The Pope flagellated himself

"In Krakow as in the Vatican, Karol Wojtyla flagellated himself," Oder writes in the book, citing testimony from people in the late pope's close entourage while he was bishop in his native Poland and after he was elected pope in 1978.

"In his closet, among his vestments, there was hung on a clothes hanger a particular kind of belt for pants, which he used as a whip," Oder writes.

When he was bishop in Poland, he often slept on the bare floor so he could practice self-denial and asceticism, Oder writes.

Such a bizarre practice. I heard someone jokingly say he beat himself because he never got laid. In reality it may have just been the case. Paul of the New Testament had major sexual hang-ups and he highly recommended men do not defile themselves with women. The church took a very natural thing, sexual desire, and labeled it perverted and for those who entertained it they would be damned. As Jesus said if your eye offends you (saw a beautiful women) you should pluck out your eye so you won't go to an imaginary place called hell. Now if you think you can just masturbate he condemns that as well. If you hand offends you cut it off. Don't use your foot either (Mark 9:42-48).

The prophet of my old Church, the Seventh Day Adventist, wrote that you must avoid the evil of self-pleasure because it would destroy your kidneys. So far I have never heard or read of the medical profession backing up that claim.

This trying to suppress something natural brings about unnatural response such as the infamous sexual abuse done by Catholic priest.

Monotheists twist natural biology. Sound familiar?

I don't think it makes you a saint by keeping yourself backed up your whole life. However the Church thinks otherwise. They want to sainthood him. But he needs a miracle to lock that in.

The next step will be the recognition of a miracle attributed to John Paul. It involves a French nun who was inexplicably cured of Parkinson's disease after praying to him.

Am sure they will find people to lie about it. Twisting the truth? Happens all the time.

Pope John flagellated himself

Miracle Planet: Survival of the Fittest

Just watched this great video on human evolution. Science has found 20 human species. There could even be more. This video traces this and shows how Homo Sapiens became the dominate and only human species.

You can watch it on youtube here Miracle Plant Survival of the Fittest

It was wonderful to watch. From my religious past every Biblical reading/video was ultimately wrought with judgement and guilt. Horrors. The original marketing scheme - build a need in a customer that they didn't know they had and then sell them the solution. For religion it is if you don't fall down and worship God he will put you in a special place where there is fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where you live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for all eternity But He Loves You

I love how evolution isn't filled with all that garbage. It doesn't need to guilt you into believing it. Life itself reinforces it. As I walk around now I see it, how life is interconnected. It is not me and God against the evil world. I don't need to be awe enraptured or fall on my knees and repent. Welcome to reality.

Straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel (the religious mind)

Matthew 23:24

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat but swallow a camel.

Jesus said this to the religious leaders of his day. It still applies today. I have been on a blog discussing evolution with a fundamentalist of my former faith. He made the typical argument of accepting micro-evolution (because there is little choice anymore) but rejecting macro-evolution. Human Ape and I presented the facts. This was not good enough for him. He needed to have it shown right in front of him. If he couldn't see it right now it never happened. So he concluded that proved ID and Jesus was his Lord and Saviour. I was a bit taken back by how quickly he strained at evolution facts looking for anything that he could hang his hat on and from there swallow the whole camel of woo-woo. I made the point that he hasn't seen one miracle, no water into wine, no raising of the dead, no turning sticks into snakes, no parting of the Red Sea but that he unquestionably believes.

He even went this far "Besides, if scientists would one day succeed in the production of life from non-living matter, it would be evidence that life is the result of intelligent design."

In other words, don't confuse me with the facts I have made up my mind.

Science has raised the bar very high for truth. But when you enter the world of the religious mind you must have lowered expectations.

The blog in question should you care.

