Why I'm Still a Christian

[Lek]

Lek, how can you say the Bible is "totally reliable" when we know stories such as Adam and Eve, the Flood and and Exodus didn't happen *in any way* as described in the Bible.

Stories are written in many ways for various purposes to relate a truth to the intended audiences. Take the creation story. Just because I don't believe that the earth was created in six literal days doesn't mean I miss the meaning of the story, which teaches that the one true God is the creator of all the universe. This is opposed to the creation myths that were circulated throughout the world by the pagan believers at the time. The flood was probably local and encompassed the whole "world" of the readers at that time. Revelation, the last book of the bible, is written in very non-literal apocalyptic language and images, to portray literal events.

Jesus seemed to believe all three of these stories were literal truth. How do you explain that? Plot holes galore.

Jesus never stated that he believed that all the science and historical events were literally true. He referred to Adam as the first man and spoke of Moses and the prophets as real live persons., which they are. If I was trying to bring out the lesson of the story of the "three little pigs", I might say "the third pig was smart to build his house out of brick". Even though I'm not referring to a literal historical event, I'm speaking in words that sound like that. I'm presenting the truth of the story to my listeners.

Lastly, several of us have asked, but I might have missed your response: how do you reconcile evolution with original sin?

Since the sin of Adam, we have all inherited a tendency to sin. Adam and Eve were the first man and woman. When a fetus develops in the womb, it develops pretty much like any other mammal. This is a process that has come about as a result of evolution. I believe that is the way God intended it to happen. What separates humans from every other creature on earth is that we are made in the image of God. This image is reflected in our souls, and we are the only creatures to be able to possess everlasting life. This soul doesn't come about as a result of natural evolution, but rather as a special creation of God, given directly to us by God. I don't claim to know exactly when and how God created Adam and Eve, but they were the first humanoids to be created in the image of God. They were given eternal life in the image of God and lost it due to their disobedience to him. All other humans from that point forward were born with a God given soul, but a propensity to sin. It's just a thought, but this event could have taken place 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. It seems that up to that time, there was very slow development in humanoids and then an explosion of development after that time in history. While all other creatures go on pretty much as always, man has gone on to accomplish greater and greater things. We are light years different than any other creature on earth and the gap continues to widen.