<< Why didn't He take that dust and make us an animal with green leaves
covering our bodies as a mark of our separateness? My view explains the
data
in a way yours doesn't.>>
Only if you suppose that you KNOW the reasons God did it this way, and know
the ends he had in mind. I find that to be a tad presumptive. A theory that
"explains" is only as good as its foundations. Here, I find the "I see no
good reason" foundation one that is lacking vis-a-vis our human limitations.
See Deut. 29:29.<<
Well, if your can suppose you KNOW the chemical composition of the "dust" God
made Adam with (even in light of God calling the living Adam "dust"), I think
it only fair for you to let me suppose I might see it a little strange that
God would once again make man in such a fashion that would fool us into
believing that there might be a connection with the apes. He could easily,
and in many ways, have made man so that no one could possibly assume a
connection betwen man and ape. (my suggestion that we be covered with green
leaves that engage in photosynthesis rather than hair would work).
But then the common view among conservative christians is that God made the
earth appear old when it isn't; he made living forms appear to have evolved
when they didn't; he makes the evidence for miracles disappear so we
wouldn't have it (like the evidence for the flood). God makes some
radioisotopes so that the decay chains of Uranium and Thorium are in
equilibrium so that they will appear old, but then refuses to make other
isotopes which should exist (like Si-32 or cm-245) if the earth is young. I
presume God does this so that the earth can appear old.
This view which Christians so quickly escape to, that if something disagrees
with our interpretation, God miraculously fixed the game, makes discussion
difficult. Anytime our position violates observation, we engage in this
escape mechanism. I suppose that if one believed that the Bible taught
that the earth was flat, he could engage in a game that God bends the light
rays around the flat earth so that it appears round when it really is not..
glenn