The Insanity of Prayer

We have a cat at the vet which we took in on Thursday. He is my all time favorite pet. The vet said he found some anti-freeze. We agreed to pay an phenomenal amount to get the antidote. I visited him twice on Thursday and once on my way home yesterday. The old part of me did kick in I must confess. I wasn't an atheist in a fox hole, but just reverted back to an old habit. I prayed. I want my little buddy to live. Maybe I should have not taken him to the vet and just prayed, but I don't see any Christians doing that beside the Christian Scientist and they don't appear to be outstripping the medical world in saving lives. Anyway I prayed that he would suddenly without warning be entirely back to himself and be home today. The people in the hospital would be flabbergasted and say so. Now I will not be satisfied with him slowly getting better and coming home in a few days (but I will be glad) because that would mean he got better by the medicine. If he dies I will be quite bummed. But I will be comforted that he was in my life.

So will my prayer work?

The preacher tells me

(God) will not be offended if you test him in your prayers. When you have the all-knowing, all-powerful Ruler of the Universe looking out for you in perfect love, doesn't it make sense to rely on his will instead of your own puny resources?

My apologies to the vet. She seems quite good. The preacher does get exuberant at times.

THE CARROT

Matt 7:7-8

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 21:18-22

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, ... you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Upfront I will say that if any Christian publicly prayed for a mountain to throw itself into the sea, all atheist would convert.

THE STICK

Prayer is a key element in the Christian's life. When a prayer is "answered" positively it is an ecstatic high that keeps them on cloud nine for a good long time. But often prayers are not answered.

So pastor tell me why and what I should do?

Your prayers will get answered if

- you have a humble heart and turn away from your wicked ways (2 Chronicle 7:14) [Not entire sure what you mean here, but can you give me this one?]

- when you pray you really, really mean it (Jeremiah 29:13) [I sincerely mean it]

- and you got to really, really believe it (Mark 11:24) [can you make me a robot? this brain you gave me just runs rampant]

- oh, don't forget to be righteousness (James 5:16) [not sure what you mean again, crap]

- and obey and please him (1 John 3:22) [do I make you happy Jesus, I cannot tell cause I cannot see you. I need some visual clues please. If my prayer is not answered should I conclude you are not pleased with me?]

- and it is really important to realize it has got to be something he is willing to do (1 John 5:14; Ezekiel 20:3) [You like cats right, this is a particularly good one...you must know that]

- and for Christ sake you got to be with people who also please him(Deu 3:26) [Hmmm...Human Ape, please be good today, OK?]

Now just to be clear your prayers will not get answered

- if you didn't listen before and even though you are now ready he is resentful and needs some time away for you to think (Deu 1:45;1 Sam 14:37) [you know I don't hear voices in my head so please speak up. Can we call this a push since you got to admit you do speak so softly?]

- and you better not be caring around in your heart a secret sin and you know what it is so he doesn't have to explain (Psalm 66:18) [How hard should I think on this one? Do I just have to assume I have one? I have low self-esteem so I bet there is one. I repent. OK?]

- if you were indifferent before and now you need his help you are screwed (Proverbs 1:28) [I have hardly been indifferent. I have been a nut case for you for many decades.]

- did you not help a poor person when you had a chance? (Proverbs 21:13) [I did contribute to the Haiti effort]

- did you ignore his law? (Proverbs 28:9) [I say I didn't ignore it. Follow it is different right?]

- you have blood on our hands that he didn't command you to shed (Isaiah 1:15) [Kewl. A clear shot here. I haven't killed anyone yet or been told by god to kill someone and didn't follow through.]

- and you better not have committed any iniquities (Isaiah 59:2; Micah 3:4) [This must be the law stuff again. I repent again. OK?]

- remember the time he called you for you and you did not listen. guess what now bitch? (Zech 7:13) [Again, please speak up]

- when you said your prayer did you had a shred of doubt. (James 1:6-7) [Dear Lord, please make me your robot]

- did you want a gift for yourself? you are simply too god damn selfish (James 4:3) [Oh fuck. I want my cat to be back to his old self again. But my wife wants it too. Can this be for her?]

The sermon ends with this:

Everything in this world that we put our faith in has the potential to fail. God does not. He is consistently reliable, even if we do not agree with his decisions. He always leads us in the right direction if we give in to his will. It's not about me, it's not about you. It's about God and his will. The sooner we learn that, the sooner our prayers will touch the heart of the One to whom nothing is impossible.

