Talking to Pentecostals about Origins and Evolution

[adamjedgar (adam james edgar)]

@jpm

Adam, if you get a chance, read The Manifest Beauty of Genesis 1 to get an idea of the depth and richness of meaning you can find in the text. It goes far beyond the surface of a literal historical view, whether you hold that view or not. And one of the most meaningful aspects to me is how it functions as a polemic towards the prevailing narrative of the time

I know its been a while since this post however…

The bibleisnt written to simply make us feel good reading it…thats the whole.pe9blem with Pentecostalism…if they dont feel good, they mustn be close enough to God or are loosing their faith. i know this because my neighbour in sydney is one and he has described that dilemma to me regarding his loss of ability to speaking in tongues

The bible is written specifically to answer the epistomological questions that are inside all of us.

Why are we here?
where did we come from?
Qhat does the future hold?

The Bible also directly answersallof the epistomological questions…with very specific and directly.relevant supporting evidence. None of that evidence is presented as mythical fairytales or even allegory…it answers those questions with specific tangible physcial and spiritual outcomes.

The thing is, the spiritual outcomesare connected directly with physical outcomes…eg Christ death on the cross paying the price forthe wages of sin is death. We are spiritually and physically redeemed…its not just spiritual…so genesis creation and fall cannot theologically be allegorical/spiritual. That claim is flatout 100%wrong. Given its clearly wrong, the only option is to take the creation account as its written and read through normal language, interpreted by its writers for us…literal history.

An example…The prophet daniel interpreted Gods meaning to king Nebuchadnezzar

Ask yourself those questions and then tell me im wrong on this?

[Mervin_Bitikofer]

@adamjedgar

The bible is written specifically to answer the epistomological questions that are inside all of us.

It is, huh?! And that is it’s primary purpose - or even only purpose? If I approached some profound or deep poem that way - this was written to educate me and answer my questions that I brought with me … I think most poets and artists would not feel I was really fully respecting their work if it was all reduced to serving only an answer manual purpose.

Not saying the Bible isn’t doing at least some of that, and significantly so - just poking back a bit at the would-be gatekeepers who insist that this alone is the way to all faithful scriptural understanding.