being that there was no begining to time or the universe I assume. You are of they that believe time is cyclical, an ever repeating loop. It is an interesting thought, that time always was, had no begining, will have no end... This topic has caught my eye because I, like so apparently few others here, am Christian. Though I am not an extensive literallist. I believe some aspects of the Bible are to be understood as fact and others are to be seen as the teaching parables that they are.
Now, a few things that require reply; four corners of the Earth, duration of creation and such, and evolution.
1) The four corners. I would like a book, chapter, and verse reference if you don't mind. The only time I recall the four corners of the Earth being mentioned is in the book of Revelation where it is a symbolic reference to 'the farthest reaches of the globe', however I might be wrong, I don't have the Bible memorized after all.
2) How long it took God to make the world and everything in it. The simple answer is that He is The Almighty and can do more or less as He pleases, but this answer tends to be not very satisfying. I will admit, this is a topic Christianity itself is divided upon. I was taught that since the first five books, The Pentateuch, were writtan by a man, Moses, then we should understand them as a man would; that being 24 hour days. The information Moses wrote would have been passed by word of mouth during the pre-patriarical era. (The patriarical era being the time from Abraham to Joshua and the founding of Israel as a kingdom.) I understand that many see this as time for fabrication or mistakes in recording, but I believe that God provides.
2b) The Earth existing without a star for it to revolve around. Again, He is The Creator, Or more meaningfully, when God created light he created darkness at the exact same time. In doing this he gave us what we would come to understand as day and night. We as humans tend to think of the sun as the dominant light so much so that we cannot think of where light would come from without it. Imagine this though, when God divided light from dark perhaps he simply creted hemispheres of each, which would grant day and night just as well as the sun would. The hemisphere idea make plenty of sense to those of us who chose to believe in the divine be cause we read that God did the same sort of thing when he seperated the sky and sea.
3) Evolution. I have no answer that will satisfy, and I know that, but I will say my piece just the same. Micro-evolution, or adaptation, is well known and observed. This is what Darwin witnessed on those islands, prticularly in the birds. However, these birds, for all the changes they went through, did not become anything other than birds. Darwin took this information, and ran with it. If, over a short period of time, birds can change to mach their surroundings then couldnt chimps or gorillas, over a much longer period of time, become something akin to humans? A bold claim, but one that lacked real evidence. Since his day macro-evolution, or Darwinian Evolution, has made quite an impact on the world and the way we view the progression of life. Alas however, there is that ubiquitous question. "If humans came from mankeys, how come we still have mankeys?"
Thank you for allowing me to butt in, and I would very much appreciate it if this conversation continued with as much respect as humanly possible.
-Michael May
