"If You're a Christian, Then Don't You Believe The World Was Made in 7 Days?"

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If you're a Christian, someone has probably asked you this question. It's become increasingly clear that the world wasn't magically formed in a snap, but as Christians, we still believe that God created the Earth in some way.

 

OH SHIT, RELIGION INBOUND

 

When you look back at the Genesis chapter of the Bible, you may notice that the 'days' reflect the many stages of the Earth's creation. The "light" represents the Big Bang, creating the sun and stars... which were coincidentally built on Day 2. As we progress through the days, the Earth does construct over time in an accurately scientific way. Now then, why do atheists still ask why we believe that this all happened literally in 7 days?
 

Hate to rant on like this, but we have to face that the old beliefs are not relevant and as accurate as we thought we were, but we can still accept that they held some symbolic truth. Who knows, maybe the tale of Daniel and the Pit of Lions predicted Chris Pratt and the Pit of Raptors?

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

There are people who literally believe that though. Those people are probably the reason you get asked this.

[undefined]

There are people who literally believe that though. Those people are probably the reason you get asked this.

Their choice I guess. Maybe they are right and God just placed all these fossils in the ground to fuck with us.

[Mengh.]

A Science teacher of mine told me that maybe science and religion's happenings can exist at the same time. For one, "7 days" could be anything. A day on Jupiter is 10 hours but a day on Pluto is roughly 153 hours. However, in retrospect, I do believe that Earth wasn't made in 7 'Earth' (24 hours) days.

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

Their choice I guess. Maybe they are right and God just placed all these fossils in the ground to fuck with us.

 

It seems a certainty at this point that if god does exist, he's an arsehole.

[Hazza]

Yes, the Big Bang happened, the rock formations created floating around space started fusing together and forming planets. That's an incredibly simple way of putting it, but so is the 7 day theory.

It's exactly as you said. The 7 day theory is just a symbolic way of explaining the science of it. It's right, apart from God creating all of it. 

[TheMightyPotato]

I think the Big Bang happened as a Christian.

[AFFIRMATIVE]

Many don't care if the world is created in 7 days.

 

In truth, many believers don't even care of the events in the bible. What people do want to believe is the concept of a higher power existing in their lives, they just want and like to believe in something.

 

People once believed the world is flat. There will be a time where technology will allow us the see how the universe was created. Until then, arguing about the events of the bible will just go back and forth.. without ever reaching to a conclusion.

[Lib3l]

If you compare the creation story in genesis to the creation story believed by the babylonians you'll find they share many similar traits about the stages in which the world was created. However as the story in genesis was created after the babylonian one many people now believe that it was made to challenge their story of creation but with one major difference.

There was only one god in genesis, however in the babylonian tale it speaks of many Gods.

The creation story was not necessarily to tell how the world was created but to give the idea that there was only one god, not anymore. 

[t0night]

When you look back at the Genesis chapter of the Bible, you may notice that the 'days' reflect the many stages of the Earth's creation. The "light" represents the Big Bang, creating the sun and stars... which were coincidentally built on Day 2. As we progress through the days, the Earth does construct over time in an accurately scientific way. Now then, why do atheists still ask why we believe that this all happened literally in 7 days?

 

Hate to rant on like this, but we have to face that the old beliefs are not relevant and as accurate as we thought we were, but we can still accept that they held some symbolic truth. Who knows, maybe the tale of Daniel and the Pit of Lions predicted Chris Pratt and the Pit of Raptors?

genesis does not represent earth being constructed over time 'in an accurately scientific way'. light = big bang and everything else happens after it, therefore it's science? really? and beyond that there's obviously mad issues with timescale, human development, etc. you're anachronistically interpreting a very simple sequence in the light of thousands of years of human discovery.

 

i don't see why you would bother attempting to argue that it's accurately scientific as though that is the point of it. i've got nothing against genesis as a creation myth but i do object to people practically debasing it by pretending it jumps through the hoops of contemporary science.

[3v1lcl0n3]

i dun get tho,if god was almighty,why couldn't he make up everything in an instant ? + he needed to rest <.> 

 

some god. 

