Okay here is what I believe: Why does the Bible need to be perfectly right, and people believe in it as if every single story happened exactly like it did? There even are some passages in the Bible that contradict itself, because they are written in different POINTS OF VIEW. The Bible was written more than 1000 years ago, or the Old Testament even longer ago. What is the important message? Do I need to think that God created the earth in 7 days, and that he made Adam and Eve? Did Eve really sin, and because of her, every baby that dies before it gets baptized goes to hell, altough it never sinned? How about a different approach: The Bible is full of symbolism and allusions, the stories in the Bible illustrate the way someone should act on earth. The important message is LOVE. If you are kind to others, honest, if everyone did what Jesus preached, the world would be a better place. The story of the ark for example, who cares if it really happened, but this story tells us that we should be kind to each other, and that we should be tolerant, something that many Christians aren't! All the people who saw Noah building the Ark made fun of him. The idea that humans had the same ancestor as chimpanzees sounds weird, and people rather believe in the more pure theory of direct creation by God. But are we really so much better than animals? We still have primitive instincts from ancient times. And let's say God created all the species in 7 days. The earth would be dead now. No single creature would be alive. Evolution is the solution for natural catastrophes. It is an amazing way for living creatures to survive. To survive changes in the environment, to adapt to new situations. It gets colder in the ice age, and everything dies without evolution. So why does God need to be against evolution? Why can't evolution be a gift for life? God could have created one celler with originally having the plan, that they once will evolve into elephants, birds and chickens (the egg was first by the way). And into humans, the climax of creation. Maybe God gave something special to us, that made our brain so extremely complex that we can even think about this stuff. Maybe not. I'm not trying to prove or disprove that God exists or not, I just want to appeal to people to be open minded and tolerant to both sides. Evolution doesn't need to contradict Christianity. I love science, Im a very rational and curious person. I personally do believe in God, but not in a God that directly changes the things on earth. It is more like he has a great plan, but we still have free will. I like the image of a river, we can chose what side of the river we float, if we make stops on the way, if we dive, or swim against the stream, but finally, we will end up in the big sea. So I don't believe in Jesus and in the power of prayer, but everyone should decide by themselves. Im convinces that everyone can go to heaven, what you think and what you do matters more than just what denomination of faith you belong to. If somebody just says: "Buddhists and Muslims go to hell", I call him an ignorant idiot. If I had to choose one religion, I would choose Christianity, but probably mostly because I grew up around it. The Bible has great value for my, and I honor it, but I don't take it for granted that every word in it is completely true.

You make many good points. I personally think that whatever one shooses to believe that brings them closer to, or halps them have a better understanding of the Devine is a good thing.

Jesus says "I am THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life: no one comes to the Father except by way of me " (John 14:6) You see, it doesn't matter what I think or what you think. Sooner or later, we have to consider that, if Jesus was telling the truth, that everything else is NOT the Way, or the Truth and does not give Live. Nor does it lead to the Father. You are sincere, and you are clearly thinking things through, but human reasoning is flawed. Start from God's word: Jesus Himself. He said, as I wrote "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."

I'm going to explain to you why is there today, and why was there before, and why always there's going to be conflict about religion. If religion at its point of conception was perhaps a sincere and noble--albeit vague--attempt by men to formulate understanding concepts of a conceived divine deity, Its divine attributes and the meaning value of Divinity, the Church self-appointed hierarchy, however, came to recognize it not only as one of themost important and reliable mechanism that could be systematically used to gain control over the lives of the populace, but also, as an equally powerful source of economical and political manipulation. The Church in its ambition for absolute authority crafted their own doctrinal scheme which would best justify to infringe upon people's right to diversely express their own spirituality; then entrenched them within the confinement of the Church's own home-made dogmatism. It is an undeniable [fact] that religion provided ground for slavery--freeing the perpetrator from blame and guilt at the same time. Religion; therefore, remains unmatched in its effectiveness to control and manipulate people's vague or complete lack of understanding of the concept of that which they call "GOD". The Church in many instances, for example, crafted and interpolated in the so-called "Holy Scripture" their own idealogy and concept of a GOD and, in other instances, they simply made their own interpretation that best camouflaged their real intentions. And this is one of the reason why the "Bible" has so much contradictions in it. There has been enormous organized efforts by organized religions to give its institutions and the way they have conducted their affairs since its inception, a (decorous and noble) image and a sense of remarkable "accomplishment" in the welfare of men. But the reality of its legacy, no doubt, testifies to the contrary of such a lofty claim. I've heard and seen on television and read in some pious literature how some religious representatives and their supporters boast about the " great contribution religion has poured on every society, the great achievement of (peace), bla, bla." But the well-known "INQUISITION" in history, for example, gives us a more accurate image of religion and the role of the Church in society at large. I'm just giving you here small example to poure some light on your question "The Huge conflict about religion". Peace!

