Adam and Eve vs. Science: Setting the Stage

Edited later to add this notice: I'm not going to be continuing with this series. For some reason, my interest in it died a horrible and entirely inexplicable death. It might revive sometime in the future, but it's definitely dead right now. And that is that.


If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I love genetics. You'll also know that I'm a Christian, and that I like to talk about the hard stuff to do with Christianity.

So, naturally, when I read a comment on Facebook where someone gave their reasons for calling the Bible a glorified science fiction book, I knew I had to tackle the subject. And, of course, I decided to pick the biggest, most important, and toughest of the topics listed:

How could the Bible possibly be right about Adam and Eve being the ancestors of all living?

How the Value of Art is Like the Meaning of Life

Dear five year old me,

I discovered the point of art! Remember when you were wondering why you even kept those stickers in your sticker book? Sure, they were pretty, and it was nice to open up the book and look at them, but they didn't do anything for you.

What would happen if you had all the stickers in the world that you loved and then there were no more to gain? You'd have walls and books and bedframes full of stickers, and you wouldn't be happy with them. Once you had them, all you could do with them was look at them sometimes, and what was the gain in looking? What did that do for anything? They couldn't do anything to add value to the world; they would just sit there and look back at you as if to ask:

Does God Choose Who Goes to Hell?: Heaven and Hell, part 3

About a month ago, when I posted about why I don't consider Christianity a religion, @theliz13 tweeted to me and mentioned her problem with religion. I found what she said so interesting that I decided to write this three-part series in order to address her comments. This is the third part of the result. Here are part one and part two.

"A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!" Matthew 13:3b-8 (NLT)

The Lie

There is a supposedly "Christian" message that is perpetrated in many churches, and that is the idea that people get to heaven or go to hell based on the amount of good or bad things that they do.

THAT IS A LIE.

Is God *Really* in Control of Everything?: Heaven and Hell, part 2

About a month ago, when I posted about why I don't consider Christianity a religion, @theliz13 tweeted to me and mentioned her problem with religion. I found what she said so interesting that I decided to write this three-part series in order to address her comments. This is the second part of the result. Here's part one.

The third tweet from @theliz13 in our conversation, and the one 
that caught my attention the most (the whole conversation 
is posted in the first part of this series).

The traditional interpretation of sovereignty

There's this funny word that Christians like to use in reference to God's power and will, and it is sovereignty.

(It's part of the vocabulary of what I refer to as "Christianese", which is made up of words from the King James translation of the Bible that most people who aren't Christians don't know the meaning of, and that Christians use all the time when talking about anything to do with Christianity. Much of the time, Christians don't really know what those words mean, either, but we know how to use them.)

What's up With This Whole "Chosen People" Thing?: Heaven and Hell, part 1

About a month ago, when I posted about why I don't consider Christianity a religion, @theliz13 tweeted to me and mentioned her problem with religion. I found what she said so interesting that I decided to write this three-part series in order to address her comments. This is (part one of) the result. The foundation of Christianity, which underlies all this, can be found here.

First of all, I want to say how much I love how this post series came about. Being able to interact with people on the topics that I'm passionate about and being able to answer their questions about those topics (if I can) is awesome. You are wonderful, you have so much to offer, and it is a privilege to be able to converse with you.

Now, to what sparked this. I posted about my definition of religion, my issues with religion, and why I don't consider Christianity a religion, and this happened:

What she had to say echoed what I've heard from so many people, both Christians and not, so closely that I knew it was time to talk about one of the most difficult issues people have with Christianity.

Here is my understanding of what she was saying (@theliz13, please correct me if I'm wrong, so that I can address what you're really saying, because me addressing anything other than that would be lame):

Why I'm Not Religious

To my Christian readers: this post is meant to be an introduction to a topic, not a perfect explanation of the theology involved in the many concepts presented here. A theological debate may be appropriate for later posts, but it is not for this one. Thank you for your understanding.

To my other readers: if anything at all in here confuses you, please ask me for clarification. I want to be able to talk about these kinds of things in such a way that they can be understood no matter the background of the person reading it.

If you read those two notes, or my post from two weeks ago, you're probably scratching your head right now at the title of this one.

Yes, I am a Christian.

No, I am not religious.

(And, yes, I really love messing with people's minds.)

Making Abstract Philosophy Practical

As you may know, I'm working on revising an anthology.

As you may not know, I originally wrote some of these pieces eight years ago (aka, when I was just barely a teenager). I'm discovering that I've changed a lot since I wrote them, and it's weird to find another person speaking through my words.

Which means I have a problem. Well, more like a choice:

In my first year of university, I took a philosophy class called "Knowledge and Reality" which is a shorter way of saying:

Unobservant, or "Differently Focused"?

Several years ago, my siblings and mom ganged up on my dad and me for April Fool's Day by setting all the clocks in our house an hour ahead.

They pulled it off brilliantly, even changing the alarm clocks in our rooms without our noticing. The only things they couldn't change were the phone and the stereo in my room and so they thought we'd figure it out in a couple of hours.

We went the entire day.

We probably could have gone an entire week if they hadn't told us at supper (they had to because I needed to get somewhere on time that evening -aren't they nice?).

It's probably one of the best pranks that's ever been pulled on me, and it always makes me laugh to think of it. I or one of my siblings would always tell this story to prove just how unobservant I am.

For example, whenever my mom rearranges the furniture in a room, she will take me into the room and ask me if I can tell what's different. Fifty percent of the time, my sister will walk in five minutes later (while I'm still trying very hard to figure it out) and say:

Sometimes, I Just Need to Kick Myself in the Butt

When I started this blog, I had a vague idea of blogging every two weeks.

Then I missed my deadline for one post in my second month and decided I'd alternate between two posts and one post every month. 

This worked for three more months, until life happened and I felt like crap about myself for two whole months, resulting in no posts.

"It's okay," I said to myself in August. "I'll just pretend that that was my summer break and keep up with the pattern like nothing happened. Of course, then came October, and I got inspired by something on Twitter, resulting in two posts instead of one, like the pattern had demanded.

At which point, I tried to return to the pattern, but then came January and I ended up with four posts (I think it was the air).

In February, I crashed and just put up one post.

If I'm a Christian, then Why Do I Have Issues with Death?

About three weeks ago, I put up a post about my great-grandfather's death and the voices that get in the way of doing things that are important to me (here it is, in case you haven't read it), and I received a comment on Facebook about it, which contained a couple really interesting questions. Le comment:

"I thought most or all religious people were OK with death and understood it as a way in to heaven?? I myself am scared of death. And you commented about Adam and Eve messing it all up but what about God sacrificing his own son on the cross causing death??" - Carly


Before I get into my answer, I wanted to write what I understand is being asked. Carl Rogers bases his therapy off of mirroring back to his patient what he understands them to be saying, which requires that he listen really well, and also then shows that he's listening really well. Also, if I end up making a mistake in my interpretation, then it'll be much easier for everyone to point it out, and for me to correct my mistake.

Besides that, my mother tells me that this is good idea when discussing things, and what mom says, goes. :)

Here's what I understand of the logic behind these questions (forgive the simplicity, I'll do the same thing kind of thing with my answer later):