@waxeagle I remember at one point that I could see the suggested synonyms. Was that something that was in the moderator tools (that I'll get back when I hit 2k)?
A second question: Your tag points in your profile aren't limited by the daily rep cap, are they? Like I have 43 points in bible. Is that limited by the fact that I keep hitting the rep cap?
It it just me, or does it seem like that can be "gamed" a bit. Given high rep people the ability to retag and then giving them badges for tags with high number of votes...
The story of Abraham is talking about a man, who is punished by God to victimize his son, to prove his faith. (Gen 22,1–19).
Abraham decides to follow his God, and to kill his own son. But in an early last-moment-rescue-thriller, God says 'Stop', and accepts an animal as sacrifice.
Blind obed...
@CRoss I worked on it some. There's actually some good stuff in there. But he was rambling a lot, repeating himself a bit, and had a hard time getting to the point.
Many Christians will quote passages from the bible as proof or evidence when needed. However, given that it is a story written, translated, interpreted, re-written, re-translated and re-interpreted by humans over tens of generations and adapted for many of the monotheistic religions such as Chris...
@Flimzy Obviously based on my comment, it didn't strike me that way. Is it broad? Yes. Is there a good way to focus it in on something without loosing sight of the issue it was meant to question? I didn't think so on a first read.
@Richard vtc'd. Specific events should be on topic, but the entirity in general isn't really an answerable question. Some of them are easily proven otehrs are not
I was raised Christadelphian, after 17 years of education and reading the bible, I dismissed my faith and left the church. One of my main reasons was for turning my back on God was this.
Why is it that children are born in Africa, with HIV or AID's, these children die of starvation and disease b...
I believe that evil exists because God gave us free will. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Because of this The Fall of man happened and drew us away from God. Suffering exists not only because God can exert justice on the evil of the earth but also because God can grow people and bring them to greater...
People have been finding fossils for many years. Millions of fossils fill museums and storage vaults around the world, and we've yet to find a single one of a human. This suggests that the animals and plants that became fossilised are from a much earlier time than humans ever existed in.
How do...
@waxeagle the only applicable statement at the time was "Whoever sheds the blood of man,by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
@waxeagle what I'm trying to say is that if we heard "God" telling us to do something like that, we have plenty of contradictory evidence and should run the other way praying
@HedgeMage: Would it be fair to flag this as not an answer since the question is closed, is general reference, and they had to cheat the system to make it that short anyway?
@Caleb I don't even know all the flag reasons by heart and I work here. The important part is whether or not something should be flagged -- after that just pick whatever reason seems closest.
God cursed Cain to be an eternal wanderer, so he went to a (probably figure-of-speech) land of wandering, the land of Nod, this much I understand. But then he builds the first city, Enoch. How is it compatible with being an eternal wanderer?
UPD: The principal source on which I base the claim th...
Why are there so many "illogical" questions popping up?
Attempted trolling?
@a_hardin old earth creationism == creationism that follows the widely accepted (if wrong) evolution-style timeline for creation (non-literal days, millions of years of life on earth, gap theory, etc).
Do all christians believe the Earth is only 6000 to 12,000 years old? Where does this age originate from? And finally, how does one explain the presence of supposedly older materials such as fossils (or the inaccuracy of scientific dating methods)?
@a_hardin I think that's a good idea. The question seems to have two separate thrusts, the second being fossils.
@RolandTaylor What surprises me about that question is that (if you look at the edit history), he admits to trolling. Really? That doesn't seem wise to me...
Meh, I never got the amount of energy some people put into worrying about other people's spiritual/religious beliefs. I mean, as long as you are on the right road (assuming you think you are), what is the motivation to try to redirect strangers (assuming they aren't looking for new direction) ?
@HedgeMage I get it for core concepts, but for things like the beginning or end of the world, I agree. Core concepts (eg resurrection of Jesus) are pretty important though. Most of the time, I think it's in our nature to try to "be right".
@HedgeMage Honestly it makes no difference to me whether one thinks that the earth was formed for nothing or transported here by space aliens, or even is a custom built computer tasked with determining the question to which the answer is 42. If they believe in Jesus and trust him for their salvation I believe they are saved.
@waxeagle I'm not sure how the common (that I'm familiar with, anyway) interpretation of that can lead to anything but oppression and violence. I mean, every deist sect I'm aware of (all Christian sects included) think that they are Right and everyone else is Wrong. If all these people go about trying to convert one another, the best they can hope to do is waste a lot of time, and more often it ends in political/economic coercion and violence in an attempt to force conversion.
@HedgeMage It's true. However, the churches I have been a part of acknowledge that other protestant movements are valid and typically focus their community missions efforts on the folks who don't go to church at all.
