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 Pat Robertson: "There was a time when these giant reptiles were on the Earth, and it was before the time of the Bible."
November 29th, 2012
04:04 PM ET
Pat Robertson challenges creationismBy Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN) – Televangelist Pat Robertson challenged the idea that Earth is 6,000 years old this week, saying the man who many credit with conceiving the idea, former Archbishop of Ireland James Ussher, “wasn’t inspired by the Lord when he said that it all took 6,000 years.” The statement was in response to a question Robertson fielded Tuesday from a viewer on his Christian Broadcasting Network show "The 700 Club.” In a submitted question, the viewer wrote that one of her biggest fears was that her children and husband would not go to heaven “because they question why the Bible could not explain the existence of dinosaurs.” “You go back in time, you've got radiocarbon dating. You got all these things, and you've got the carcasses of dinosaurs frozen in time out in the Dakotas,” Robertson said. “They're out there. So, there was a time when these giant reptiles were on the Earth, and it was before the time of the Bible. So, don't try and cover it up and make like everything was 6,000 years. That's not the Bible.” Before answering the question, Robertson acknowledged the statement was controversial by saying, “I know that people will probably try to lynch me when I say this.” “If you fight science, you are going to lose your children, and I believe in telling them the way it was,” Robertson concluded. Forty-six percent of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years, according to a survey released by Gallup in June. That number has remained unchanged for the past 30 years, since 1982, when Gallup first asked the question on creationism versus evolution. The Gallup poll has not specifically asked about views on the age of the Earth. Ussher’s work, from the mid-1600s, is widely cited by creationists as evidence that Earth is only a few thousand years old. Answer in Genesis, the famed Christian creationist ministry behind the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, cites Ussher as proof of Earth’s age. They describe the archbishop as “a brilliant scholar who had very good reasons for his conclusions concerning the date of creation.” For Christians who read the creation account in Genesis literally, the six days in the account are strictly 24-hour periods and leave no room for evolution. Young Earth creationists use this construct and biblical genealogies to determine the age of the Earth, and typically come up with 6,000 to 10,000 years. Most scientists, however, agree that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old and the universe is 14.5 billion years old. The idea of creationism has been scorned by the mainstream scientific community since shortly after Charles Darwin introduced "The Origin of Species" in 1859. By 1880, The American Naturalists, a science journal, reported nearly every major university in America was teaching evolution. The question about Earth’s age has been in the news recently. Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida attempted to walk the line between science and faith-based creationism in remarks that that provoked the ire of liberal blogs and left the door open to creationism. “I'm not a scientist, man,” Rubio told GQ’s Micheal Hainey. “I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States.” – CNN’s Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report. soundoff (4,392 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Next »Post a comment
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Robertson is NOT challenging creationism, he is simply stating that the process of creation may not have been as simple as the literal Genesis account. Personally, I believe God created the universe but I have no idea how he did it or how long it took...and neither do evolutionists. It takes as much faith to be an evolutionist as it oes to be a creationist. As I tell my atheist friends, "We'll see."
"As I tell my atheist friends, "We'll see.""
Or we won't. You could die, your consciousness cease to exist, and nothing. You'll never know that you were wrong.
@Mark
You Said: " Robertson is NOT challenging creationism, he is simply stating that the process of creation may not have been as simple as the literal Genesis account. "
What would Robertson 'actually' "know" about how the process of creation started anyway ?
You Said: " Personally, I believe God created the universe but I have no idea how he did it or how long it took"
Operative word... "believe"
You Said: " and neither do evolutionists. It takes as much faith to be an evolutionist as it oes to be a creationist. "
Hmm... well, certainly as we get even more detailed information from science, we are getting a much clearer picture on things. And... no, i'm not saying that there is 'no' god, just saying that science 'is' giving us the best information...and... it will continue to fill in these 'gaps.'
You Said: " It takes as much faith to be an evolutionist as it oes[sic} to be a creationist."
No... not really.
You Said: " As I tell my atheist friends, "We'll see."
Interesting closing with a "Pascal's Wager" gambit. There could be many ways that 'you' are wrong.
Peace...
@Mark,
"I have no idea how he did it or how long it took...and neither do evolutionists"
Actually scientists (as opposed to 'evolutionists', whatever that is supposed to mean) do have an idea about the age of the earth. They think it is about 4.5 billion years old. Is this a categorical fact? No, it is a theory, and it is based on evidence. So far there has been consensus on this estimate since 1953.
