Bex wrote:I don't believe the worst of God. I believe that the statements in the Bible literally mean what they say.
[quote]If you believed this, you would not suggest that someone can have both the God of the bible and evolution. So here you are admitting that you believe the statements in the bible literally mean what they say.....yet you've contradicted this in the past on here by suggesting that one can believe both.
This is admittedly little more than a stab in the dark here, and I don't wish to speak on LinearAq's behalf, but I think what he may be implying when saying the bible means what it says is simply that. It means what it says -- whether 100% true or not is entirely a different story. If you mean what you say it doesn't mean you are accurate.
one belief would be compromising the other as they are polar opposites.
That is a matter of interpretation and individual belief, not fact. There are countless Christians who see much of the bible as storytelling designed to teach an important lesson in life and not as something which
necessarily actually happened. In this sense, these people very likely believe that, like you, the bible "means what it says" - just not in a literal sense of the word.
Now you're more than welcome to argue against this but you'd be arguing against the thousands of Christians who look at their faith from this vantage point and not me as I am not a Christian at all. I live in a pretty heavily Christian dominated area and I know first hand what
some of them believe as regards the bible and its interpretation. There are entire websites devoted to interpreting the bible in this way. Ultimately the events foretold in the bible are meant to teach a certain lesson in life and in this light I side with the Christians mentioned above - it doesn't matter whether the events actually happened or not. It matters if people are learning from what the lesson teaches.
I do, however -- and I admit I may be wrong -- get the distinct impression that some people actually
want the bible and evolution to be polar opposites, they
need to be, not beceause it necessarily is but to help them make sense of their own beliefs. These people seem, to me, to be pushing this agenda forcefully. I've witnessed Christian creationists (not that there's much in the way of non-Christian creationists out there though admittedly some) blatantly tune out a Christian who states they believe in evolution. It's like they don't want to even acknowledge that there are some amongst the Christian fold who accept evolution. It's seems a very "my way or the highway" mentality, a very black-and-white-and-nothing-else-in-between (and thus narrow) perception.
