Has evolutionism become a leading religion?

[Jason B]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Let me ask you this, upon what basis do you conclude that the Bible "lines up" with objective truth?

You have to use your own reasoning to establish that conclusion. You've worked much of it out yourself. Even if someone else placed your first Bible into your hands and taught you in Sunday School, I trust that over the years you have been thinking, reading and working things out. How can you KNOW that you've reached the correct conclusions concerning your faith in the Bible?

Obviously this could be a very long and specific answer covering several areas. For now I'll sum it up as this: The Bible has proven itself to be true in my life by experiencing the very things contained therein. Namely a life changing salvation experience, the gift of the Holy Ghost, excorcism, and miraculous healing. I have found God to be faithful to his word, and I have also come to learn that following Him doesn't necessarily mean everything will always go smooth in life, but on the contrary if we trly seek God, there will be trials and tribulations, all of which God uses to perfect our faith and bring us to spiritual maturity.

Thus, I would say in the first place I have found the Bible to be true through personal experience. At this point a skeptic would answer, "what of Muslims' experience, or Mormons experience, etc"? A very valid question.

So then my secondary reason for accepting the Bible is that it is superior to all other religious books in morality and dealing with true human nature. It is the only book, and Chrisitanity the only religion that teaches us we cannot work ourselves to God or salvation. The Bible's prophecies have come to pass, and there can be a very good case for future porphectic fulfillments found in Revelation. Acheology, [true] SCIENCE, History, etc all line up with the Bible. Every time there is a theory that contradicts the Bible, in time the Bible emerges vindicated (ex. Belshazzer, the Census in the days of Jesus' birth, etc).

The Bible gives us answers to the questions all mankind has, (meaning of life, life after death, etc) answers questions that evolutionists cannot (such as originins, languages, etc), in addition to this the thousands of manuscripts which so closely agree that we have when compared to all other ancient books, the dead sea scrolls, and all such things speak to the legitimacy of the scripture being written when it was claimed to have been written (ex. the Book of Daniel ch. 11).

Furthermore, the Bible itself claims to be the Word of God, and in the gospel Jesus endorses the Old Testament as such. Thus if the Bible is in error, if it is tainted, whether it be in Genesis 1-3, Genesis 6, or anywhere else, then it must be questioned as a whole.

This entire debate is a debate of Biblical authority and inerrancy, no matter how many times theistic evolutionists deny that. The FACT of the matter is that if there are errors in the Bible, yet one still accpets it as the word of God, then EVERY passage is debateable as to whether it is truly God's Word, or simply mans opinion.

To quote John MacArthur to Hugh Ross "If you don't believe Genesis 1, exactly where do you jump in? Genesis 3, Genesis 6? At what point to you begin to believe the scripture"

As I've said before If we can't be sure of the creation story, and in fact hold it as an impossibility, using that same hermenutic, what keeps us from denying:

-The existence of a literal Adam & Eve (huge reprocussions to the gospel, see Romans 5)
-How sin entered the world (and also death)
-the Flood (which Pel you already deny also, if I'm not mistaken)
-Sodom & Ghomorrah
-Lot's Wife
-The battle of Jericho (walls falling down flat)
-Elijah on Mount Caramel
-the virgin birth
-the resurrection

Basically the SAME logic and hermenutic used to DENY the authenticity of Genesis 1 can be used anywhere else in the Bible for anything else we want to apply it to, until we end up with the same ideas that Not4Sale has, that the bible is full of errors and mans interpretaions, so we pick and choose what is God's word, and what ins't. Its post modern secular christianity. Everything is relative to the reader of the text, and there is no absolute truth.

People who make these claims, CLAIM to believe in an absolute truth, but how, and using what logic?

If Genesis 1 is in error, how can we believe that Jesus endorsed the beginning as being with Adam & Eve. Especially those who don't even believe there was a man called "Adam"? So then how can we be sure that that scripture is true? In fact how can we know Jesus said ANY of those things attributed to him? Now because of our skepticism we go Thomas Jefferson on the Bible, not literally, but the way we interpret it. WE decide which content is true, and which content is false.

Again, this isn't about creation and evolution, it is about Biblical inerrancy and authority. Just call a sapade a spade.