Since it was asked...

What makes my beliefs different than Ray's?

I do not believe that the Creation Story of Genesis necessitates a literal interpretation.

The first chapter of Genesis is written in the style of an Ancient Hebrew poem. Because of it's poetic nature, it doesn't have to be seen as literal in order to remain faithful to scripture.

That's the nature of poems. They aren't always literal. See "The Road Less Traveled."


The second and third chapter are the same story. Story. As in, "once-upon-a-time." Yeah, the ancient Hebrews had stories, too, and this one has all the ear-marks. Because of it's story-like nature, it doesn't have to be seen as literal in order to remain faithful to scripture.

Interestingly enough, this belief is also a rational approach to the reason why the order that things were created is different between the first two chapters of Genesis.

There is plenty to learn from them without making them a dissertation full of detailed play-by-plays of the beginning of the universe.

1) God did it. Alone. He didn't slay a celestial beast that was causing a ruckus. He didn't knock up with some sweet goddess that he picked up at the pub. He did it by himself, regardless of what methods (be they supernatural or natural) he used.

2) God made Mankind differently. Mankind was the only thing that God was inspired to make (let's make something like us!). Mankind is the only thing in the story that God put his hands on and got his hands dirty. He breathed life into man. The Hebrew word for "Breath" and "Spirit" are the same word, btw. Think about the theological implications of THAT.

3) Humans are powerful. God gave us the ability to have original thoughts and ideas; the ability to create. In ancient Hebrew tradition (the very same tradition that this story was entrusted to), a thing wasn't a thing unless it had a name. A things name defined some minute, but vital part of that thing's essence. A rose by any other name is not longer a rose, regardless of what it smells like.

Who named the animals? Adam did. Mankind did. God left the animals incomplete, and gave Adam the privilege of finishing his work.

4) Women have a special place in creation. Think about it, God starts making simple things and gets more and more cool and complicated as he goes along. What is the finishing touch to the universe, the thing that is the coolest and most complex? Eve. Women are the crowning jewel of creation.

5) Humans were made perfect and flawless, along with the rest of creation. God was there, in person, unfiltered, with Adam and Eve. Then, humans broke some extremely simple rule, and along with it broke themselves and the universe.

oops.



So far, I like Open Theism

Open Theism works like this. God creates man, and gives man the ability to create. We have free will, just like God has free will. God knows everything, so he knows what I'm going to do every second of every day for the rest of my life, right? He knows what tomorrow will look like, right?

Tomorrow isn't set in stone.

What if omnipotence doesn't mean "to know everything?" What if it means "To know everything in the universe that there is to know?" People view time as a segment, and the present is somewhere between the beginning and the end.

Beginning------Present---end


I look at time as a ray. It doesn't have a defined end; it grows. And the Present is on the edge of it.

Beginning -----Present-> Future


God doesn't know tomorrow because tomorrow isn't there until we create it with him.

Now, God's a GREAT guesser, to say the least. He knows every human being better than they know themselves, and can guess with pretty good accuracy what they are going to do. And he's still God. He can take away our free will at any moment if it suits his plan (like he did with Pharaoh after the first time he told Moses "no.")

He can proclaim that an event will happen in the future, and it will have no choice but to happen. And he has the power, if he wants, to take back our "creative spark" that gives us the ability to choose, see what we're gong to do in the future, and then give that spark back and tell us what's going to happen in the future. We call these "prophecies."

He knows everything there is to know. Tomorrow doesn't exist yet, because we haven't made it with him yet, so he doesn't know it. Therefore, he's still omniscient; knowing everything there is to know.

He's doing it of his own will. Because he wants to. Nothing is forcing him to except himself, so he's still Omnipotent.

"Well, the Bible says that God knows you even before you're born!"
Yes, but how long before you're born does it say he knows you?

You will not find any of this in the Bible. Neither will you find anything that goes against it.

Maybe this is why God says things like "I wish I hadn't done that" in the Bible...


People can be good without knowing God

"Good" does not mean "Righteous." Righteous doesn't mean good. Holy doesn't mean good, or something that belongs to God. Apple doesn't mean Orange.

I believe the same thing that Ray does. People can't be righteous (right with God), nor can they meet God's standards, without help. The only help that works is Jesus. Switching the word Righteous for Good is a semantics game, so let's define a few words.

Good = meeting the standards set by the general populace that define as such. I.E., hard worker, not a murderer, helps old ladies across the street, etc.

Righteous = being right with God.

Meeting God's standard = to be perfect. Every one has sinned in their lives and become less than perfect, but one can attain help from Jesus Christ to meet God's standards and become righteous in spite of that.



Jesus did NOT implement the same methods of evangelism for every situation.

He talked about Hell to the people who were supposedly already followers of God. He talked about love to people who needed his love. He knew their hearts' needs and acted accordingly.


I don't believe that the Bible is Inerrant

Not in the most literal meaning of the word. However, it's not chock-full of screw-ups, either. I know of two contradictions. One is the order of creation, that I mentioned before. The other is in the Gospels.

When Jesus casts out "Legion" into the herd of pigs, one of the gospels (I think it's John...) says that there were two demoniacs, while the others say that there was only one.

Why am I ok with this? Well, the number three was used to show importance. A thing repeated three times (or a figure) was emphasized. Sometimes, that was shortened down to two. This may have simply been the author emphasizing the importance of the story.
Even if it isn't that, what does it change? Jesus is still the same person. God is still the same. The demons are still the same, and still come to him first begging for mercy. it doesn't change any theological teachings in the Bible.

The Bible is perfect for teaching and correcting. It's our measuring stick, our standard, by which we measure ourselves and the teachings we hear.


People can have a real, living, breathing relationship with Christ and then walk away from it.

Bart Erhman is one of them. We can't loose our salvation, but we can walk away from it.

Paul says:
6Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

Romans 6:6 & 7

Later, to those same people, he says this:
Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.

Romans 6:16

"You're not slaves to sin any more, but you can choose to be a slave to sin again."
The Bible says that nothing can pluck us from God's hand. It never says we can't jump.


Having said that, I must concede that "false converts" do exist. I was one for quite some time. However, I usually just like to call them "fakers." And I am not in a position to judge any one's relationship with Christ unless I really know them well. If some one who I don't know except by blogs on the internet says "I was a Christian, but I'm not any more," then I am in no position to say that they never were.



I know where the cuss word in the Bible is.

Five points to the first person who guesses where. Five points to the first person to adequately explain what that means for Christians. Fifteen if the first person gets both in one shot.