@waxeagle So ideological warfare plays out better if you slightly broaden the small group you exempt from it?
doesn't get it.
@waxeagle I know Christians who don't proselytize (regardless of what other Christians say about it) and Christians who do immoral and/or inappropriate things as in their attempts to proselytize. I'm not convinced it's possible to proselytize in a non-destructive way -- what would that look like?
One of the great ways to do community missions well is to offer a service at your church. Something useful, in Ecuador we offered free English classes to local community members. It was something people wanted, often couldn't afford, and was helpful to them in the long term. One of the components was a short presentation of the gospel with an offer to talk to someone later to find out more.
@waxeagle That depends on the service. For example, missions often give away free food, which prevents local suppliers from making a living, which causes them to move on or change vocations, which leaves the church in control of the only food supply. Mission work (because it's often done in ignorance of economic and social factors outside the church) is often destructive.
For some people it means all the difference. One guy last night revealed a disturbing figure: 82% - of youth leave the faith under the influence of evolutionary theory.
@HedgeMage Can we avoid that wayward discussion again?
Another example from my parents' ministry is how they helped start savings and loan groups in some very poor communities. Basically they gathered a group of local entrepreneurs, people who sold stuff on the street or who owned small shops and had them meet once a week to save some money, the money was kept in a locked box by one of the group members. After a few weeks they could take loans out of this money for a small amount with interest.
In regards to what you were talking about earlier, I know some some Christians who think that if you aren't a young earth creationist then you are not a Christian
@aceinthehole could you parse that a bit better? are you surprised that he thinks you can be a christian and not believe YEC or that you cant be a Christan if you don't believe YEC?
I'm a young earth creationist.
I believe that God is more then capable of creating everything in six days and that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. Here's why I believe this:
The flood event
The Bible talks about a huge flood about ~4,500 years ago. IF you look for the evidence of this...
any question pertaining to creationism and evolution is going to spark debate
should we meta to find a way to handle these sorts of questions/comments?
Honestly, flag anything that is abusive/rude/off-topic/vague/soapboxing for us to deal with, and don't give it too much attention. I think that old/young earth creationism and evolution is Christianity's corollary to Parenting's gun questions. There's only so much to ask, so smack down the stupidity, let it play out, and be done with it.
Every community has controversies, and that's okay. If we were all in lockstep with whatever cliques we belonged to, we'd be very uninteresting humans.
Hi guys - just popping in to see the regulars, and state: I occasionally seem to annoy a few folks; that is not my aim - I am not deliberately trolling (I would never hurt SE)
@JonathonByrd i don't believe your answer is useful because 1) it argues the merits of yec vs oec 2) it doesn't answer whether christianity has a definite stance on yec vs oec. #2 is especially important, since that is the question
@djeikyb It seems like you and @JonathonByrd are at an impasse -- please just flag the answer in question and I'll deal with any issues related to it fitting the SE format or not. That way we avoid the argument.
(sorry, got called away) I meant to add that I have only commented (and only intend to comment) on a few cases relating to the presentation of "fact" (unrelated to biblical reference - make up your own rules there :p)
I am, however, really impressed by the quality of the questions and answers on the site
It isn't an easy subject to cover, and I think so far people are doing a really good job
@JonathonByrd Do you have any facts to back your statement that these are your beliefs and that you believe in your beliefs? /firstandlastattemptattrolling
I think if we all move on to something less contentious it'll be fine.
That's not to say that controversy is bad, just that the text-based equivalent of raised voices isn't the first thing a newcomer should encounter in the site's main room.
@studiohack super super super busy... I thought I'd put a little time into this site, but i don't have much... plus I still do stuff at SU :) How ya been?
@MarcGravell - Just so you know, despite whatever viewpoints you may have, not everyone is opposed to seeing them here. I welcome you to express your viewpoints whether I agree with them or not, it gives anyone who wants to an opportunity to study and learn, either learning to dispute what you say, or learning that what you say may not be as crazy as it first appears
SE isn't necessarily the right platform for debate (although the chat could work). I think I decided on about day 2 to make sure I didn't try proselytising my views - that is not my intent, and would end very badly for all
It is a subject of intense interest (and one I'm not entirely ignorant of)
this brings up an interesting point I was gonna see if there was a meta post on... in most SE sites, you downvote both "wrong" and "bad" answers. Seems that here, both are kind of grey areas... like on SO if I said you should nest 15 ifs rather than using a switch/case I would get voted off the island for just being wrong, even if I had a great presentation of my answer
but here, it just seems dirty to downvote something that you just think is wrong...