I dont mean to be offensive, so dont take this wrong... I honestly dont care what anyone believes, when I die, its all up to me and my beliefs, and the same for you, even if we all die together, I wont worry about it. I believe if the world would stop worrying about what others believe, we would all be better off. I do respect your views, and agree with some of them, thanks for voicing your opinion. And I am not offended by them!

I think you have some very good points and seem to be more open minded than most. I believe the conflict is fist started by those that believe. You don't have atheists coming and knocking on your door suggesting that you need to be saved. I'm annoyed by such self righteous people that tell me that their way is the only way and take every bloody word in the Bible so seriously. The majority don't even understand what faith really means. Faith is a state of openness or trust. To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float. And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on. In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be. Thanxs for your opinion 773491... :)

Good to hear you finally offering something re your own perspective instead of just blasting & criticizing others for theirs. "Did Eve really sin, and because of her, every baby that dies before it gets baptized goes to hell, altough it never sinned?" Well, you know that she did, because you are sufficiently Bible-versant to realize how that account could be true. You need to pray around it – which I know you won’t – but that’s what you need to do. You also have further witness of its truth via my scientific discovery that Man and the snake are precise opposites of one another – which you now know about. Secondly, let me tell you that the doctrine you cite re babes to hell only holds for a small number of Christian churches. As I'm aware, it seems to be the case for Catholic and maybe C of E. I certainly know that it "is solemn mockery before God that babies need baptism", for "baptism is unto repentance [Meaning you are sorry and desire to not repeat your sin] for the remission of sins", Babies remain "alive in Christ" for they cannot sin. "The Bible is full of symbolism and allusions, the stories in the Bible illustrate the way someone should act on earth." Yes; this is true – again, as my discovery clearly verifies – that God altered the snake so as to make it opposite Man – after its opposition to God and Man in Eden. So, besides the Bible, this discovery alone, certainly indicates God's tendency to use symbolism - even in nature. But besides my discovery, the Bible itself teaches in great symbolism. Even the baptism of Jesus is all symbolic – we virtually depict the death & resurrection of Christ in that ordinance. We are buried in the water to signify both – the death of the old man [our old selves] and we do it in water to be ‘washed clean’ spiritually; then, we are raised up out of the water to the new man – depicting the resurrection from the dead. And there is symbolism throughout. Yes. As even the snake discovery shows. God is, indeed, a God of symbolism. "The idea that humans had the same ancestor as chimpanzees sounds weird, and people rather believe in the more pure theory of direct creation by God. But are we really so much better than animals?" Well, yes; we believe in the purity of God’s works over ‘bumbling evolution’; of course. We believe in the Forever nature of God’s Creation; yes – for He is a Forever Being, and a Forever Being can only act Forever. As my discovery verifies the Adam & Eve account, Adam was given all power and authority by God (“dominion”) over the earth, and a chance to make his own decision re what type of existence he wished. After the serpent’s beguiling temptation, he chose a life and world of death, corruption, decay and temporariness. Before that, because God is an Eternal Being, ALL His Works are eternal. Had Adam not made the choice for temporariness, everything would have remained precisely as the Eternal God made it. "… let's say God created all the species in 7 days. The earth would be dead now. No single creature would be alive." Why on earth would this necessarily be?? As I just said, Man is limited; his works are therefore, temporary and limited. But Conversely, the works of an eternal Being must also enjoy the status of their Creator; they would last Forever. When God raises ALL THINGS, as He has promised, when Adam hands the world back to God, it will last Forever; our Bodies will last forever – ALL THINGS will last forever. We can only think minisculy and temporarily, because we are currently, temporary beings, and although our spirits are eternal, our bodies are not, and, as you know, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So we are but weak right now. "Evolution is the solution for natural catastrophes. To survive changes in the environment, to adapt to new situations. It gets colder in the ice age, and everything dies without evolution." I believe you mean, evolution, as in ‘adaptation’. There are very few of us in science today, who do not acknowledge that adaptation exists and even acts constantly. What many of us can verify, however, is that that aspect of ‘evolution of the species’ that claims “successful random mutation” does not. All known populations reject mutants, and virtually all mutants known to man are defective. "So why does God need to be against evolution? Why can't evolution be a gift for life?" Here, you turn the words AND the argument! Evolution is against God. Basically, it tries to leave him out of the equation! Further, as we have just shown by way of scripture, by way of scientific experiment, and again, by way of philosophical reasoning and logic, it rejects God being God. For an eternal creature can only perform works eternal in nature, except where Man, who is not eternal and who is in “dominion” over this earth, requests His intervention. Sometimes, that intervention may elicit eternal consequences; sometimes, His help may be temporary. All things are best known to Him – but this earth is currently temporary. "Maybe God gave something special to us, that made our brain so extremely complex that we can even think about this stuff." Yes; He certainly did … and He gave it to us to experiment and learn and discover Him for ourselves. The reason He gave us this capacity is because we are all His children. As the Master said, “Our Father which art in Heaven …” "Evolution doesn't need to contradict Christianity." Well, as you can see, it necessarily Does contradict Christianity; and for many, it gives excuse to behave like animals. "I love science, Im a very rational and curious person. I personally do believe in God, but not in a God that directly changes the things on earth. It is more like he has a great plan, but we still have free will." If you are rational, then I hope you are rational enough to see the truth and reason in what I have stated here. I love science too; I am a scientist making discoveries. Also. Even more importantly, I love God. I know of His truth and His Omnipotence … of His Love and kindness towards all Mankind. This is why He did not judge Adam and force him to live in a temporary earth. In ALL things, He has given Man complete choice and dominion. His purposes are eternal. All science and symbolism of lasting nature, revolves around His designs and purposes. So, precisely, 77….., He has a Plan and very central to that plan is our free will – as you can see, right from the very Beginning of Man. "The Bible has great value for my, and I honor it, but I don't take it for granted that every word in it is completely true." Neither do I, 77….. Neither do I. We know that it has passed through many hands. But those mistakes are comparatively small. They do not really affect the message, nor the bulk of the accounts. These things spoken in it are true - including those early Biblical accounts - as my discovery bears out.

