To the best of my knowledge, the Bible doesn't mention rabbits, cats or hamsters, but that doesn't mean they weren't known. I have dug marine fossils in the Midwest, and I can believe they were there for, maybe, several thousand years, but 80 million years? No way! As for Noah's children and the different races, we don't know what racial characteristics they had to begin with, and it is always possible that their wives were of different races. (Nowhere does the Bible condemn interracial marriage, as even Bob Jones University was forced to admit.) Starting from this point, it is not hard to believe that their descendants with darker skin flourished in tropical Africa, tall people with fair skin flourished in colder Europe, and so on. Evolution would require me to believe in all sorts of missing links and near-eternal time frames; believing in a creator God, observing the world around me and concluding that life on earth is a few thousand years old takes far less faith, which is good, because my faith is weak, anyway.
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Name : Augustine23618, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 39, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, As an ex-fundamentalist (Christian), I can report that some believers consider the behemoth and leviathan of Job to be dinosaurs. This was very comforting to me at the time, as I wanted desperately to have my Genesis and Tyrannosaurus, too. Others rationalized that they were not taken on the Ark or that they had died out before the flood. The truth, of course, is that no one in Biblical times knew of dinosaurs or of paleontology. The other rationalization is that the three sons of Noah were the forefathers of the three 'races' of man, and the more hardcore racists rationalize that the black 'race' (I use quotation marks here because I believe there's only one race, and that's the human race) was the descendants of Ham, whose offspring were cursed for shaming his father. This they take as Biblical justification for the oppression of Africans and African Americans. From the New International Version: 'Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside... When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, 'Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.' (Genesis 9;20-22, 24-25.) Now, the fact that one of Ham's descendants was Nimrod, who (according to Genesis) founded Babylon and Assyria, or that the Canaanites were inhabitants of Palestine and not Africa doesn't seem to matter to these folk; they've got their religious justification for hating African Americans. Of course, only a minority of fundamentalists still buy this extremist view.
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Name : Guy, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian Humanist, Age : 43, City : Birmingham, State : AL Country : United States, Occupation : Cashier/clerk, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, In response to the question of races I would like to start out by saying that there is but one race: human. A cursory reading of the book of Genesis, chapter 11, will solve the question about how God created the variety of humans within our race. It says in verse 7 that He separated the people by language. From here we must rely on good science. Any time there is a limited amount of genetic information in a given pool of genes, there will be dominant features. Thus, when the languages were separated, the gene pools reacted naturally and thus through the course of time we have such dominant traits as black skin, white skin, brown hair, blond hair, big feet vs. small feet ... and the list goes on.
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Name : D. Risko, Gender : M, Age : 23, City : Chattanooga, State : TN Country : United States, Occupation : Banker, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, The language of certain parts of Genesis is very poetic, broad and open to interpretation. For instance, in the creation account, the Hebrew word 'day' can also be translated as 'phase.' Bible scholars have never really come to a consensus about the early times of the earth. As for the account of Noah, you asked how different races can come from a homogenous group of people. Back in the early days of humanity, according to anthropology, everyone was African. Humanity originated in the area between north central Africa and the 'Fertile Crescent' (Mesopotamia) and subsequently spread out. Any (paleo)anthropologist will tell you that the races didn't evolve seperately from different groups of apes. Race is simply an outer adaptation to the environment.
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Name : Dan31651, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : Los Angeles area, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : student, Social class : Lower middle class, Why do you assume Noah and his family weren't black or Asian?
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Name : ED25454, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 43, City : KansasCity, State : MO Country : United States, DINOSAURS: The Bible does speak of dinosaurs. Job 40:15-24 Describes dinosaurs. It calls them 'Behemoths' and says that 'their Bones were as Iron Bars' and that they could 'drink up a whole river' and 'ate from mountain tops' and 'had a tail as a cedar tree.'
DIFFERENT RACES: It is my understanding from Hebrew research that God made each race exactly as it is today. God made a pair of each. Noah's Flood was a regional flood that took place in the Tarim Basin. The term that gets translated as 'whole earth' is the Hebrew term 'eretz' and can simply mean the Soil, or a Country, or the whole earth - it has to be taken in context. There were people here before Adam and Eve. Gen. 1:27 states that God CREATED man and woman AT THE SAME TIME (these were Spoken into Existence.) This is NOT Adam and Eve. These are all the different races of the earth. He made them and was happy with them as he made them. Gen 2:7 says that he 'formed' man of the earth. This is not a recap - this is a continuation. He made this one by himself specifically to till the ground. So, just as we were taught in school, this is exactly how it happened. First the hunters, the the gatherers were created, then the fishermen were created, then the farmers were created. Think about it. Who was Cain afraid might find him and kill him (Gen. 4:12-15), if he and Adam and Eve were 'supposedly' to be the only ones alive? There were probably MILLIONS of other people! The Bible simply details the story of one man's family. Evolution requires that all races come from one pair of people; but out of evolution stems the racist concept that black people are 'partially evolved' or 'closer to apes' than whites. None of us came from apes. The Biblical God created each race to live in its own environment, and He formed us each as he saw fit.
