# ***Especially For Rick

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Posted by AF [AF] on November 06, 1999 at 19:36:04 {p8g/8h8r5Q1EwaxRomAMdaOt1gg/Zk}:

In Reply to: **Especially For Rick posted by ProofPositive on November 06, 1999 at 17:53:50:

The fact is that fairly often when someone begins questioning the JW religion, or for that matter any religion in which he has been steeped for a long time, he begins to realize that not only the foundation premises for his particular religion are problematic but also the premises for the overall paradigm on which his religion is based.

Simply put, ex-JWs often realize that the Bible has serious conflicts with reality.

Now, that's not to say that some clever apologists can't interpret some of the problematic passages so as to make the problems appear to go away. There aren't too many problem areas that at least a few apologists don't appear to reconcile.

The problem then becomes this: we have a mass of conflicts with reality that can only be resolved by rather ad hoc and often mutually contradictory "explanations".

What, then, is a reasonable person to make of that mass? I confess I have no answers, but for me personally the conflicts have put any confidence in the Bible or God or religion on hold. That doesn't mean that new evidence might not cause me to change my view -- I'm simply reserving judgment for the time being, perhaps until I die.

A simple example of an insoluble problem for traditional Christian thought is found in the fossil record. There we find evidence of many "arms races" between groups of predators and prey. Over time, a new group of herbivores appears in the fossil record. You can interpret "appears" to mean "evolved" or "was created"; it matters not. Soon a new group of predators appears. Over time the prey animals become more armored or more capable of defense in any number of ways. Over time the predators become bigger, toothier and obviously more capable. Then they all disappear and the sequence starts again.

The dinosaurs are a good example. There are multiple sequences of "arms races" seen in their fossil record of some 150 million years.

Can you resolve the above facts with the notion in Genesis that before the Flood, animals ate only vegetation? I think not. Can you show how these facts are consistent with traditional Christian notions of a loving Creator? I think not. Neither can I, and that's why I am no longer a Christian.

That does not mean that I don't allow that there might be a Creator or Creative Force or whatever, that Caused Everything. It does not mean that I don't allow that Everything Came Into Existence by purely "evolutionary" means. What it means is that I do not know the answers. I don't even know if there are answers.

This lack of knowledge is frightening to many people, but you get used to it. In many ways it's very freeing, knowing that you don't know anything about things you used to know everything you needed to know about. If there happens to exist a Creator who acts in the manner of the God of the Bible, I would assume that he could figure all this out and take into account that many of his intelligent creations have good reasons for believing what they believe. After all, he created them and the world in which they live. If he judges them worthy of death, then so be it and no big deal. If he judges them worthy of a reward, then so be it. I no longer think that I have enough information to decide what's what.

AF

Follow Ups:

- ****Especially For Rick mntzion 21:19:49 11/06/99 (0)
- ****Especially For Rick Amazing 21:05:54 11/06/99 (2)
  - *****Especially For Rick AF 05:29:36 11/07/99 (1)
    - ******Especially For Rick Amazing 11:51:39 11/07/99 (0)

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