Are you a true Christian believer?

[srb7677]

It is obviously millions of years old

Billions in fact. The oldest rocks ever found on earth have been carbon dated to over 3 billion years old. And the Earth itself is thought to be about 4.5 or 4.6 billion years old, which is supported by the dating of asteroids thought to have formed about the same time which date to this long ago.

The sun itself is thought to have formed out of a gravitationally contracting cloud of gas and dust some 5 billion years ago. The universe itself - though there is no absolute certainty and some doubts - is on current knowledge thought to have began about 13.7 or 13.8 billion years ago.

No doubt you see God's hand in all this.

[T00ts]

No, because like all religious readings it is written in such a vague way that anything can be interpreted. BUT it does point to the Earth not being very old, and seeing as this information was supposedly passed down from God, he seems to have forgotten when he made it.

about 6000 years


Concerning the age of the Earth, the Bible's genealogical records combined with the Genesis 1 account of creation are used to estimate an age for the Earth and universe of about 6000 years, with a bit of uncertainty on the completeness of the genealogical records, allowing for a few thousand years more.

I don't think that is right. It is obviously millions of years old and was a long time in the making. A day in God's Genesis time is eons and science has already proved that it has taken millions of years to develop the many resources which we benefit from. Human life as we understand it is possibly about 6000+. The Bible is not vague at all but it does need study to get beyond the imagery with which it is written. I am currently studying Isaiah and it takes effort but is actually mostly very clear. 

[Nick]

Genesis does not say how old the earth is.
Scientists don't really know how old the earth/universe is. They have recently noted changes in time/space as spacecraft exit the solar system, so all bets are off.

The Lord God made it all. All things bright and beautiful confirms it.

No, because like all religious readings it is written in such a vague way that anything can be interpreted. BUT it does point to the Earth not being very old, and seeing as this information was supposedly passed down from God, he seems to have forgotten when he made it. 

about 6000 years


Concerning the age of the Earth, the Bible's genealogical records combined with the Genesis 1 account of creation are used to estimate an age for the Earth and universe of about 6000 years, with a bit of uncertainty on the completeness of the genealogical records, allowing for a few thousand years more.

[Barry]

Genesis does not say how old the earth is.
Scientists don't really know how old the earth/universe is. They have recently noted changes in time/space as spacecraft exit the solar system, so all bets are off.

The Lord God made it all. All things bright and beautiful confirms it. 

[srb7677]

The age of the Earth is also a biggy don't you think?

Only a real fundamentalist like a Jehovah's Witness believes the Earth is only a few thousand years old.

For most believers an Earth that is billions of years old with life that has evolved over that time is not incompatible with what they believe.

I am not even a Christian and the above facts are in no way incompatible with my beliefs but are integral to them.

[Streetwalker]

I am a Christian.

It is a pity that God isn't

When God met Jesus 

[Nick]

Only if your faith requires you to accept genesis as literal truth. Take that away and it's relatively straightforward to consider a supreme being driving what non believers call random chance.

The age of the Earth is also a biggy don't you think?

[patman post]

I have spoken in depth about what I believe before. I do not believe in the God of the bible. Instead I believe in a higher spiritual entity that permeates the entire universe and is in everything and everyone. It is within all of us and has been withing every thing since the dawn if time. Life is where spiritual and material combine, being a material vessel which molds souls out of the spiritual ether. As life evolves  so do the souls created by it which in turn also evolve and progress over millions of years through successive reincarnations.

Mine is a belief system that aligns with evolution which I accept as a reality, and with science more broadly. My concept of god is nothing like the entity imagined in the bible. It is an etherial entity permeating the entire universe and thus is simultaneously everywhere and in everything. Our souls are formed from this, so in a sense we are all a part of God which is everywhere and in us, and not wholly seperate from us.

Life is where spiritual uses material to manifest it's own evolution towards higher states, even as the material of life itself evolves.

You will not believe a word of this I suspect, but it is consistent with evolution and what I see as a universal spiritual entity.

In short, you're hedging your bets.

I guess most of us do with ref to the afterlife and the Almighty, one way or another...

[Borchester]

I am a Christian.

It is a pity that God isn't

[johnofgwent]

I tell any religious fanatics who knock my front door my wife and I are Pagans. That gets rid of them.

My grand daughter conveys that so much more convincingly than I do, so we let her tell them.

[johnofgwent]

I'm fairly sure you can't believe in evolution and God, they are 2 incompatible positions.

Only if your faith requires you to accept genesis as literal truth. Take that away and it's relatively straightforward to consider a supreme being driving what non believers call random chance.

[patman post]

I'm fairly sure you can't believe in evolution and God, they are 2 incompatible positions.

No doubt those who promote the belief in a deity and their avid followers can construct and accept an explanation of early allegories that's reasonably acceptable to the easily swayed.

It's Creationists who claim to be Christians I find to be baffling modern equivalents of Flat Earthers and those who insisted the Sun circled the earth...

[srb7677]

I'm fairly sure you can't believe in evolution and God, they are 2 incompatible positions.

I have spoken in depth about what I believe before. I do not believe in the God of the bible. Instead I believe in a higher spiritual entity that permeates the entire universe and is in everything and everyone. It is within all of us and has been withing every thing since the dawn if time. Life is where spiritual and material combine, being a material vessel which molds souls out of the spiritual ether. As life evolves  so do the souls created by it which in turn also evolve and progress over millions of years through successive reincarnations.

Mine is a belief system that aligns with evolution which I accept as a reality, and with science more broadly. My concept of god is nothing like the entity imagined in the bible. It is an etherial entity permeating the entire universe and thus is simultaneously everywhere and in everything. Our souls are formed from this, so in a sense we are all a part of God which is everywhere and in us, and not wholly seperate from us.

Life is where spiritual uses material to manifest it's own evolution towards higher states, even as the material of life itself evolves.

You will not believe a word of this I suspect, but it is consistent with evolution and what I see as a universal spiritual entity.

[Nick]

Well I believe in evolution too but also believe in a spiritual dimension to everything, and that every living thing has a soul which evolved along with physical life, and is continually reincarnated. I believe that physical and etherial reality have evolved together in tandem since the beginning of time. No organised religion teaches this which is why I voted for option 4

I'm fairly sure you can't believe in evolution and God, they are 2 incompatible positions. 

[srb7677]

I believe in evolution and that we exist because it was possible for us to exist.

Well I believe in evolution too but also believe in a spiritual dimension to everything, and that every living thing has a soul which evolved along with physical life, and is continually reincarnated. I believe that physical and etherial reality have evolved together in tandem since the beginning of time. No organised religion teaches this which is why I voted for option 4