If I sent you a survey that you could only answer TRUE or FALSE to, and the question is "Do you think your family is criminal, loving, honest and close?" How would you answer? People might have been ambivalent about how to answer this poorly constructed question on the survey, but when each item was separated, they answered TRUE on age of humans and FALSE on age of earth (and FALSE on the age of the universe).River Jordan said:39% of Americans answered "true" to the question, "God created the universe, the earth, the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and the first two people within the past 10 000 years." So based on that, you'd conclude that almost 40% of Americans are young-earthers, right? But in the same survey, only 18% of Americans answered "true" to the question, "The earth is less than 10 000 years old." Huh? How do 20% of people agree that God created the earth within the last 10,000 years, but disagree that the earth is less than 10,000 years old?
We've observed the evolution of new species both in the lab and in the wild. I posted some of the examples a while ago: CLICK HERE.
We must also consider the sample used in the survey: Americans who knew the survey existed. We cannot generalize these stats to represent ALL Christians everywhere in the world including those who do not have access to surveys. IE. one must look at the methodology before making conclusions based on a survey. (I might add that the NCSE used data from popular polls, not scientific ones... another reason I question the methodology)
Thanks for clearing up the definition of "species" and "speciation"... I thought I might have had the terminology wrong, that's why I explained what I meant when I used the term. There is no scientific laboratory observations of a tree turning into a lizard or that an inanimate object became a living organism.
Wow! Really?StanJ said:I am one of those that believe in YEC, and the reason I am is because God made everything FULLY mature in Gen 1. Now I'm not God, but for sure the egg came second in this regard, so how old was Adam when God made him? Obviously one day old, BUT, how old did he look or how old would observable science have put him at? The same goes with the geological facets of creation? Who knows what it would take to understand that a universe God made on day one, appeared to be much older than one day? Does the creation have to be as God designed it? Of course, so does that mean it could be viewed by any science as one day old, or did God build in age when He created?
IMO, He obviously did, and man just hasn't been able to tell the difference. How sad that some should expect that man and his science would have been able to catch up to our God that is unfathomable, in a mere 10,000 years. Especially by men who don't have a real faith in Him. Do we start with a faith in God or a faith in man's science and understanding? To me, the answer is equally obvious and part of our life of faith.
I think too many Christians make the same mistake as atheists who think the book of Genesis is a scientific story of creation. It isn't. It is the story of the beginning of God's relationship with man.
The word "create" and "made" in Genesis 1 means to "fashion" or "arrange"... We use the same word when we say, "I made my bed this morning." The bed already existed, but you simply fashioned and arranged it to suit your needs.
Surely you know that word "day" used in Genesis cannot be a 24-hour sun-down to sun-up period, right? (Otherwise people living near the Arctic Circle are really confused since they have "days" that are several months long!
The same word is used to mean an "era" or "period of time" that does not necessarily have a determined number of hours.
In Joshua 24:7, God said that he kept Moses and His people in the wilderness for a long "day" (which we know was 40 years long)
In Genesis 4:3, Cain harvested his crops after a "one day" process of planting and tending (which we know was an entire growing season)
And more importantly, Psalm 23:6 says that we will dwell in the House of the Lord for a "day" (which we know is forever)
The simple answer is YES. He is perfect which means He follows the laws that He made. He is sinless, which means He doesn't break laws. But we must keep in mind His ways are higher than our ways.pom2014 said:Really? Really.
Ok then my question to you is does God have rules he himself must follow?
But there are plenty of instances where God defied physical laws.