When did you accept God in your life, or realize you did not believe in him?

Thanks, Ig. You're not too bad yourself.

 

Mostly pre-TBR. Almost lost my best friend one time because I debated him into a corner on a road trip. There have been other mistakes, too.

 

Not a bad way of looking at it. Not bad at all.

 

yeah, but what does genesis say? "whales" litterally? i've seen "sea monsters" as a translation as well. i think it's probably just meant to be "creatures of waters" which were probably not seen as being so friendly towards man (the water in general is probably recognized as being completely alien and inhospitable to man).

interestingly, the red sea probably had a major flood event happen there, too. there's a sliver of a channel (geologically speaking). as the ocean levels rise, the water would crest the land at this point and then flood through, cutting a deeper channel and letting more water rush in. the black sea is thought to have been formed this way, and perhaps the mediterranian as well.

 

Actually, it did . Jesus took it to the next level and streamlined it at the same time.

I think Christianity (or more appropriately knowledge of God) offers one significant contribution to scientific study -- purpose. I've said before that if science is the 'what' and 'how', God is the 'why'. That may be oversimplified, but bringing God into natural science allows people to see intent and even love throughout the natural world.

Agreed. Trust (faith) is a decision, not the answer to an equation. And decisions are subjective by nature.

 

Point taken. I just checked, and the terms used are "great sea monsters" and "living creatures of every kind". So I guess we kind of got off track there. See how sticky this can get?!

Careful, Nut... you might be close to supporting the Bible's position there.

 

heh... not really, tho.

the continental shelf is the extremeties of landmass during the periods when the ocean recedes (like during an ice age). if you take a look at a map that shows the shelf's extent, you can see how the land was different during these periods (or at least, a hint at how it might have looked depending on just what the ocean level was).

the red sea, the black sea, probably other seas of various colors... they didn't exist -- or at least, they didn't exist as they are today. think of death valley.... imagine the water level rose enough to make it just over the "rim" of death valley (i know, there are probably mountains and such, which is why it hasn't happened). as soon as the water could make it, it would flow into the valley and fill it up in a pretty short period of time. people in the area would freak out.

in the most extreme case, people would be killed in a large flood. in the less extreme case, they'd need to move as the shoreline kept creeping up. either way, you'd have remnants of "land life" at the bottom of a seas.


now did ancient people find these remnants and make up stories to explain them or did the ancient stories survive by word of mouth till somebody finally wrote them down in the form of the day? either seems just as likely to me and both seem more likely than the stories in the bible.

 

No problem HB.

 

See, that's the problem I have with the bible. You can't disprove anything because God can do whatever he wants. Evolution, on the other hand, is bound by the limits of science and mathematics.

 

No way HB, you're not part of the problem, just the kind of person you are makes me question my belief that there is no God, and you've helped alot as far as answering questions that other people havent been able to. If there is a heaven, I believe God will have a special place reserved for people like you.