The creation myth of the Egyptians begins with Ra in a lotus-egg floating beneath the waters of Chaos: when he opens his eyes, the universe begins; from his spit and semen he formed matter. (And yes, how and why he used spit and spunk is from what you’re thinking.) From himself he created existence.

Genesis never states how or with what God creates the universe, but if priorto Creation, there was only Him, it stands to reason that God similarly used Himself in creation; that is, everything is made of the matter of God (or, following through with the Big Band Theory, energy).

The only difference in this ideology and the Big Bang is sentience.

I find the consubstantive God far more palatable than the external God of the Abrahamic religions, whom I would otherwise denounce as a sanctimonious prick for killing my first daughter.

I can’t help but react this way because of the way I have been treated by people who have said exactly what you said, at the same time they were killing my friends, shooting at me with REAL SHOTGUNS, and getting secret abortions while publicly chastising others for their choice of music.
Praise God.

You going to answer, wyrm? Enquiring minds want to know..

It seems to me that a lot of believers say “God did such-and-such” because they’re too lazy or proud to say “I don’t have the knowledge to explain how that happened.” If we showed a 15th century guy a TV set, he’d think it was either a miracle or withcraft.

If you wanna bring math into the matter (this is philosophy, but hey…), you could argue that maybe he would be able to create a “more densely omnipotent” being that He is… You know, like real vs. natural numbers. But how does that even apply?

And you didn’t say anything about any of the other points.

There are actually a couple of versions that are translated directly from the greek and hebrew writings. One of my favorites is the New Internation Version since does give references to support the translation. If you want poetic flowery writing, stick with the KJV, but you will actually be getting an incorrect translation.

You have your head up your ass? I will assume yes.

So… how’d it get there?

What really bugs me is people who use religion to rip people off or excuse oppressive behavior. I have seen many small businesses that advertise they are Christian-run, and their prices are often terrible. That’s just one small example. It ranges from stuff like that, to oppression against women or ethnic groups, to outright genocide. Religion gives a lot of comfort to some people, but when it becomes too organized it becomes quite dangerous.

And am I supposed to interpret the Old Testament metaphorically and the New Testament literally? Or is it the other way around? Or are they both allegories of existence and attempts at constructing functional societies? Or is it all literal and we are facing some SERIOUS reductions in human lifespan and celestial visitation? And for any and all these, did the Jewish people offer God a discounted rate at dissemination of his Word making them originally the exclusive brokers of Truth™, thus precluding establishment/dissemination of franchised texts in other major civilized areas of the world, such as Africa, Europe and Asia?

Ah, Theology….

I thought that teh old testament was written in hebrew and the new was written in greek, or something like that.

Before Christ came to the earth there was no mercy, and without mercy there would would have been no salvation. Christ chose to come to Earth and fulfill his fathers plan so that we could have mercy and return to him.

No one knows how all this began because no one was there. Now, if no one will only publish, we could settle this once and for all!

Science says that before anything, there was a Singularity contain the potential of the universe.

Both say that at the moment of creation, each entity realized its potential.

Just saying, is all.