I came to a point in coming out of Christianity where I concluded he will do as he pleases. The rules and regs are too complex and fuzzy. Also, I don't need to pray for others because if he is all powerful, all-knowing and loving he will not be sitting up there with his thumb up his ass waiting for me to pray for someone. How cruel would that be if that was the case?

But the preacher says he never lets you down. How in the hell would you ever really know that? Really the Christian to his God is quite the dysfunctional relationship. Your father is always right and you are always wrong. You are nothing but a fuck up. Get used to it.

How intelligent is a designer to create things that are contrary to his will and instead of being mad at himself he takes it out on the kids?

What does the Bible say about Prayer?

The Turning Point in Prayer

Moses and Israel lost - Science has a solution

Watch the video to see how science could have helped Moses and the children of Israel

Christians don't use these arguments

I found a website that tells Xians what not to bring up to atheist/evolutions? It is neat to see what they know they should back away from.

Arguments Christians should not use

"Argument We Don't Use" should be called "Lies we can't keep using because we have new slightly better lies you can use to waste everyone's time".

Happy MLK day (the religious mind)

Martin Luther King and many of his peers were incredibly brave men. After almost 100 years since the abolition of slavery, black people were still treated as sub-human. Odd how this could happen in a Christian nation. We hear it lauded all the time being told how lucky we are that our Founding Fathers were all whacked out Christians like the so high and moral fundies are today. So how is it that Judaism and Christianity justified slavery for five millenniums? Because the Bible tells me so. Apparently, Jesus was a Caucasian even though he was a Jew in Palestine in 4 A.D.

Many fundies in the past (somewhat underground today) believed black people were from a cursed son of Noah. Noah had 3 sons. Noah, an alcoholic (wouldn't you be after all that?), got drunk and naked after the flood. Ham saw his Dad and told his two brothers about it. The two brothers covered their eyes and covered their drunkard father. When Noah sobered up and found out about it, he cursed Ham. Noah's curse was the children of Ham would be slaves and they would be slaves to Noah's two other "good" sons. They of course believe his skin was marked. (Evolution explanation makes more sense to me)

Bible's view on slavery

Exodus 21 - The people of God can sell their daughter's into slavery. Beating a slave is ok if you don't kill them.

7 When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are.

...

20 If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.

Leviticus 25 - The people of God can buy slaves but can treat people of other faiths as harshly as they like.

44 Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Proverbs 20:30

Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being

New Testament

1 Peter - If you are a slave you count yourself lucky if you suffer your whole life because remember Jesus had a bad weekend for you.

18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

In this age of electing Obama has fundamentalism woken up to the immorality of the Bible and their history. Do they admit it has errors? No, you won't get that. Whenever cornered they say Oh, they were not TRUE Christians, but I am or you have an evil heart and don't understand the wonders of Gawd. They surely know how to point the finger elsewhere even though they love the "truth".

You can still find Christians who live in the past and need to take us back there. They have stones in hand ready to kill anyone with a different outlook on life.

Council of Conservative Citizens Statement of Principles, by Dr. Sam Francis

From their Statement of Principles

We believe the United States is a Christian country. We believe that the United States of America is a Christian country, that its people are a Christian people, and that its government and public leaders at all levels must reflect Christian beliefs and values. We therefore oppose all efforts to deny or weaken the Christian heritage of the United States, including the unconstitutional prohibitions of prayers and other religious expression in schools and other public institutions

We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind.

He kind of looks like Jesus doesn't he? Well, he looks like he loves all caucasian-kind.

Not all Christians are this way, but it is astounding to see how many of them remain. The more literally they take the bible the more evil they perpetuate and accept.

Charles Darwin was more loving than God. He had much empathy for the slaves of time and the horror they experienced. Christians are afraid that evolution will make us immoral. Holy Shit.

Evolution teaches all life is equal.

