brighid

Amos,
I am going to have to get back to you on this. I need sometime to do a bit of research and I am REALLY busy lately. Only enough time for those posts that don’t require my utmost attention.

I am curious – the terms you have used are generally found in Gnostic circles – are you Gnostic?

I read on another thread that you have been banned from a Catholic Forum – me too!

Thank you for taking the time to explain those terms. It might be a few days or even a week before I really have time to respond as I would like.

Brighid

Amos

Brigid you honestly do not have to respond. It is just a persective I wanted to present to you and would never want you to agree with me. Just take from it if you can and leave the rest.

Thanks, Amos

brighid

Amos - Really, I find this avenue you have presented interesting and because I am only vaguely familiar with the terms I would like to take a little time (and since I am so busy at this moment - bit more time than usual) to investigate it a bit more and dialogue with you. It never hurts to learn about another possible view point and educate oneself further. You never know when it will come in handy. So, if you can be patient with me I would really like to have the opportunity to learn a little bit about this position you have presented.

Thanks again,
Brighid

lpetrich

First, who's Cremo?

Nice to learn of that. I wish we had that sort of religious problem with evolution.

And I've seen some news stories in the II Newswire about how a baby born with a tail in India is being considered a reincarnation of the monkey god Hanuman.

So the idea of being descended from monkeys might actually seem plausible from a Hindu standpoint.

However, I would suspect that Hindu fundamentalists would have trouble with natural selection rather than evolution in general; they'd prefer to believe in divinely-directed evolution. In fact, some Hare Krishnas apparently hold such views.

(Additional comments added by editing)

[ January 25, 2002: Message edited by: lpetrich ]</p>

Waning Moon Conrad

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever believing in the evolution of species and being a Buddhist.

Neither do any of the other Buddhists I know.

Panta Pei

I would even go so far as to say that the evolution of species is nearly equivalent with the Buddhist concept of interdependent co-arising.

As is Einstein's theory of relativity, which conforms well with a Buddhist worldview.

Of course, having no deity to worship also eliminates a lot of confusion

~ Steve

brighid

Panta Pei -

Perhaps that's why the Dalai Lama has such universal appeal is able to be much more flexible then say the Pope!

Brighid

hinduwoman

Yes, having animal gods help. Besides the gods, including Vishnu was constantly reincarnating themselves as animals --- the first three avatars are fish, tortoise and boar. So hindus are not so hunag up on God being the image of man.

well, depends on what kind of fundamentalists you mean. I don't know about Hare Krishnas, but in India, most people do not think much about the philosophical aspects of evolution. They simply accept that hinduism does not contradict it. Those who do are not bothered because natural selection can be explained by the concept of 'lila' or Divine sport. hinduism simply has no concept of God having a grand design. So if God wants to evolve man through hit and miss process it is simply part of the entertainment he is recieving from his creation.

lpetrich

"Divine sport" seems like an excellent explanation for rather chaotic nature of evolutionary family trees.

I know, because that subject is one thing that has long interested me.

Consider the trilobites going extinct at the end of the Paleozoic after living for more than 300 million years, or the dinosaurs and the ammonites going extinct at the end of the Mesozoic. Or equines being very diversified in the mid-Cenozoic and now being reduced to only a few species.

hinduwoman

Actually lila is a very elegant solution to everything!
You can explain away all contradictions and problems by arguing that god is only having fun so there is no need to justify him!