[Professional Map Painter]

Yes, the Big Bang happened, the rock formations created floating around space started fusing together and forming planets. That's an incredibly simple way of putting it, but so is the 7 day theory.

It's exactly as you said. The 7 day theory is just a symbolic way of explaining the science of it. It's right, apart from God creating all of it. 

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-big-quantum-equation-universe.html

 

People once believed the world is flat. 

 

This idea first appeared in the 19th century via the Flat Earth Society would be the first to promote such an idea. Before the 19th century the majority of people (including Columbus and the Ancient Greeks) thought the world was pear shaped.

[The Phantom]

There is only one reason that science and religion cannot exist together: people are stubborn and stupid.  

 

Solid scientific evidence is irrefutable.  Carbon dating alone provides evidence of the earth's age.  Facts are facts and there's no arguing with them.

 

However, science alone does not really provide a guide on how to live your life and treat others.  This is where religion comes in.  Honestly I don't care what religion it is, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, or any other of the countless religions in existence.  They all boil down to one key concept: treat others as you would want to be treated.  We call that the "Golden Rule".  Nearly all religious texts try to convey this idea, as well as others.  Now you have to remember, many of these doctrines were written thousands of years ago.  Humans were relatively stupid at that time if compared to modern times.  Literacy was highly uncommon.  Hence these religious texts have to teach these ideas in a way that is both relate-able and understandable.  It's open for discussion whether we simply made up events for the sake of entertainment, or had to mold them in such a way that the masses would understand them.  

 

In this particular case, the average illiterate man thousands of years ago can comprehend a 7 day span, whereas if it were written that "God created the earth over 7 thousand years", you'd lose the audience's attention.  A prime example of this is Jonah and the Whale.  Plausible?  Not really.  Does it capture attention and teach a lesson?  Arguably yes.  

 

I'm saying all of this from my point of view as a senior in college for a degree in Electrical Engineering with minors in physics and math, and as a Christian.  Science and religion can mix, but you have to understand that these two disciplines serve different purposes.    

[get miked m8]

My thought on this: 

I dislike religion for:

• the people who preach but do not do
• the people who always assume that they are right just because without listening to any logical though
• the people who are uneducated in a matter and use religion as their argument for it

However I respect Pope Francis for:

• accepting the theory of the big bang, and to some degree evolution and that science isn't some evil magic
• to teach a more accepting society overall

Educate religious believers properly, and perhaps we can still make them benefit humanity yet (hate incoming for this line)

[3athompson]

Scientific theories and religious theories don't have to clash if you don't take the religious descriptions literally. "Making Man" could simply mean guiding the creation of mankind through evolution. 7 days could be 14 billion years.
 

The reason many people hate the theory of evolution is they take the Bible and other religious books literally. 7 days means 7 days. The earth was created 6,000 years ago, because 40 years MEANS 40 years instead of "a large number of years", which was what it meant to the Hebrews. God had to create man from raw material like a clay man or something.

 

They are so literal because their interpretation of the bible depends on it. They feel compelled that the only way to do God's will is to do EXACTLY what it says in the bible. Or at least exactly what certain passages in a translated copy of an ancient Jewish document say. They force a strict interpretation of a book which you can read any way you want. And that's why they are crazy.

[t0night]

There is only one reason that science and religion cannot exist together: people are stubborn and stupid.  

 

Solid scientific evidence is irrefutable.  Carbon dating alone provides evidence of the earth's age.  Facts are facts and there's no arguing with them.

 

However, science alone does not really provide a guide on how to live your life and treat others.  This is where religion comes in.  Honestly I don't care what religion it is, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, or any other of the countless religions in existence.  They all boil down to one key concept: treat others as you would want to be treated.  We call that the "Golden Rule".  Nearly all religious texts try to convey this idea, as well as others.  Now you have to remember, many of these doctrines were written thousands of years ago.  Humans were relatively stupid at that time if compared to modern times.  Literacy was highly uncommon.  Hence these religious texts have to teach these ideas in a way that is both relate-able and understandable.  It's open for discussion whether we simply made up events for the sake of entertainment, or had to mold them in such a way that the masses would understand them.  