It is of great relief to me that I am not alone in my observations on some answers, though. Evidence-based fact is great. Belief is great. Biblical reference/citation/view is great. Opinion is great. Just as long as the answer is clear as to which it represents.
personally I think that for any answer here to be considered a "good" answer, it should require references... personal opinion should still be presented with at least SOME reasoning
Nathan - if it helps, I've happily up-voted a few answers that represent view I disagree with passionately (divisive subjects - not the simple things) - because they were damn good answers in terms of representing themselves from the context of the question
but faith is to fill gaps, not to present entire arguments
I could claim God looks like a fluffy pink t-rex... and totally believe that... but it's useless as a statement in itself without some reason for my thinking
And Marc, I've done the same, simply because the position was well-stated
Researching whether angels have free will and whether God has free will, I found myself in the midst of this question.
Is free will an illusion?
Our "choice" is that we either follow God or we do not follow God. However, God has clearly chosen some people to be saved and some to not be saved:
...
@Richard I'm of the mind that our free will is an illusion. From our POV we have free will. However God has already foreordained all things. Otherwise the butterfly effect comes into play quite strongly
This was originally part of this question However, it's really a separate line of logic (and therefore a different question, imo). If others prefer, I can remerge this into the original.
God is omniscient. He truly, literally knows everything. God knows whether or not I will sin. God can ...
Nothing there says he was an "eternal" wonderer. It says he will be a "fugitive" and a "vagabond" - in other words, a criminal.
If you go on further you see that Cain was marked by God so no one would kill him (the appropriate punishment for murder, as seen later in the Law given to Israel throu...
Am I not clear enough here or is this guy just leading me on a wild goose chase?
Many Christians will quote passages from the bible as proof or evidence when needed. However, given that it is a story written, translated, interpreted, re-written, re-translated and re-interpreted by humans over tens of generations and adapted for many of the monotheistic religions such as Chris...
@MarcGravell You haven't annoyed me (even with the implication that I belong in a psychiatric ward) but at least one of your answers didn't seem to fit the spirit of the answer you accepted to your own meta question.
@JonathonByrd Jonathon: You can't run off a list of things as facts and then post script that "these are just my beliefs". That reads like "I don't mean to be rude, but <rude statement>". I would suggest that there must be a better way to come at your whole answer, and acknowledging that your beliefs involves taking sides on contested issues seems like a place to start. (YEC myself)
What popular arguments are there against Young Earth Creationism? This is not a place to argue. I'm interested in a collection of the popular responses from Old Earthers to Young Earthers. Source your statements whenever possible.
There MUST be a way to get some questions about creationism to stick, but so far the wordings we've seen are just setups for failure in the answer department.
I have seen a few questions discussion science, such as this one:
What is the archaeological evidence for a global flood?
Others do it in the answers, but not in the question. I think that is bad, because many users get it wrong. And that is a problem. The Stack Exchange Network's formula con...
@JonathonByrd Sure, but your why could acknowledge when a point is a contested issue, something like "I think the evidence on issue X comes in stronger on the side of Y, therefore I use it to base my beliefs on."
@Caleb But that's not the basis of this argument. I'm stating my beliefs and people are debating those beliefs with me. I'm not interested in debating them.
@Caleb People that are commenting on my answer are not reading the question. I specifically focused on each point that the OP made
@JonathonByrd Then phrase your statement in a way that doesn't incite objection. In particular I think the objection that @MarcGravell raised should be taken into account. Not that you need to change your beliefs, but presentation is everything here.
The story of Abraham is talking about a man, who is punished by God to victimize his son, to prove his faith. (Gen 22,1–19).
Abraham decides to follow his God, and to kill his own son. But in an early last-moment-rescue-thriller, God says 'Stop', and accepts an animal as sacrifice.
Blind obed...
Do all christians believe the Earth is only 6000 to 12,000 years old? Where does this age originate from? And finally, how does one explain the presence of supposedly older materials such as fossils (or the inaccuracy of scientific dating methods)?
Moslims and any other religion thinks the same, but why is Christianity the only true religion?
I'm a young earth creationist.
I believe that God is more then capable of creating everything in six days and that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. Here's why I believe this:
The flood event
The Bible talks about a huge flood about ~4,500 years ago. IF you look for the evidence of this...
Researching whether angels have free will and whether God has free will, I found myself in the midst of this question.
Is free will an illusion?
Our "choice" is that we either follow God or we do not follow God. However, God has clearly chosen some people to be saved and some to not be saved:
...
What popular arguments are there against Young Earth Creationism? This is not a place to argue. I'm interested in a collection of the popular responses from Old Earthers to Young Earthers. Source your statements whenever possible.
I have seen a few questions discussion science, such as this one:
What is the archaeological evidence for a global flood?
Others do it in the answers, but not in the question. I think that is bad, because many users get it wrong. And that is a problem. The Stack Exchange Network's formula con...