There are religions in this world that have successfully combined science and religion... but I noticed that you are comfortable with the Christian label and that it fine. Everything you said sounds right to me... the only thing I would add is that if religion is right, and if science is right... they will support each other. You may want to read this resource... http://gospelenigma.com That book explains the Original Kingdom Gospel that Jesus preached rather than the popular gospel we hear these days. It is my opinion that the Original Gospel is something that fits much better with modern science, since it emphasizes "unification," as the best scientists today emphasize the "Unified Field." So there is hope that some day, correct religion will support science.

One reason would be that most Churches want to keep their own doctrine and will condemn your views as heretical. In the Dark Ages, they would have burnt you. And it seems that those Dark Ages are still alive in some places, even in the USA. Remark also that people usually don't appreciate to be called ignorant idiots.

Someone wrote a letter to his Christian friend not long ago and in the letter he said: 'I know no better way of waging the battle for the Truth than arraying the facts face to face on either side and letting them fight it out'. Then the Christian friend reply was: 'I don't believe in your facts because I do not know'. To me, that's good firm ground to stand upon, however late in life we take that position. On the other hand, to be of any real service, we must apply the same [reason] all round. As an adherent to Christianity, that man has all along been a "Believer".....in what he [did not know] to be facts; and a "Believer" just because he did not know. And now he finds too late to correct his early belief by means of later [knowledge]. All I'm saying is that people shall not "believe" simply because they do not know. No matter what they call themselves, in my opinion, they're traitors to the Truth who will not face the facts nor examine for themselves--but will go on repeating ignorantly, or in pious pigheadedness, the Orthodox assumptions, and applying the [hypotheses of accommodation] to the Christian documents, which have been manipulated and the facts perverted for the purpose of establishing and supporting Orthodox history. The earlier religions had their myths interpreted by means of the oral and unwritten wisdom. Yet we have ours [misinterpreted]; and a great deal of what has been IMPOSEED upon us as God's direct "true and solo revelation to men", is a mass of [inverted myths].

You sound very Catholic to me. Most Christians do not take the stories of creation in the Bible literally. Catholics believe the book of Genesis tells religious truth and not necessarily historical fact. One of the religious truths is that God created everything and declared all was good. Catholics can believe in the theories of the big bang or evolution or both or neither. On August 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani generis: The Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God. Here is the complete encyclical: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html And here is the Address of Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on October 22, 1996 speaking of the Theory of Evolution: http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_jp02tc.htm The Church supports science in the discovery of God's creation. At this time, the theories of the big bang and evolution are the most logical scientific explanations. However tomorrow someone may come up with better ideas. As long as we believe that God started the whole thing, both the Bible and responsible modern science can live in harmony. The Clergy Letter Project an open letter endorsing the Theory of Evolution signed by over 10,000 clergy from many different Christian denominations: http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/rel_evol_sun.htm With love in Christ.

very good. But keep in mind that science is incomplete. It solely depending upon 5 senses. There are several things go beyond senses. Science really couldn't completely define birth and death yet. There are various theories floating around whether brain dead or heart dead and like that. I believe science and spirituality should work together for the right answers. All religions are man made and they started with a good reason, but organized religions are all with many purposes. It is business.

Although I disagree with your views, you are just as entitled to them as anyone else is entitled to theirs and I mine.