@GOPer
Hello, my friend. Hope that all is well.
Peace...
@therealpeace2all
seasons greetings to you.
Mark, I didn't mean to imply that he was challenging the belief that God created the universe and therefore the earth. What I mean is that he's challenging the scientific theory of creationism which largely focuses on the young earth. I'm sorry I didn't differentiate the two.
Dear God of the Gaps,
You are shrinking every day. One day you will dissapear. And one day you will be forgotton. Don't let the Truth hit you on the way out.
Regards,
Mankind
No matter how small the gap it's still a gap.
If you fill in the middle of a gap, you just get two gaps on either side.
Would you rather cram a fabricated and ill-fitting notion of a divine being in there, or look at it squarely, and admit to ourselves that yes, there are things of which we are ignorant.
Wisdom is knowing how little we know. I would prefer not to lie to ourselves on top of that.
The whole universe was in a hot dense state –
Then nearly 14 million years ago, expansion started. Wait!
The Earth began to cool, the autotrophs began to grow,
Neanderthals developed tools, we built the walls, we built the Pyramids.
Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery
It all started with a Big Bang – BANG!!
"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and Pangea
See ya wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!
Exactly!!!
Your time scale is way off (we already had primates 14 million years ago). And tools came way before neanderthals. But I agree with the spirit of your message. Trust the overwhelming evidence!
J-
Actually it was only Hydrogen that was created at first. All the other element required stars nuclear reactions and violent ends to create all the others. And, that galaxies took millions of years to coalesce. Everything didn't get spit out of the Big Bang, just the hydrogen and the energy....everything else took a LOOOOOOONG time, and of course pressure.
anyone espousing biblically literal creationism is seriously divorced from reality.
christianity is just another of the myriad of religions invented by man.
one fact is indisputable, with the innumerable deities, religions and doctrines today and throughout history, man is very adept at inventing god.
"Man is adept at inventing god" - I am afraid God already said that. You are a few thousand years too late.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary for man to invent him – Voltaire.
So which is it? we don't know!
jimmy – all gods are the inventions of men unless otherwise proven. the very notion that a gods existence is unknowable is the best argument for the product of human invention.
wade – god said nothing. men wrote the stories of the bible.
yes and it won't be long before man just calls himself G-d
sumday – many, many men already have.
Man has been pretty adept at inventing science too. Spontaneous generation, global cooling, hole in the ozone, man made global warming, blood letting, philosopher's stone, heavier objects fall faster, the atom is the smallest existing particle, earth at the center of the universe, and so on.
We, as being but biology-buildings do labor together and in equal measures find struggle with God and all his generations, his family members and servants and other Godly brethren inside our body-like buildings of inner-cosmological wonders! 1Corinthians 3:9 "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building!"
It's best not to keep that stuff inside too long. Have a few prunes before you go to bed.
mama k,
Your cyanotic clementine's urethra does leaven a bitter tasty freeze upon your wonkiness tirade! Be a goodly mama and leave the bus! Find your own route home! This bus is too busy for the primitive minds' eyes to be leavened without obscurities reckoning and revealing domiciles of masculinity debonair!
Out of all the polls, statistics etc... this one, in which almost half of this country, believes that man was created by God within the last 10,000 years is truly frightening. We are the only developed country that has such a high percentage of population that takes the bible as being literal. I applaud Robertson for saying what he did. I do think people's faith and science can co-exist. Although I don't believe in religious dogma, I do accept the possibility of God. But I always put my faith in science. It is the last pure thing that man does to try and understand the way things work.
There is no god, so relax and enjoy your lives.
If what is real or not real can only be validated through our natural senses then we must be pretty awesome as human beings. Maybe you don’t really know everything there is to know. To think that there is a reality beyond the physical realm is only reasonable. To think that the complexity and order of creation came about by chance seems unreasonable.
"To think that there is a reality beyond the physical realm is only reasonable."
Why is that reasonable?
Why is that not reasonable. He just told you why. To say there is no supernatural realm of spiritual existence would imply that all the order we see came about by chance. The other question would then be, why is that reasonable?
Maybe ancient man was much better at making stuff up than we've given him credit for.
wade – just because we do not necessarily understand the mechanism of the universe, to somehow punt the question to some "divine" being is intellectually dishonest.
nearly all things once attributed to divine intentions have been determined to be of natural origins. there is no reason to believe that trend will miraculously reverse.
