(December 23, 2011 at 3:11 am)Rhythm Wrote:(December 23, 2011 at 2:43 am)coffeeveritas Wrote: Haha! I'm glad for your encouragements! As far as evolution is concerned I think there is a large portion of Christians who have no problem with it. The Pew Forum showed that the majority of Catholics and Mainline Protestants actually believe evolution is the best explanation for the origins of life. As for virgin birth, that is scientifically possible, but not all that important to me anyway. It really comes down that I don't think science can eliminate the possibility of something more. Increasingly, in light of postmodernism, I feel that many would say we aren't even close to knowing everything, let alone knowing enough to define the universe by exclusion. It's all just a part of the way I filter things. I can certainly see how you would filter things differently, and I respect that.
Pretty sure "scientifically possible" doesn't apply to the particular virgin birth we're talking about. The status of jesus divinity isn't all that important? If he were simply the son of an un-named human that would be A-Ok with you? If science can't eliminate the possibility of "something more" on other articles of faith (yours), then on what basis do you discard young earth creationism (theirs) in favor of physics and evolution? Wouldn't that be one of those "something more"s that science cannot eliminate (according to you)? What about all the "something more"s of faiths other than you own that science cannot eliminate and which directly contradict your own?
All human behavior is multiply motivated. So if I'm being honest I would have to say it's a mixture of hope, bias, things I've read, a vague sense I have about the world, and lots of postmodern philosophy. I like the my philosophy, it's a rather relaxed and pleasant way to live. Knowing what to advocate and who to refute is something that everyone has to figure out, what with postmodernism and all. It's tough, but the more you live life the harder it is to figure everything out. Eventually you have to just figure out who you want to be, how you want to treat people, and what is important to you. The rest has to just kind of work itself out, because no one can prove one, supreme way of looking at the world. As long as there is human life on earth, we'll have the whole spectrum of opinions, and that's okay.
As for the specifics of how I view religion and faith see John Polkinghorne and his ideas about how to understand faith.
