You didn't actually answer my question. See below for why that is.

One would think so, yet according to your beliefs God created the universe and all of its systems, including radioactive decay, and then in his infinite wisdom contradicted the system he had just developed. What I don't understand, and what you have yet to clearly answer (despite your best efforts to explain it so I can understand) is why God wouldn't just let the natural laws he had just developed create the Earth, instead of just blinking it all into existence.

Family Guy wasn't far off the mark when it compared the traditional Christian notion of God to an episode of I Dream of Jeannie.

I'm sure Galileo is turning in his grave at those words.

I'll say it, I lolled.

Wait, for real now - you mean during the exodus they didn't cook food? You're shitting me. How did they make bread?

That was also God's work.

The eucharist is just a metaphor!

That's not what Dull meant. It rained bread every morning during the exodus. They just had to pick it up every morning. You know, because they couldn't cook.

I can't make shit like that up.

...

no wonder my sister's a jewophile, that shit is awesome.

Jesus was way cool
Everybody liked Jesus
Everybody wanted to hang out with him
Anything he wanted to do, he did
He turned water into wine
And if he wanted to
He could have turned wheat into marijuana
Or sugar into cocaine
Or vitamin pills into amphetamines

He could've played guitar better than Hendrix
He could've told the future
He could've baked the most delicious cake in the world
He could've scored more goals than Wayne Gretzky
He could've danced better than Barishnikov
Jesus could have been funnier than any comedian you can think of
Jesus was way cool

He told people to eat his body and drink his blood
That's so cool
Jesus was so cool
But then some people got jealous of how cool he was
So they killed him
But then he rose from the dead
He rose from the dead, danced around
Then went up to heaven
I mean, that's so cool
Jesus was way cool

- King Missile: Jesus Was Way Cool (Excerpts)

I thought it rained mana because there's a surprisingly small amount of food in the Sinai.

I thought everyone would get that I was making a joke, but we saw how that turned out.

Well, there is that whole "unleavened" thing. Plus there's cooked and then there's cooked well enough to prevent trichinosis.

We believed the hype. :(

DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE LORDSWORD! LEAVE, RUN NOW!

Political Palace is serious business, mister.

Yeah, if by "God" you mean his ego. Don't you realize that we only exist as supporting characters in this (jedi) hero's RPG quest to defeat evil?

Oh, save me from my ignorance, great hero!

I have no problem with the idea that God created the laws of physics and let creation takes it's course. I do have the unproven hunch that He may have helped push things along. I personally like to think that my existence is due to more than just the pure chance happening of certain molecules combining billions of years ago.

Myself and many of my practicing Christian brethren look at evolution and wonder how something so carefully analyzed and tested can possibly be false. The facts and methods simply make sense to me. But even though it contradicts a strict literal interpretation of the bible, it in no way damages my belief in God as the creator.

For whatever reason this point of view seems to irritate, confound, or anger certain people. Having my cake and eating it too. Mmmmmm, cake. Anyhoo, I don't think anyone can truly understand God. Like science, we can learn a lot but there will always be a lot more we don't know.

What I find a problem with people who view the universe as a creationist machine and are not also Deists is that an artificial universe with its own natural laws sort of defeats the point of divine interference, unless God is a big jerk who likes to fuck with us.

People such as myself simply don't view a God created universe as 'artificial', regardless of how creation is explained. And while I don't view God as being a jerk, I do prefer an authority with the power and desire to intervene in the natural course of things to one that just works for six days and then sits back and spectates from afar all the way till the end of time.

And I suppose the ultimate way to 'f***' with someone would be to damn them to hell. So in a way I'm not totally disagreeing with you. But who says He can't help us too? ... Well, I guess a lot of us would say that I suppose. Oh well. :P

I just don't think there's much point in trying to help us if the universe operates on natural laws. It'd be much more interesting to observe the universe operating on its own.

It is nice to think that we're special, but that doesn't necessarily make us God's chosen people regardless of what the Bible says.

The view of the universe as artificial is sort of necessary in a creationist perspective, because without God creating the universe, the universe would not exist. Therefore God is the state of nature.

God makes a point from time to time to show how powerful He is. I see it as a teaching tool to help us stretch our minds outside the box of uniformitarianism.

I'm one of the oddball Christians who does not agree with this. Earlier Denicalis hinted at something I already knew....
Scientists are starting to bump into dead ends when it comes to explaining things through the evolutionary perspective.
I think the notion of irreducible complexity & intelligent design is the next step forward. As in the past fear and hate rear its ugly head again because the established majority is threatend by change.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

The notion of a universe that is filled with purpose is supported by creation science. Everywhere science turns there is a discovery of some new system of complex order surpassing our own creative intentions. Scientists have yet to find evidence of "accidental creation".

If I may interject, just how much longer is this merry-go-round of religious bickering going to keep going?

I ask because I get the sense that people grow weary of pointlessly arguing theology with you and would rather move on to other topics of discussion, such as anything else at all.

As long as there is doubt in the hearts of men.
I know people get angry with me and the supporters of this subject because deep down there is something unsettled that points to a God. Its pulling now drawing us together, the ultimate end of creation science is to bring people to the acceptance of what they already know.

Irrelevance of the scripture aside, wouldn't your argument here applied to its extreme mean that God itself was created?

I guess we can look forward to this pointless regressive mindset for the rest of eternity then.

AWESOME. Easily attainable goal considering that common sense and free thinking aren't a part of the rational human's thought process. Also, can you cure cancer for us too? Because, you know, that would help me out a lot.

In other words, God's an all-powerful, ego-maniac who will arbitrarily violate his own laws of nature just to make a point of how awesome he is. I don't see how God violating nature expands anyone's perspective, but I think I have a pretty clear picture now of the sort of God you believe in.

Proclaiming your argument valid doesn't make it so.

The ultimate end of creation "science" is to try to pretend that God violating natural laws to serve his ego somehow is a logical way to manage a universe.

"We don't know the answer. Right, well, must be God. I mean, otherwise we could explain everything. Because we have the full understanding of the universe."

You arrogant, arrogant fuck. You're the reason people think christians are pricks. I mean, you know that, right? You're the problem your religion has. You're the reason people don't like to go to church. You're the reason when someone says they're christian, scientific minded people look with disdain. If people like you would shut the fuck up, maybe perceptions would actually shift.

Here, let me sum up every argument you've ever made:

"I don't know the answer, so God."

"People disagree with me because God tests me. God."

"Not everyone hates me, they just know God is the answer to all things and they're afraid."

"Oh hey, my cable went on the fritz. GOD."

"The volcano exploded and we don't know why. UG KNOWS IT WAS VOLCANO GOD."

"Oh, have I mentioned I'm religious?"


SHUT
THE
FUCK
UP

Sweet merciful crap, didn't we ban Simply Majestic for shit like this?