Re your last sentence... it's only unreasonable if you don't have the education necessary to understand the inevitability of complexity given the laws of physics, chemistry and statistical probability. Some people (apparently not you) have taken the time to acquire that knowledge.
@TNT, I have to agree with Salvor. If you understand the science it's actually quite plausible. It's certainly plausible, too, that there was outside intervention (can't say) but the science is pretty straight forward and not that surprising given the timeframes we're looking at.
So some 16th century priest comes up with the 6000 year figure and that is now the word of God? Strange. It's great that Pat Robertson is finally admitting that this whole idea of young earth is dumb. Of course, evangelicals will denounce him now as the spawn of Satan.
Evangelicals will say we are saved by faith alone out of one side of their mouth, but will tell you that you have to believe that men and dinosaurs co-existed to be saved out of the other side.
First he supports legalizing marijuana and now he says the Earth is older than 6000 years. I think Pat Robertson is getting a little sensible in his old age.
Someone over a the 700 Club needs to reign him in before he goes totally sane.
LIKE. LMAO.
Nice one, Mike.
Funny Mike! Nice.
As I understand it, there are four theories of life on the Earth
Creationism – Life was created by God 6,000 years ago, as per the Bible
Intelligent Design – Life was organized by a supreme source
Evolution – Life adapts and grows based on the conditions around it; and over long periods of time it can create variations of species and even new species
Darwinism – Life started with a single cell by chance and through the process of evolution has developed to life as we know it today
I think it is important to keep these definitions in mind when discussing this topic.
Darwinism does not address how life started, it makes no suppositions about that subject.
Darwinism & evolution is the same thing
It's also important to keep in mind that the first two are demonstrably false.
Don't forget ExoGenesis and Panspermia...
Not sure there is such a thing as "Darwinism", unless there are people out there praying to Charles Darwin. The Theory of Evolution used today is described in what is called the "Modern Synthesis" and is the only Scientific Theory of the development of life on this planet, but it does not cover the origin of life, sometimes called abiogenesis.
The other items mentioned have no scientific basis whatsoever.
You forgot Spontaneous Generation.
OK sorry about calling it Darwinism. Let's call it Single Cell Theory (SCT). I think we can safely say that Creationism and SCT are mutually exclusive. But you could have an Intelligent Design and Evolution hybrid that would work quite nicely together.
@J. Wade Harrell,
Spontaneous Generation:
"Typically, the idea was that certain forms such as fleas could arise from inanimate matter such as dust, or that maggots could arise from dead flesh." (Wiki)
... was deproven (debunked) a century or so ago. The current hypotheses for abiogenesis are completely different.
@Violinmaker,
I'm not familiar with the Single Cell Theory, but I don't think Darwin's ideas covered the origin of life, just the 'origin of species', like the Theory of Evolution, only cover the development of life, once life began.
violin – creationism and ID are two forms of the same "god did it" and is not a scientific theory, but simply a mythology.
evolution is a scientific theory for speciation and not the origin of life. darwinism is the theory of evolution.
so far you have only listed one theory.
violin – you forgot to mention the myriad of other religious origin "theories". of course they should get equal billing if you would include creationism.
Violinmaker claims there are 4 theories of life on earth -
1. Creationism. Creationism is not a theory. It is a religious myth. What you fail to understand is that in reality, there are over a thousand mutually exclusive creation myths. Yours is no more, nor no less special than any other.
2. Intelligent Design. ID is also not a theory. It is simply Christian creationism in a new dress. It was started by the same fundiot nutters who were spànked by the courts for teaching creationism in school.
3. Evolution. This the only scientifically valid they to explain the diversification of life on earth.
4. Darwinism. No such thing. It seems like you confuse abiogenesis and "Darwinism". Abiogenesis is a completely different domain, studied by completely different people.
So my point is that perhaps there is other forms of life out there. If you want to call it God or Aliens whatever, that might have seeded the earth with potential for life? Possible? Perhaps. Provable? not by today's scientific abilities. Think about what we know today versus just a couple of decades ago. Personally I don't believe in Creationism as generally accepted – that God created the Earth 6,000 years ago. But, why not allow for the idea that there might be some "Intelligent Designer". most of our scientific knowledge begins with an idea that someone wants to explore. Then we gather evidence and try to prove it through scientific means. I think calling Creationism and Intelligent design the same is incorrect. You can have intelligent design as part of Evolution. Think of a domino rally. You get to plan it out and set it up and then let it go. If you plan it out right, it works. over simplistic example? sure, but you get the point. Allow for the possibility.