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Name : Tim, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 32, City : Jacksonville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : pastor, Social class : Middle class, Please do not paint all of Christianity with the same brush. The contradictions you mention are ones that fundamentalists should take a closer look at. (Maybe you only know fundamentalist Christians; one gets the impression that the United States has an inordinate number of them.) Most Christians I know recognize that the Bible is not a history or science textbook, and when they say it is the word of God they do not mean He dictated it to Moses et al., who just copied it down word for word. Different Christians view the Bible in many different ways, and literalism and inerrancy is only one of them.
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Name : CP19362, Gender : F, Age : 22, City : Montreal, Quebec, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Religious Studies student, The one case in the Bible of people mixing is the story about the tower of Babel. If you do believe in God, it seems that you would not question the way he chose to give us information. Have you ever stopped to think that because humans don't understand much (which is evident from this web site) that that may be why God gave us the information we need for salvation? So why keep asking questions about the rest? Who cares why there is no mention of dinosaurs? For a Bible believer, knowing about dinosaurs is not essential for salvation. Also, a studier of the Bible and the people of those times would know that men did write the Bible - the information was given to them by God.
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Name : S.s., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 25, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : student/Admin Assist., Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, The question of dinosaurs and the Bible can fairly easily be solved. The word dinosaur does not appear in the Word of God because it was only created within the last century. Neither will you find the scientific names of any known dinosaur because those were created as the different dinosaurs were discovered. However, I would draw your attention to the book of Job chapters 40 and 41. Starting in verse 15 of chapter 40 and continuing almost completely through chapter 41 you will find detailed descriptions of two dinosaurs that were still alive at the time that Job lived. Note: In the King James version these animals have been referred to as the elephant or hippo as they did not know of dinosaurs at the time of that translation. I would wager that you will find the descriptions rather convincing of dinosaurs. Now, as for the races ... even a cursory study of genetics will prove out the point the one man and one woman can alone carry the genetic codes sufficient to create every genetic feature found through out the world. It would be much like the wild dog carrying the genes for every domestic breed. It then becomes a matter of either isolational breeding or purposeful selective breeding.
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Name : D. Risko, Gender : M, Age : 23, City : Chattanooga, State : TN Country : United States, Occupation : Banker, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, I am an Episcopalian, and we take an interpretive view of the Bible. There are plenty of contradictions, obsolete directives and glaring examples of bad behavior in the Bible. Anyone trying to wield it as justification for hate or harmful actions is misguided. 'The Bible is a statement of a faithful people' as the Right Rev. John Shelby Spong wrote in Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalists I believe those directives are somewhat beside the point. The Bible contains many stories -- conflicting, exaggerated and ardent in the telling -- about a man who allegedly healed the sick, spoke good thoughts and caused a lot of trouble by doing good. As a Christian, that's the story I'm interested in -- not the contradictions.
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Name : Megan-L21935, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 31, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Why is Christianity so popular? It induces fear of the afterlife and then feeds on this fear, growing ever and ever stronger. How can one possibly deny the possibility of God or the afterlife? You can't. The whole concept is much too abstract to refute. As far as proving contradiction, one does not have to site specific examples in religious text. The fact that there are so many Christian denominations is proof that the Bible is riddled with ambiguities and contradictions. Is the Bible scientific and logical? Ha! It's as thick and dark as mud. It's no wonder that so many people interpret it differently. Dinosaurs you say. Well, as demonstrated by our fellow religious respondees, it seems possible to fit even dinosaurs into this screwed-up Christian mosaic. I say leave Christians to their delusions of grandeur. As long as they are not too obtrusive, I can tolerate them - though I have known some Machiavellian Christians, whose cunning machinations are only perceivable by the slyest fox. Tolerate, but remain vigilant. Remember, Christians are everywhere, and often in places you least suspect.
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Name : Patrick-W30436, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 19, City : Toronto, Ontario, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Research Assistant, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class, I didn't say Noah was Caucasian. But the bible takes place in the area of Israel, Mesopotamia, Turkey, etc. Okay, to respond to your question, if Noah was of Negroid heritage, where did the Caucasian people come from? That wasn't my point at all.
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Name : Sue, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 48, City : Ft .Worth, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : burned-out nurse, Dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible. Read the book of Job. God referes to the Leviathan and the Behomoth. As you read their descriptions there is no animal alive today that fits those descriptions.
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Name : Jody, City : Springfield, State : MA Country : United States, This question really made my day! Truly, why didn't the Bible mention dinasaurs? God knows all, I once heard. Yes, the Bible is a collection of parables, and the Mithra story finally took, as Jesus as we know him was about the 200th time the Jesus story - that this time it really was the 'real' Messiah! ! ! I am glad Peter and Paul finally got the Jesus story to take hold, for it brought to the Gentiles, which are non-Jews - one God. Formerly, all besides Jews were excluded from God - 'the' monotheistic God. I am most happy the story took for this reason: Barbarianism, espeically inherent in Romans and Vikings. People had a standard to live up to: to behave civilized. A. Papke
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Name : audrey-Papke, City : alpena, State : MI Country : United States, 
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