( Charles Templeton's book, Farewell to God: My Reasons
for Rejecting the Christian Faith)
[comments in blue is that of submission.org]
In this section, Charles Templeton discusses the contradiction between the
Bible and the facts:
We should approach the teaching of the Bible as we would any other data -
with objectivity. In as much as our unique human heritage includes the ability
to reason, we should bring this ability to such questions as may arise in
an examination of our religious beliefs. And we should arrive at whatever
conclusions we reach on the grounds of the information available, rejecting
both the scornful dismissal of the atheist and the willingness of the
fundamentalist to believe anything.
<< See Quran 17:36
"You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself.
I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are
responsible for using them.">>
At this point in history, this much is clear: it is no longer possible to
have confidence in what the Christian church has to say about the origin
and meaning of life - not least because there is no such thing as "The Church."
There are, in fact, hundreds of churches, denomina-tions, sects, communions,
brotherhoods, companies of believers, and what have you, each disagreeing
with the others on various points of doctrine, forms of worship, biblical
interpretation, rituals, sacra-ments, and prohibitions.
Our parents or preachers or Sunday-school teachers told us that God created
the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And, indeed, that is what
the Genesis account says. But every physicist in the world will tell you
that such a view is nonsense; that it took billions of years for the universe,
our galaxy, our solar system, and our world to evolve to its present and,
it should be added, transitory form. Whom should you believe the theologians
or the physicists?
<<Quran [7:54] "Your Lord is the one GOD, who
created the heavens and the earth in six days, then assumed all authority.
The night overtakes the day, as it pursues it persistently, and the sun,
the moon, and the stars are committed to serve by His command. Absolutely,
He controls all creation and all commands. Most Exalted is GOD, Lord of the
universe."
Footnote:7:54 The six days of creation are allegorical;
they serve as a yardstick to let us know the relative complexity of our
infinitesimal planet Earth--it was created in "4 days" (see 41:10).
>>
We are told in the Bible that a few thousand years ago God created the first
man? and the first woman and placed them in a garden called Eden, and that
every human being in history has descended from that first couple. But every
anthropologist in the world will tell you that this is nonsense. Fossil remains
indicate incontrovertibly that our earliest ancestors did not suddenly appear
fully formed, but were anthropoid creatures who lived on the earth millions
of years ago.
Whom should you believe on the question, the theologians or the anthropologists
?
<<
Quran's mathematical proof,
proves that the creation of Adam was unique for him and for his time. Quran
does not however negatre the presence of other creatures millions of years
before Adam irrespective of what shape they were in.>>
We are told by the Christian church that the Creator drove an accursed Adam
and Eve out of an accursed Eden into an accursed world because they disobeyed
one of his commandments, and that as a consequence all their descendants
through all time were "born in sin and conceived in iniquity," and that this
is the reason for all the crime, poverty, suffering, and general wickedness
in the world. But every geneticist in the world will tell you that this is
nonsense.
Whom should you believe on the question, the theologians or the geneticists?
<< Quran presents the true reason of
why are we
here.>>
One cannot help but wonder why, when Plan One went awry, God didn't learn
from experience - as humans do - and have another go at creating the world,
compensating for the blunders he made the first time. Surely this would have
been better than throwing up his hands and cursing everybody and everything
everywhere forever!
<< The blunder was not that of God but of those
who corrupted the Bible Quran presents the true reason of why are we
here.>>
We have been told that, a few generations after Eden, God got angry when
each new generation disobeyed his edicts, so he sent a devastating flood
that covered the earth to the tops of the highest mountains and drowned every
living creature with the exception of one family and pairs of each animal
species. But every geologist in the world will tell you that there is no
evidence whatsoever of a world-wide flood of such magnitude.
Whom should you believe on the subject, the theologians or the geologists?
<< Quran presents the true story of Noah's flood
, see 11:40 & 44 This is God's proven truth: Noah's ark was made of logs,
tied together with primitive ropes (54:13).Contrary to common belief, the
flood was limited to the area around today's Dead Sea, and the animals were
only Noah's livestock; not every animal that lived on
earth. >>
We are told that, approximately two thousand years ago, a young unmarried
woman, living in a small town in the Middle East, was made pregnant by God
himself and that her child was, in fact, Almighty God, the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity; that he traveled Ancient Palestine as an itinerant preacher,
performing numerous miracles and even raising the dead. We are told that
he was arrested by the Roman government and executed by crucifixion and has
not been seen since. The Christian church insists that he rose from the grave
and ascended into Heaven.
Whom should you believe, the Christian church or your own common sense?
<< Quran presents the true story of Jesus and
its common sense. See
Jesus, the Quranic View
and Jesus -Myth & Message
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