My work here is nearly done. Thanks to me Obama has been re-elected, the teabaggers are on the run and Sarah Palin is no longer a household word. I have accomplished much and I am considering taking time off to write my memoirs.
Oh, and thanks for helping destroy our country.
The TEA party would not exist without Obama's left wing agenda.
Obama created the TEA party and it won't go away.
Jimmy, it's thanks to Fox "News" that the Tea Party exists they have you all worked up into a rage over NOTHING. Obama is the weakest Democrat I've ever seen, he's caved in so many times to the Republicans I'm beginning to think he actually IS a Republican. WEAK!
And Fox News really is bad for the country – they quote out of context, exaggerate, and repeat their OPINIONS so many times that you people take it as fact. Wake UP!
Quran says, (holy Islamic scripture)
“Proclaim, He is the One and only GOD. The Absolute GOD. Never did He beget. Nor was He begotten. None equals Him." [112:1]
“They even attribute to Him sons and daughters, without any knowledge. Be He glorified. He is the Most High, far above their claims.” Quran [6:100]
“The example of Jesus, as far as GOD is concerned, is the same as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, "Be," and he was.” Quran [3:59]
‘They said, "You have to be Jewish or Christian, to be guided." Say, "We follow the religion of Abraham – monotheism – he never was an idol worshiper." [2:135]
God will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary did you say to the people, `Make me and my mother idols beside God?' " He will say, "Be You glorified. I could not utter what was not right. Had I said it, You already would have known it. You know my thoughts, and I do not know Your thoughts. You know all the secrets.[5:116]
The Messiah, son of Mary is no more than a messenger like the messengers before him, and his mother was a saint. Both of them used to eat the food. Note how we explain the revelations for them, and note how they still deviate! [5:75]
“No soul can carry the sins of another soul. If a soul that is loaded with sins implores another to bear part of its load, no other soul can carry any part of it, even if they were related. ... [35:18]
It does not befit God that He begets a son, be He glorified. To have anything done, He simply says to it, "Be," and it is. [19:35]
When My servants ask you about Me, I am always near. I answer their prayers when they pray to Me. The people shall respond to Me and believe in Me, in order to be guided. Quran [2:186]
'Say, "We believe in God, and in what was sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and all the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them. To Him alone we are submitters." [2:136]
Thanks for taking time to read my post. Please take a moment to clear your misconception by going to whyIslam org website.
tl;dr
Such nice scriptures from your evil, ancient death-cult. Now can you please quote the ones about the infidels burning in hell and having their skin constantly renewed so that the pain may continue through eternity.
I read with open mind but to read any 'holy scripture' and take it seriously is let the brain fall out of the open mind.
I believe. Thanks for reminding me. Peace.
I never get how people can claim a strict 24 hr interpretation? It is not in there! It is as if these people either do not read their bible or do not understand/comprehend what is written in their bible. First and for most a day in the bible is described as a dark period followed by a light period- there is zero mention of time only a sequence of events- dark-light. Second the sun is not mentioned as being created until the 3rd day, so a 24 hr day period could not possibly be considered before the sun was created. And 3rdly it says G-d rested on the 7th day, but later in the bible G-d swears in his anger not to allow the Israelites in the dessert to enter into his rest, and Paul states that the Sabbath is a foreshadow of things to COME- meaning it has not happened yet! This means we are still in the 6th day of creation bc from the bible it's clear man has not entered or passed G-ds 7th day of creation. This is also why there appears 2 accounts of creation in Geneses- one from G-ds point of view of what he did in 7 dark/light cycles, and the second picking up from man's perspective concerning the 6th day. No where in the bible is it ever inferred that man has experienced or gone pass G-ds 7th day! Those who cling to 6,000yr old earth simple don't read or understand their bible.
Hey Bob,
We put a Mezuzah on our door jam (we are not Jewish), and it does a good job of keeping the nut-jobs away.
Sorry – meant to be a reply. But if you want to avoid missionaries, since we put it up – no Mormons, no Jehovah's Witnesses, no thumpers of any kind.
