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Not being what most people would call a 'deeply religous' person, it's my speculation that the core issue is that stance that the bible is a definative, inerratic text.
You are correct.

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I can understand a belief that one's god (whatever that may be) is infallible, but this type of dogmatism implies that the interpretation of fact as written by man is flawless. If I can believe anything universal, it's that man is flawed, so I have trouble with this argument of strict interpretation
The belief is that scripture is "God breathed", meaning that while the indivdiual authors may have written it in their own styles, God gave them the content.

This belief only relates to the origional texts, however. It is not assumed that copies and translations are inerrint. Thus there is some debate about a few passages that don't appear in some of the earlier texts. However, the most important doctrines are re-iterated many times throughout scripture leaving very little room to speculate if they were in the origional text.

The notion of man's fall into sin and need for redemption is very central to much of the teaching of the Bible, and this is why the Creation doctrine is so important.

My personal stance, however, is that while I agree that the Creation story is signficant, it is nowhere near as important as Jesus death on the cross as a solution to the problem of sin. I am fully willing to accept Christians who believe differently than I do about evolution and let the Holy Spirit sort us out.

I am also not one to argue for the inclusion of ID in schools, though I would like to see the creation of mankind by evolution NOT be taught in schools. I'd prefer the whole issue not be addressed at all as long as the education is public and provided by the government.

edited so my meaning of "evolution in schools" is more clear


Edited by JeffS (14/11/2005 23:15)
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.