 

In this particular case, the average illiterate man thousands of years ago can comprehend a 7 day span, whereas if it were written that "God created the earth over 7 thousand years", you'd lose the audience's attention.  A prime example of this is Jonah and the Whale.  Plausible?  Not really.  Does it capture attention and teach a lesson?  Arguably yes.  

 

I'm saying all of this from my point of view as a senior in college for a degree in Electrical Engineering with minors in physics and math, and as a Christian.  Science and religion can mix, but you have to understand that these two disciplines serve different purposes.    

you cannot possibly boil down every religion into 'do unto others as you would have them do', that is ludicrous...

 

it's also senseless to claim that people were so much less intelligent thousands of years ago. sure, less educated and literate. literacy is not intelligence. most people were illiterate until relatively very recently. metaphorical religious teaching and fable are useful because they provide examples which are able to be applied elsewhere, read allegorically and understood in a personal context. claiming that they exist because most people couldn't comprehend long time periods and other basic shit is lunacy. also you're living evidence that science and religion can and do co-exist, i'm assuming your opening line is just badly worded rather than genuine.

 

i agree that religion and science serve different purposes, but you treat scientific teaching as unquestionable when in reality there are often problems and questions that can be posed of it. the reason science works is because it questions and interrogates in the search for reliable, practicable results.

[¬°BurningKirby]

 

This idea first appeared in the 19th century via the Flat Earth Society would be the first to promote such an idea. Before the 19th century the majority of people (including Columbus and the Ancient Greeks) thought the world was pear shaped.

 

The idea of Earth being flat goes much further back than the 19th century. As far as I can tell from the bit of research I did, it does in fact out date the idea of a spherical Earth.

The Greeks actually did believe that the earth was flat. Evidence can be found in some of Homer's texts.

 

Also, I can't find anything saying that anyone believed Earth was pear-shaped.

[Umbrella]

i think i am god and the universe is my ass

[3v1lcl0n3]

 

 

However, science alone does not really provide a guide on how to live your life and treat others.  This is where religion comes in.  Honestly I don't care what religion it is, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, or any other of the countless religions in existence.  They all boil down to one key concept: treat others as you would want to be treated.  We call that the "Golden Rule".  Nearly all religious texts try to convey this idea, as well as others.  Now you have to remember, many of these doctrines were written thousands of years ago.  Humans were relatively stupid at that time if compared to modern times.  Literacy was highly uncommon.  Hence these religious texts have to teach these ideas in a way that is both relate-able and understandable.  It's open for discussion whether we simply made up events for the sake of entertainment, or had to mold them in such a way that the masses would understand them.  

 

In this particular case, the average illiterate man thousands of years ago can comprehend a 7 day span, whereas if it were written that "God created the earth over 7 thousand years", you'd lose the audience's attention.  A prime example of this is Jonah and the Whale.  Plausible?  Not really.  Does it capture attention and teach a lesson?  Arguably yes.  

 

I'm saying all of this from my point of view as a senior in college for a degree in Electrical Engineering with minors in physics and math, and as a Christian.  Science and religion can mix, but you have to understand that these two disciplines serve different purposes.    

 

That's a huge generalization. if you were like "golden rule + you must love me or you'll burn in hell forever", that would be closer,but still inaccurate. 

I think you already know it,but i want to be sure. the golden rule isn't presented by religion. <.>

 

i have a few stupid questions tho. If people wrote the bible,wouldn't it be inaccurate ? i mean nobody witnessed the creation of the universe and stuff. Or did god communicate with scholars on a regular basis and helped them write the bible ? or did he make it himself ? But then again,he is almighty. so he can see the future,yes ? why couldn't he write it better,as that ol' book was good for what... 1.5k years before people started to really understand it's full of contradictions ? 

ooor if we go to the first point that scholars wrote it and made it easier to understand,couldn't god... intervene ? i'm still at the future-o-vision thing , he would have known everything that would happen <.> (and also as a bonus, why couldn't he make us smarter in the first place, drumbeat)

 

on track. bambi is also is also relate-able and understadnable. yet nobody worships him <.> maybe he just came in the wrong time. 

and that one also teaches a lesson,but doesn't scare you with any burning in hell for all eternity and shit. 