The book of Genesis describes the big bang and the formation of the Earth remarkably well when compared with our scientific theories. The only thing that people get hung up on is that it says 6 days. But when you consider that people at the time the Bible was written had pre-K math and science skills, you're not going to get them to understand what a "billion" is. Or even what an "epoch" is. Or what "DNA" is or why women are not a different species but just a different gender than men. So the Bible simplifies things so people at that time could understand. Big deal. As parents, you do that all the time or outright lie about certain things just to comfort them and to get them to stop asking uncomfortable questions.
Genesis still gets the ORDER all wrong. Even allowing for the stretching of "days" into "eras", Genesis is still disproved by the evidence.
and our PhDs still can't figure out how the pyramids and other wonders were built by such pre-K minds.
You take ridiculous apologism to a new level. The Bible is about as accurate and sophisticated in describing the origins of the Universe as "The Three Little Pigs" is in describing carniverous and herbivorious mammilian behavior.
Bob C. – to say or imply that people at the time of the bible had pre-k knowledge of science/math is wrong and disproven by the existence of the seven wonders of the ancient world. These were creations of incredibly grand scale that required incredible knowledge of both math and science. Most of those creations pre-date the Torrah and all of them pre-date the new testament.
While I do not subscribe to the creation theory – or really religion in general – there were some civilizations that had relatively advanced math/science skills. However, I agree with your post that the majority of the tribes of the jewish faith – i.e., those people who actually created the Torrah or old testament – were likely nomadic herders who had no such knowledge, and, thus simplified things as you mentioned.
Bob wrote, " The book of Genesis describes the big bang and the formation of the Earth remarkably well when compared with our scientific theories."
No it doesn't. It gets the whole thing incredibly wrong. The earth was not created in the beginning. There was no visible light in the beginning. The earth was not created before any stars. There was no liquid water on the surface of the earth before the son. These was no land based vegetation on earth before the sun. The moon is not a light source. Birds did not exist before terrestrial animals. All humans did not descend from 1 breeding pair. Woman was not created from the rib of a man.
Basically, anything your god could get wrong, he did get wrong.
While some people may have had "advanced" knowledge of math and science, the general population did not. The creation story is also geared towards them too.
First there is nothing, then there is matter but no objects, then the suns were born creating light, then our water-only planet was born, then land appeared (as one giant mass at first, Pangaea), then the other animals, then man. Seems like roughly the right order to me. The "luminaries" could mean that the atmosphere finally got transparent enough to see the stars, or that it finally stopped being overcast and raining constantly. I'm not saying it's a perfect match, but the creation story could have been a lot more off than it is.
Besides, the Christians just stole the creation story from the Babylonians. So blame them.
According to Genisis, God didn't create the sun until day 4 so the idea that God created everything in 24 days is foolish, You need the sun for days to be 24 hours. It's just a metaphor
And what does it say about the metaphor that Genesis claims that the earth was created before the sun, and that flowering plants were created before any sea or land creatures?
Adam and Eve may have been in the Garden of Eden for a few billion years before they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and were kicked out. I rest my case!
Read the book Biblical Nonsense, its all in there.....you need look no further.
Also, due to the rotation rate of the earth, if we measure a day by one full rotation, it is generally slightly less than 24 hours, and can vary slightly if the rotation rate of the earth changes, which can happen with massive earthquakes.
"Adam and Eve may have been in the Garden of Eden for a few billion years before they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and were kicked out."
Wow, so Adam and Eve changed from Australopithecus to H. erectus to H. ergaster to H. sapiens during their stay in the garden? Praise Jesus, it's a miracle!
So when did he create the moon and why do you need the sun to have a 24hour day? There are places on earth that don't see the sun for 6 months. With your theory those 6 months are actually only one day.
46% of Americans believe the Earth was created in the past 10,000 years.
47% of Americans voted for Romney.
Ignorance is bliss
I wager two quid Mitt must be really proud.
Ignorance is thinking that all of us that voted for Mitt follow a religion.
Huge numbers of african americans and hispanics believe in creationism. Few of them voted for Romney.
Muslims believe in creationsim. Are you Islamophobic? Or is it ok for them, just wrong for Christians?
If it makes you feel good to just imply that the half the country that voted for Romney is just a bunch of idiots, have at it. A lot of Republicans equally believe that the half that voted for Obama are just lazy people who want free stuff. Both are wrong. America has its share of idiots unfortunately but the GOP has no monopoly on them. Frankly, most people spouting off about "stupid" Christians know very little about the history or diversity of Christianity and Christian thought.
