Hmmm. After reading all 9 pages, I was surprised that AlteredBeast hasn\'t posted yet. He is usually right in the middle of these kinds of threads.
I am a little skeptical of replying to a lot of things said in this thread, because a lot of this thread has just been a huge Christian bash. Hopefully I am not bashed for what I post, because these are just my beliefs.
Age of the earthHow old is the earth really? Most scientists believe that it is over 4,5, or even 6 billion years old. How can this be when the bible clearly states it is only around 6 thousand years old? How can there be dinosaurs that are 4 billion years old if the world is only 6 thousand years old? I have a few things to say about this.
Two ideas come from the point of creation itself.
1. When Christ created this world, he made the planet from dust floating around in space. Where did this matter come from? (I am not saying that Christ can not create matter, but this is just one idea.) Would it be unreasonable to think that our world was created from fragments of 4 billion old planets that have already been destroyed? The dinosaurs could have been to those planets as our Lions and Tigers are to this planet.
2. As Troglodyte said, we do not know how long each day was when the earth was being created. It could have been one earth day. It could have been one "Kolob" day, AKA "God Time" (1000 earth years = 1 God day). Or one day could have meant one period in time whose length is unknown or inconsistent from day to day. Dinosaurs
could have lived on the planet during a certain point of creation.
Of course, both of those theories could be completely wrong, which is probably a big reason why believing in religion is so hard to do for a lot of people.
Here is another thing to consider. How do we know that the scientists are right about the earth being 4 billion years old? Scientist\'s theories change all the time, and often, they are not right at all. For example, up until a few years ago, it was believed that human brain cells do NOT grow back. This knowledge was widely excepted. Why? Because a "scientist" said so. Then with more recent technology, they discovered that brain cells actually do grow back and the scientists were wrong all along. I do think that scientists know a lot, and discover a lot, but maybe the age of the world is something that they are completely wrong about...
Is the Sun shrinking?That\'s the first time I\'ve ever heard that theory. I always heard that our sun was just a baby star (compared to a lot of other stars out there) and was going to continue to grow bigger and bigger.
How can one religion be right and all the others be wrong?I don\'t want to get to deep into this subject for fear of offending someone, but I do want to say that I agree with that general statement. Almost all religions have some truth to them. Most of them (except for the Satanic ones
) teach good morals and proper ways of life, etc.
What makes worshiping an idol like the billions of buddhists out there do worse than wearing a cross around your neck?Ding ding ding.
I agree with that statement completely.
Sublimesjg,god created man in hope of making us his perfect children - but yet we arent perfect - if he is so almighty then why did he screw up when he was creating us and if he didnt make us perfect then why does he punish us if we arent trying to be perfect and believe in him
It is possible for us to become perfect though -- through the Atonement and Christ. Christ died for our sins, our sorrows, and our fears. He has already payed the price while he was in the garden of Gatseminie (sp?). He took upon himself those things to make us happy, and to make us able to return to the presence of God again. God\'s ultimate plan is for all of us to return to him some day.
also why are we punished for acting on our free will then - and dont give me that we arent punished - i think being sent to an eternity in hell for not believeing in him is quite the punishment - so why give us free will
That\'s a bigger question than you are making it out to be, and it\'s going to take a big answer.
In the premortal life, we were all gathered together in a big meeting. We were told that we were going down to a planet to get our physical bodies. Because our mortal bodies have a capability to sin, God had a plan for us to be able to return to him again. He asked who would fulfill his plan. Christ volunteered to be the one. His plan was what I mentioned above -- the Atonement (Christ dying for our sins). But Lucifer had a better idea. He said that instead of letting us have free agency, he would force us to be good. That way would could all return to God again. Satan\'s plan was completely wrong (I could go into it and tell you all about why his plan was wrong, but I\'m sure you\'re getting tired eyes already).
You are probably thinking that Satan\'s plan would have been the best, because it would guarantee that all of us are going to heaven. To that I\'m going to post a scripture. 2 Nephi, 2:13 (of course from the Book of Mormon, heh
) "And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."
In other words, if there is no sorrow, then there is no joy. We need to experience one to be able to experience the other. That is one reason why Adam and Even
had to sin in the garden of Eden. At the state that they were in, they did not know joy or sorrow.
- he didnt ask me hey scott do you want to live on earth - no he didnt - he put me here and if i dont like it then im screwed because i cant kill myself or i go to hell - so well look at that - what kind of free will is that
Actually, he did ask you, and yes you chose to go. In fact, I\'ll bet you were extremely excited to go, because then you were not in the dark; Then you could see the whole picture. You knew the importance of coming down here.
SamwiseWhat if you died and found out there was ...... nothing. Muahaha, all those church hours for nothing.
Well then there would be nothing and we wouldn\'t even get a chance to say, "Crap, all that church for nothing!"