 

I'm saying that as an undergradute in computer science and as an atheist + a guy who likes to question shit (then again,it's one and the same)

not that an argument is any better/worse depending on who says it. 

[t0night]

 

you could probably be accused of derailing a thread about genesis into a generic 'hey look i can poke holes in religion' kind of thing, just saying

 

inb4 i'm attacked for minimodding cause i didn't think he deserved a formal warning so i didn't report him for posting something that's basically next to the topic if not on it

[3v1lcl0n3]

you could probably be accused of derailing a thread about genesis into a generic 'hey look i can poke holes in religion' kind of thing, just saying

 

inb4 i'm attacked for minimodding cause i didn't think he deserved a formal warning so i didn't report him for posting something that's basically next to the topic if not on it

 

you are free to call me out,however i don't see anything off with my comment. 

also i suppose you have an issue with my approach of asking questions rather than making arguments for my case ? 

 

Because i think that's how a debate should work yunno. poking holes in the other party's arguments <.> and i did focus on phantom's arguments as much as i could kek,but when the possible inconsistencies start piling up it's hard to stop. 

 

( edit: fun fact:going further down this line we are actually going off topic )

[The Phantom]

you cannot possibly boil down every religion into 'do unto others as you would have them do', that is ludicrous...

 

it's also senseless to claim that people were so much less intelligent thousands of years ago. sure, less educated and literate. literacy is not intelligence. most people were illiterate until relatively very recently. metaphorical religious teaching and fable are useful because they provide examples which are able to be applied elsewhere, read allegorically and understood in a personal context. claiming that they exist because most people couldn't comprehend long time periods and other basic shit is lunacy. also you're living evidence that science and religion can and do co-exist, i'm assuming your opening line is just badly worded rather than genuine.

 

i agree that religion and science serve different purposes, but you treat scientific teaching as unquestionable when in reality there are often problems and questions that can be posed of it. the reason science works is because it questions and interrogates in the search for reliable, practicable results.

 

 

It's interesting you called just about everything I said "lunacy".  If you're going to speak on the topic of literacy, you might want to at least use proper punctuation and capitalization, because  you have zero credibility right now.  My "opening line" listed the reason that I see as being the source of contention.  You've not only misread my entire post, it seems like you barely skimmed it.  I'd rather that you read and understand what I said if you intend to dispute it.

[♛ AlphaOmega ♛]

This is interesting because we just brought this up today in my Theo class.

 

The one i subscribe to is that God's sense of time is different from ours. He may have made earth in 7 days, but certainly that means something different than what we know as 'seven days'. Genesis is more 'stories' than actual accounts.

 

As for the big bang, i just find it so hard to believe that every single inner working of nature, from plant color to molecular structure, was created in one burst. Of course, the response to that is God was the one that caused the big bang.

[0123847a;fsdaklf]

If anyone is interested here is a quick six minute video explaining the Big Bang.

[Studious Damon]

If you're a Christian, someone has probably asked you this question. It's become increasingly clear that the world wasn't magically formed in a snap, but as Christians, we still believe that God created the Earth in some way.

 

OH SHIT, RELIGION INBOUND

 

When you look back at the Genesis chapter of the Bible, you may notice that the 'days' reflect the many stages of the Earth's creation. The "light" represents the Big Bang, creating the sun and stars... which were coincidentally built on Day 2. As we progress through the days, the Earth does construct over time in an accurately scientific way. Now then, why do atheists still ask why we believe that this all happened literally in 7 days?

 

Hate to rant on like this, but we have to face that the old beliefs are not relevant and as accurate as we thought we were, but we can still accept that they held some symbolic truth. Who knows, maybe the tale of Daniel and the Pit of Lions predicted Chris Pratt and the Pit of Raptors?

You do know what christiansanity is right? Other religions aren't based off fear. Only Christianity is. 

Fear god. That's what your taught, you buy into this bullshit because you need to fear to be able to make sense of things.

 

I went to a VERY religious private school in Denmark, the kind with nuns and graves. And let me tell you, I don't respect them at all for fearing some dude with nails (thats hyperbole, don't worry I know what I'm talking about). How did it start though? Some genius asshole wanted to make money and so he wrote a long book and sold it to an idiot. Who spread the word. Who created this disease called religion.