Pat Robertson, the Devil and Haiti (the religious mind)

Pat Robertson, a creationist, is such a darling saying that the

Haitians made a pact with the Devil and that is why the recent
earthquake happened.
But Satan wrote a letter back to Pat

Dear Pat Robertson,
I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the
shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks
people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.
But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally
humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you
put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.
Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they
first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth,
fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean
nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen
"Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?
If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks,
skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing.
An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it --
I'm just saying: Not how I roll.
You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings --
just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of
bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please.
Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
Best, Satan

Great reply.

Divine Inspiration and Preservation of the Bible, more human than divine

What is Divine Inspiration and how did the Bible come to be the Bible

As a Christian you start with Paul

2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". The word inspiration Christians point out means God-breathed.

Christians cannot believe their luck. Here are 66 books that so wonderfully fit together and there were 40 authors over such an expanse of time, each one revealing more and more truth, explaining the deep mysteries of the Almighty God. How wonderfully they fit together just like a puzzle. This is evidence of its divine inspiration.

God spoke to his servant, prophet, disciple through visions and dreams. Moses got as close as you can get. He saw God in a burning bush and up on Mt Sinai. Daniel was given dreams. Paul was struck down by a vision. The 12 apostles lived with the human form of God himself, Jesus. So these men, not women, were touched by Divine Inspiration. When they wrote their individual books of the Bible they were going from these experiences. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. God slapped them with some knowledge nuggets and we are the beneficiaries. Some Christians believe because humans were involved some errors slipped into the text. Fundamentalist call this mockingly the 'Dumb God Theory'. They cling to this almighty vision of the Almighty God and simply state they do not serve a dumb god. Believing it does not make it so. But remember the foundation of their faith is in order to get into heaven ALL you have to do is believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. So the foundation of their entire religion is based on wishful thinking. Take that away and the whole deck of cards fall.

We live in a wonderful age. So many discoveries have been made in all fields of science. One critical to this study is archeology. The most devoted archeologist have been Jewish and Christian looking desperately for any evidence to show that their Book is in fact true. For decades people have thought they have found Noah's ark. But year after year they cannot produce it even though they think they have the spot found but it turns out it is just an odd rock formation. No one has been able to find the city of Jericho. Not one shred of evidence can be found for the four decade story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. With the so many incredible miracles in the story one would expect some reference outside the Bible. How noteworthy would it be that every first born of every family died the same night or the Red Sea split in two. For the story of Jericho no other tribe of humanity noticed the sun stopped in the middle of the sky. There were many astrologers back then. It would be something of note. The list goes on and perhaps I will blog more about it another day.

How the Bible was put together has more evidence of human inspiration than divine inspiration. Most Christians do not realize that there were hundreds of "books" considered for the Bible, but only 66 made it into the Bible as most of us know it today. Archeology uncovered these lost books. Some were known about by only by references. The Bible even mentions a few. It is estimated than there were around 500 lost books and about 50 of them were gospels like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Lost Books of the Bible

The early Christian church was breaking into lots of factions, not unlike we have today. There was no Bible but individual books floating about. It was quite an ordeal to get a book because every one had to be painstakingly hand copied. This copying also invited unintentional and intentional mistakes. Fundamentalist are disturbed by this and pretend not to hear it. Unfortunately for them the earliest manuscripts were missing some stories, showing they were later added by a scribe who thought it fit well into the book. John 8:1-11 is such an example. The go and sin no more story.

Marcion was the first to canonize the Bible (140 AD), a very wealthy believer. He hated the Old Testament and wanted to do away with that angry God. His version of the New Testament was a bit of a hack job. So all this splitting and controversy continued. One strong faction was the Gnostics. They didn't believe so much in the physical world and felt each human was divine. There is a very interesting lost (but found) book called The Gospel according to Mary Magdalene. She is in the New Testament and had a special connection with Jesus. The lost gospel portrays Mary M. as the closest to Jesus and the blest leader even over Peter. A WOMAN!! The Gnostics were not misogynist, but viewed women and men as equals. How progressive.

