Wounded King

Have any of you seen the film Dark city, where every night Richard obrien and other bald people take away everyones memories so Kiefer Sutherland can scuttle about using a syringe to implant new ones? All very trippy.

This all sounds dangerously close to falling right over the edge into metaphysical discussions of how we can know that anything is real. Why bother falling asleep, an omnipotent god could give you the illusion of consistency between one thought and the next.

King's Indian

Hello, Wounded King.

I'd heard something like that, but I thought it was a parable based on Rupert Murdoch's life, so I wasn't inclined to pursue it further.Brrr. All you really need is to shine a torch from below onto your face and the effect would be complete.

Take care,

KI.

Kosh

I see your point. How could a loving God possibly want to make you think you're in Atlanta?

Magus55

Well it is a recurrent theme in Genesis that God created everything already aged. I guess to get his plan rolling without waiting 15 billion years for Humans to evolve from molecules.
Mature Earth, universe, Adam and Eve, Plants, Animals etc. Could very well be why everything appears to be old, because God made it that way. And its not deception to those who have Faith in Him, because we read Genesis, trust it to be God's word, and see He made everything already aged, which explains why we see it that way in only 10,000 years.

Although God does use deception to test Faith, which may very well be why there is so much doubt and controversy in the scientific community. They deny God's word and use their own conclusions, which means they don't have faith.

Doubting Didymus

How do you know the bible wasn't written by satan for the express purpose of luring us away from what god really wants from us, which is to use the brains he gave us?

More to the point, why should I beleive that the bible is gods word? Because you say so? Because someone on TV says so? I'm not kidding, I want to know why I should believe this.

bleubird

Again, this begs the question;how can we know anything?
If god can change the observed laws of nature on a whim
nothing can be known.This is another reason to conclude
there is no transidental being that gives a shit.

bleubird

Asha'man

Don’t you get it? If God made it that way, then it really is old! If God makes a perfect simulation of a 13 billion year old universe, then what you have is a 13 billion year old universe. That is what it means to be omnipotent! Anything else, and you would be claiming that his simulation is flawed, and God doesn’t make flawed things, does he?

It’s entirely deception! If the universe is really 13 billion years old (because that is how he made it), and God tells you that it’s anything less, then he is lying about one or the other.

If God really does use deception to test faith, then you have failed the test. You have accepted the word of a book, rather than the evidence of the universe in front of your eyes. Your faith is so strong, it has blinded you to reality, and is therefore broken. Or do you really think God doesn't care about Truth?

Wounded King

Is this also why there is so much controversy in the various religious communities?

hyzer

So, what are you going to trust - some book (written by man) or the earth (created by god)?

mibby529

I've seen Omphalos theory. It was used to "disprove" Calico.

Actually, now that I think about it, modern archaeology - at least here in the States - is identical to creation science. (You know, not believing in a radiometric date because it's too old?)