Old Earth

Norman L Smith (normjane@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 21 Mar 1996 20:31:13 -0800

Thanks, Bill, for that response about God and a billion years of death.
Those are some interesting ideas - and hearing ideas I haven't thought
about before is the main value of spending time on this reflector. The
notion that it might be the evil one who has been messing things up
here for a billion years is an fascinating possibility. The thought
might also occur that perhaps the evil one has been messing with things
for a shorter time in a deliberately deceptive way. Seems like the
Bible does call him the "deciver" somewhere. The latter notion is not
one that appeals to me, however. At any rate I am not yet as
comfortable as you indicate with the idea that God would tolerate pain
for a billion years. It might not seem very long to Him but it still
sounds long to me. What would be the most uncomfortable about it is
that He might be just a willing to tolerate this situation for another
billion years. That runs against my notions of Christianity but I
realize it might not be troubling from other viewpoints.

A thanks also to Mike Farley for pointing out the talk.origins FAQ
site. I hadn't heard of that before. I do look at talk.origins now
and then but for the most part it seems an exhausting stream of
hostility.

Norm Smith
74532,66@compuserve.com