Anyway, this continued until Emperor Constantine saw a vision of a cross as he was about to go into battle and was converted to Christianity. He won the battle. He saw all this confusion going on and called Christian leaders far and wide and told them they need to get their shit together. Since most of the leaders were misogynist they favored the writings of Paul and they also were very hierarchical which was the structure of the Roman empire so they favored the terror of the Old Testament. Therefore the argument about how amazingly well the books of the Bible fit together is belied by a group of learned men with like minds reviewing hundreds of books and picking the ones they regard as true making for a very human case for why the books of the Bible apparently fit together. After they agreed an edict went out that only these 66, give or take, a few books were divinely inspired and EVERYTHING else must be burned. Many of these costly and precious books were burned but some believers loved them so much they buried them in jars for our generation to discover.

The outcome of all this was the basis for the Catholic church which held rein throughout the DARK Ages. The masses were illiterate and had to rely on priests to tell them the mysteries of God. The Bible was translated into Latin and since that became a dead language it became a priesthood language. The scientific development of the printing press started the reformation. People could now get copies and translations were made. Instead of relying on the Church or a priest they now could read and think for themselves. This of course undid what Constantine established and the the factions resurfaced. With all due respect to my fellow blogger, Human Ape, I say the development of the printing press and the translation of the Bible is the single cell organism that ultimately will kill God. We can see for ourselves the contradictions and the flaws of the Bible if we read it with an open mind and not read the Christian mumbo-jumbo trying to explain all the bizarre text. Many will stubbornly hold on. It took the Catholic church almost 400 years to apologize to Galileo. The Catholic Church condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture" in February 1616. It wasn't until October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and issued a declaration acknowledging the errors committed by the Church. So that is embarrassing long, right? There are still Christians around who cling to the Bible-based earth-centric view.

Here is one such sad case that was written in May 2007

Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine

The dying breaths of a very Dark time in human history.

Churches beliefs on Creation and Evolution

I was interacting with someone who stated that there are many fine Christian denominations that have no problem believing in evolution. This hasn't been my experience but I grew up in a very fundamental environment. So, I decided to surf the Internet looking for official church documents regarding evolution and creation. Perhaps there are those within each church that can believe in evolution with a clear conscience and somehow reconcile it with there faith. I personally believe the more literal the Bible is taken the harder this is. In those church you simply would not talk about evolution in any positive light.

There were a few surprises in this list. Some churches publicly have no opinion on evolution, leaving it to their flock to decide
individually and some churches support evolution. Of course the greater majority believe in creationism and some underhandedly mask it under ID, while others are clear about their belief in ID. An oddity I found was for some it was very important to know whether God created life out of nothing or there was stuff already there (Catholics and Mormons). Not sure what the point was on that one.

Note there are churches who reject evolution and yet teach it in their schools. This falls into know your enemy category.

Anyway here are official statements from a host of churches. There are so many denominations it is impossible to list them all. Probably in the time I composed this 2 or 3 more popped up.

Enjoy!


Seventh Day Adventist - creationist

The official Adventist conference of 2004 affirmed believe in creationism.

- Creation is a foundational pillar in the entire system of Seventh-day Adventist doctrine—it bears direct relationship to many if not all other fundamental beliefs. Any alternative interpretation of the creation story needs to be examined in light of its impact on all other beliefs. Several of the Faith and Science Conferences reviewed alternative interpretations of Genesis 1, including the idea of theistic evolution. These other interpretations lack theological coherence with the whole of Scripture and reveal areas of inconsistency with the rest of Seventh-day Adventist doctrine. They are therefore unacceptable substitutes for the biblical doctrine of creation held by the church.
- We affirm the primacy of Scripture in the Seventh-day Adventist understanding of origins.
- We affirm the historic Seventh-day Adventist understanding of Genesis 1 that life on earth was created in six literal days and is of recent origin.

An Affirmation of Creation

Mormon - perhaps IDers
Mormon are a bit more cagey about creation. I think there must be some controversy within. From one of their websites, while they allow for time and not 6 days, Adam and Eve were first and immortal. That to me conflicts with evolution.

- Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. In the Garden of Eden, they were immortal. After the fall, they became mortal.
- The six “days” of creation were actually six consecutive creative periods of unknown length.
- (God) did not create the world “out of nothing,” as some people believe.