I never did trust anyone who didn't believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. To say anything but, is questioning my intelligence.
What has trust to do with it? Insulting your intelligence might be a moot point, as your post reveals.
I find it incredulous that anyone can think the world anything less than 4.5 billions years old. When someone tells me that mankind and Velociraptor existed concurrently, I have to laugh, although I try not to do it to their face. I groan when someone points to the human eye as proof of an intelligent design. If the human eye is so intelligently designed then why does it have so many flaws such as a blind spot or blood vessels IN FRONT of the light sensitive cells?
"Better to keep your mouth closed and have people thiink you a fool than open it and remove all doubt."
46% of Americans believe Earth is but a few thousands years old? This is amazing! How did you Yanks make it so far? My bet would be that most of that 46% resides in the Bible Belt or south of the Mason Dixon line. Yihaaaa! Pass another beer, Billy Bob!
Most of them do live in the south, but the number is also likely to be inflated due to the way the survey was conducted.
Hey there. Go easy on us Southerners. Remember there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
The word is yeeeeeehaw, the southern town where I live has the highest percentage of PhD's in the entire US ... and the reason the US made it so far is because we are a cut-throat, striving culture... most Brits wouldn't last a work-week over here. Keep basing your opinions on the cowboy movies and American TV shows you watch. Cheers.
There are idiots everywhere, my friend.
Religions of the world. Having a religion is great.. as long as you don't take it serious. Having a favorite religion is like having a favorite sports team, or movie/tv star. Enjoy these things. But be open minded.
Have a good day.
Having a religion is like having a penis. I don't care if you have one, you can be proud of it, you can even love it, but don't go waving it around in public, and don't try to shove it down my throat!
Out of curiosity...
How did man arrive on this planet in your 'enlightened' view? Keep in mind there's not a single fossil linking man to some evolved primate or otherwise. Also, keep in mind that the three major religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam- hold a common core Abrahamic belief founded in the Old Testament.
I like to deal in the majors and not get caught up in minor trappings – whether religion, politics or otherwise, you're wise to stay on the majors and off the rhetoric.
Here's the majors, so listen, learn, and plan accordingly for your place in this life or the next: 1) there is not a single fossil to evidence mankind's evolution from some so-called earlier form – so you either believe in our Creator, or Aliens, or you choose not to decide, and that is still a choice. 2) while many uninformed pundits – again by their own choosing and lack of initiative – get confused by the thousands of religious faiths, understand the following: don't get bogged down by the thousands of off-shoots, of the three major (by followers) religions in the world, being Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all three subcribe to the same core Abrahamic (Old Testament) beliefs. So don't get caught up in thousands... at the high level... 3, and they have the same core beliefs.
You do the math.
@Blue,
"there's not a single fossil linking man to some evolved primate or otherwise"
you're kidding right? There are hundreds of different homind fossils that are not h0mo sapiens.
What's so special about the Abrahamic religions anyway?
@Blue
"the three major (by followers) religions in the world, being Christianity, Judaism, and Islam"
Christianity and Islam are major religions, bud Judaism is way down the list Hinduism is 3rd with almost a billion adherents.
@Blue
Ask a Jew about the afterlife. The three Abrahamic religions are not the same.
@Blue,
you think Judiasm is a 'major religion', by the numbers?
It's not even in the top 10!
01. Christianity: ............................................. 2.1 billion
02. Islam: ...................................................... 1.5 billion
03. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: .. 1.1 billion
04. Hinduism: ................................................ 900 million
05. Chinese traditional religion: ..................... 394 million
06. Buddhism: ............................................... 376 million
07. primal-indigenous: ................................... 300 million
08. African Traditional & Diasporic: .............. 100 million
09. Sikhism: .................................................... 23 million
10. Juche: ...................................................... 19 million
11. Spiritism: .................................................. 15 million
12. Judaism: .................................................. 14 million
13. Baha'i: ....................................................... 7 million
14. Jainism: .................................................... 4.2 million
15. Shinto: ...................................................... 4 million
16. Cao Dai: .................................................... 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism: ........................................ 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo: .................................................. 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism: ........................................ 1 million
20. Unitarian-Universalism: ............................ 800 thousand
21. Rastafarianism: ........................................ 600 thousand
22. Scientology: ............................................. 500 thousand
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
It's amazing that a person as dense as Blue can still exist in this day and age.