The Horrors of Evolution (Evolution)

by dhw, Tuesday, September 09, 2008, 07:59 (5717 days ago) @ edinburgh4

Edinburgh4 (7 September at 01.06): "On this site I am not arguing that the Christian message is true just clarifying what I believe it is."
Edinburgh4 (07 September at 16.54) 2: "...don't take my word for it that this is the Christian position but read the Bible and check it out for yourself." - I'd like to stress that clarification is what we are all trying to achieve. For me, life and the universe are an unfathomable mystery, and I marvel that anyone can genuinely and wholeheartedly believe they have found a solution. If a theist like yourself or an atheist like George explains the basis of his belief or non-belief, it makes me test my own uncertainties and articulate my own thoughts, but it also opens up the possibility that you might provide me with some answers. I don't think any of us can expect more. - Having said that, I must agree with George's comment on your explanation of the synonymity between unbelief and disobedience, which taken with your quotation from John 3: 18-20 ("Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son") raises an interesting question. I appreciate that your answer cannot be representative ... nobody's can ... but you have thought a great deal about these matters, and you must have come up with answers that satisfy you. My question in this context is: does it fit in with your own personal sense of justice that all Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Buddhists "stand condemned", together with atheists and agnostics and all those who have never even heard of Jesus? - To this question I would like to add the following, which arise out of your last post or previous ones:
1) Do you avoid doing wrong only because you think that God sees you?
2) You stated previously that God's love was unconditional but that God hates evil and will punish it. What do you visualize as being the punishment? Do you believe that God loves paedophile rapists and murderers unconditionally, or is it possible that he would impose the condition of a changed attitude? (I'm sorry if that sounds ironic, but I can't find a better way of challenging the notion of unconditional love.)
3) David Turell asked you whether you believed in Young Earth Creationism or Old Earth Creationism, and I would also be interested in your answer. - Once again, thank you for your patience.