The
Creation Mormon Beliefs

Jehovah Witnesses - Total creationist

To undermine belief in the creation account in Genesis is to undermine the very foundations of the Christian faith. Evolutionary theory and the teachings of Christ are incompatible

Did God Use Evolution to Create Life

The Church of God of Prophecy - creationist

- Man did not evolve from a single-celled organism over the space of millions of years; he is the special creation of God.
- (life is too complex for evolution to have happened)

A Biblical View of Human Life

Christian Scientist-Mind over Matter...if you don't mind it don't matter

Christian Science departs from the theory of creationism that proposes that God created matter and also from the theory of evolution that proposes that Mind, God, must be left out of its own creation. Christian Science clears up the debate by showing that creation is in fact a spiritual process with God at its center, creating spiritual ideas, which human theory or material belief (i.e., matter) tries to copy or misinterpret. The only substance to matter is illusion—the erroneous thought we hold about it. True creation comprises the spiritual ideas that God evolves.

Christian Scientist position on creation/evolution

Lutherans - Missouri Synod - IDers

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod believes, teaches and confesses that Adam and Eve were real historic individuals and
that the Genesis account ofCreation is true and factual,not merely a “myth”or a “story”made up to explain the origin of all things.

What about Creation and Evolution - Lutheran Missouri Synod

Church of the Brethren - creationist

- The first eleven chapters of Genesis tell about the first few thousand years of human history.
- Some of the sharpest attacks against the Bible have been leveled against the early chapters of Genesis. The devil knows that the best way to demolish a building is to strike at its foundation. If a person can be persuaded to pull out the first pages of the Bible, the last pages will fall out too, and soon not much will be left.

The Genesis Account of Creation


Pentecostalist - creationist

n the beginning God created man innocent, pure and holy; but through the sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve, the first of the human race, fell from their holy state, and God banished them from Eden. Hence by one man's disobedience, sin entered into the world. (Gen. 1:27; Rom.
3:23, 5:12).

Apostolic Pentecostal Beliefs

Southern Baptist - creationist

Hal N. Ostrander, associate dean and professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's James P. Boyce College of the Bible, Louisville, Ky., and a biblical creationist, said the long-supported evolution theory is being dismantled slowly by an argument for "intelligent design" the theory that life came about intentionally and not by chance because it's too complex to be explained any other way. (He) predicts the evolution theory will "one day come to an end if for no other reason than the fact there is a telltale lack of historically provided evidence, for its truthfulness, for its genuine fit with reality."

Unraveling the Myth of Evolution
Evolution incompatible with Christianity


United Methodist Church - no opinion

What is The United Methodist Church's position on evolution? The UMC does not have an official statement on any theories of evolution.

Our churches and campus ministries can help (members) through the issues that arise when faith and science collide. We can help (them) remain grounded in the Scriptures, which speak of a God who creates and yet whose creation will always be beyond our comprehension (Job 38-39).

UMC on Evolution

Catholics - IDers

Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man’s body developed from previous biological forms, under God’s guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. (The Church) has not infallibly defined whether the world was created only a few thousand years ago or whether it was created several billion years ago. The Church has infallibly defined that the universe was specially created out of nothing. (Adam and Eve were the first humans)


Adam, Eve and Evolution

Eastern Orthodox Church - IDers

if by evolution one is referring to the theories and teachings of Charles Darwin, the Orthodox Church surely does not subscribe to evolution in any manner. At the same time Orthodoxy is not literalist in its understanding of the accounts of creation in Genesis.

Evolution & Orhtodoxy

Messianic Jews - creationist new earth mostly. Some old earth and IDers

The majority of Messianics believe in a literal 7,000 year period for the human history of the world, from Adam to the Judgment, and believe that we are the final generation that will experience the Biblical apocalypse. A small, yet steadily growing, sector of Messianics have adopted forms of Old Earth Creationism which, while denying the theory of evolution, does discount a 6,000-7,000 year old earth, or Theistic Evolution, the belief that God created using evolution or that evolution occurred but that natural selection is an insufficient explanation.

