Re: 22 Messages From Creationists To People Who Believe In Evolution

There is more to religion than what is written in a book. True religion is about what you do, not what you say. A true Christian is somebody who loves all people, not somebody who says "I am a Christian".

I agree that true Christianity is all about love. That pretty much sums up the main point Jesus made when he said the greatest commandment was "to love your neighbor as yourself." So with that perspective, this debate is not the most important thing. But it does have an effect on the fact that many people discredit the Bible now entirely.

Also, you can call it crazy that we take the Bible literally, and many other Christians think we are as well. But the problem with just picking and choosing which parts of the Bible we agree with or don't agree with is that we are undermining the Bible. We are in essence saying that it could all be "fairy tales." Which parts are then made up? Do we just pick what makes sense based on what scientists are speculating is true? If we don't like some of God's laws do we just ignore them? Where is that line? And in essence, do we trust God or science? That is what it comes down to for me. If God is a God of miracles, which I believe He is, then He is able to do anything outside of the "rules" of science anyways.

Ahem, you have it wrong. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to "love God with all your soul", loving others comes in second.

If you believe there is a god, then why not just ask him which parts of the Bible are supposed to be taken literally?

True. In loving others we are loving God so they very much go together I believe so lving God with all our soul should then cause us to love our neighbors as our self.

I used to believe that evolution was a non-issue but over time have begun to realize that the Bible should be taken as literally as possible. Granted, not with a legalistic mindset (It can often go hand in hand it seems and I understand that) But to fear God for me is to respect Him and His word and to live it out as much as possible in every area of my life.

This is a key part. You only love or believe in him out of fear. It's exactly like an abusive relationship. If god really loves us all I don't think he'd be bothered when people use their god-given intelligence to cast doubt on his existence. Especially when the only evidence for him is in a book. I'm also not sure how we're meant to know which book is true or not. What if the bible is the work of the devil and the Koran (or something else) is the one true book?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is foolish NOT to fear God.

Shouldn't we fear and respect the one that has the power to send us to hell?

The Koran is not a book of Love. Sure there are some "truths" in all religions, or people would not follow them. Like I said in other posts, the one thing that differentiates Christianity from the rest is that Christianity is not about what we can do to earn our way to "heaven" or whatever heightened spiritual place the religion teaches. Christianity is all about what God, out of His great love for us, has done. We have the choice to accept that or reject that. Then out of fear and reverence we then follow Him because of His love. It is like a healthy father/child relationship. One where the child knows the Father's place and listens to Him and does what He asks, even when it does not always make sense because we can trust He really does know what is best for us.