Messianic Jewish theology wiki

Presbyterians - no opinion

- Neither Scripture, our Confession of Faith, nor our Catechisms, teach the Creation of man by the direct and immediate acts of God so as to exclude the possibility of evolution as a scientific theory.
- The Bible is not a book of science. As John Calvin said, commenting on Genesis: "To my mind, this is a certain principle, that nothing is here treated of but the visible form of the world. He who would learn astronomy and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere."

Evolution Statement - Evolution and the Bible


Quakers - accepting of evolution

- Quakers were generally supportive of Darwin’s theory and were critical of those Christians who rejected the theory on religious grounds.
- Friends hold that the words of the Bible should not be taken as the final revelation of God

Quaker Responses to Evolution
So don't Quakers believe in Intelligent Design
The Religious Society of Friends


Unitarian Universalist - evolutionist

- At a Unitarian Universalist worship service or meeting, you are likely to find members whose positions on faith may be derived from a variety of religious beliefs: Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, naturist, atheist, or agnostic. Members might tell you that they are religious humanists, liberal Christians, or world religionists.
- Classically, Unitarian Universalist Christians have understood Jesus as a savior because he was a God-filled human being, not a supernatural being.
- Many religious groups fiercely resisted these scientific analytical ideas. Some still do. In the churches of our forebears, new scientific and social ideas-from Newtonian physics, to evolution, to psychology, to relativity-found ready acceptance. Indeed, some of the greatest scientists and social theorists of the age were either privately or publicly Unitarian or Universalist: Joseph Priestley, Charles Darwin, Maria Mitchell, and Benjamin Rush, for example.
-In continuity with our forebears, today Unitarian Universalists expect new scientific disclosures to cohere, not conflict, with our religious faith.

UUA FAQ

Assemblies of God - creationist

- Assemblies of God believers hold that the Genesis account should be taken literally.
- Much of the moral and spiritual decline of modern society is traceable to the skepticism that has formed around creation.

Creationism

United Church of Christ - creationist and will use ID

- God is the ultimate intelligent Designer
- Ultimately, only the Bible explains both the origin and meaning of life on earth. Only God's prophetic Word reveals where mankind is really headed as we face an otherwise unknown and increasingly uncertain future. The Bible reveals why humanity exists and the majestic nature of our final destiny. Atheistic evolution, sadly, has no clue and no say!

Creation or Evolution: Which Is More Believable?
editor note: Subject really says it all, not which is scientific, but which is believable.
United Church of God - FAQ

The Elephants Have Become Christians!

You don't need to love your enemy you just need to pray for a herd of elephants to destroy their homes.

The story happened in India's Orissa state. In late 2008 radical Hindu mobs were trying to eradicate Christianity. Religions do that, don't they? They attacked the Kandhamal district killing 86 Christians and "an untold number of women were raped". They destroyed around 5,200 Christian homes and ransacked around 300 churches. Fifty thousand were made homeless.

Exactly one year to the day after the Kandhamal nightmare, 700 homes were trampled by fifteen elephants. Astonishingly,(the article writes) about six-hundred and fifty of those homes belonged to the Hindu radicals who took part in the rampage against believers one year earlier. One must assume God screwed over 50 Christian homes. But anyway, Glory to God in the highest. Wonder why it took God one year to figure out what to do? I guess all them Christian prayers eventually annoyed the hell out of him and he, Tarzan of the sky, YELLED and the elephants did his bidding. Frankly 12 elephants to match the number of apostles would have been a better prophetic number.




Wonder why it all has to be so convoluted. Bob Dylan wrote a powerful song before all the drugs took his muse away in a song called "With God on our side". He retells of all the violence done back and forth and how each side KNEW God was on their side. He concludes with this statement If God's on our side then He'll stop the next war. Why not? Oh, right he ain't there.

The license to kill
Romans 8:31: If God is for us, who can be against us?

Moriel Article

Religion is Bullshit

The greatest bullshit story every told.

God is all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, all-wise, but he NEEDS money.