What do you think is more important: humanity's origin, or the where and how we go from here?

Question

There is so much arguing on R. & S. about "evolution" and "creation". Wouldn't it be more "productive" if we thought and talked about what we could and/or should do to make our world a better place? For instance: how to reduce and if possible eliminate jealousy, hate and fighting?

I'm surprized by the responses!
Some of you say that it's necessary to know our past. But how much do we really "know"?

And if history has been repeating itself, shouldn't we "know" that we need to change - and WANT it?

Answer 1

NOW and what we do with it ( and it is so easy to say the answer is but we all have to live in the REAL WORLD for advice i can quote Beatles songs that sound as well thought out - All we need is love ...)

Answer 2

Its not possible to eliminate it, unfortunately.

There will always be the unseen hand of evil playing its cards unfairly.

I'm not being a pessimist or negative, but you cannot have a completely positive world.

Positive has to have negative and negative positive.

When it comes to reducing it, I'm not quite sure that we, the common man, can do much.

We are not the terrorists and we are not the government. We do not control the outcome of much today, unfortunately.

We already know that our goverment doesn't listen to us. As we have tried picketing, marching, etc to no avail. And they don't look out for us either (Katrina?!?! EVERYONE SAW THAT COMING)

It is every human's responsibilty to take a step back from their lives and see the outcomes of their actions. And to make them positive.

And alot of people are too selfish. They want what they want. So you can lead a horse to water....

As to what we can do? We can all live our lives positively and effect others positively. And that should be all we really need to do. If everyone in the world did that, then you would have your elimination of all negative earthly attributes.

Answer 3

I think that most people realize that something is wrong with this world system. And many will go down fighting for the way they want the world to be.

However, without the understanding of how things got so messed up ("origin"), we cannot efficiently work toward peace.

Would a doctor proceed to operate without a proper diagnosis? What is at the basis of the condition? With humanity, the book of Genesis makes it clear. From that point, we can see that the problem is within the Adamic heart.

The New Testament declares where to "go from here".

Answer 4

It might be a difficult subject to agree on, but it sure is worth discussing. I am a believer of creation, thus I believe in God, but that doesn't necessarily reduce or eliminate jealousy, hate and fighting. Don't you think it starts somewhere first though...like at home? The Bible tells us that it starts in your heart. If you are taught to be loving, kind and empathetic then you might not ever develop those other icky feelings. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Answer 5

In order to understand the definition of what it means to be "human", we need to look at our past.

We can't "eliminate jealousy, hate and fighting" if we don't know where those impulses come from, or why we seem so driven to act upon them.

The cliche' is: "Those who forget History are condemned to repeat it."

There's a very fine reason why that's become a cliche' - it's true.

And here's an agonizing example: the war in Iraq. Or, as some call it..."Viet Nam: The Sequel".

Answer 6

I probably shouldn't but I'm going to be a bit snarky here. I personally think that we should hold both questions in high regard and consideration. But then again.....we haven't learned much from history for we keep making the same mistakes over and over again....so in my present state of mind, I'd say neither because we're not learning *anything*.

There again....I beg your pardon, but I've also just received some very distressing news. I'm not even sure if I'm making sense & now I've forgotten the question.

Answer 7

no, both are relevant
firstly, my History teacher said something relevant in learning history, let me enumerate you some reasons why we study history (and investigate it further) from my POV also:

1) We need to learn from their mistakes (so we wont feel stupid in doing it again)
2) If we don't know where we came from, where will we go? What will our meaning be?
3) we need to know who will pay for damages done.

if we have these information in the past it may save time (in experimenting) and achieve a much better productivity in the future saving more lives and doing more what is good to mankind....

but then there will be something amongst the two scales that is most relevant... the future that is.

Answer 8

I think it obvious that the here and now are most relevant. However, some good hearted people are looking past the clear evidence in favor of a literal reading of the bible. This is well intended as they are showing their devotion to the Word of God even if it means that the whole world scoffs at them. But its difficult to leave them in this misunderstanding for a number of reasons... for me it is compassion for their being "stuck" on this point, feeling threatened by all who don't agree as though this means that God Himself is being rejected rather than just their position on this particular topic.

Its difficult to eliminate jealousy, hate, and fighting without trying to clear up misunderstandings among ourselves on any given topic, this being one of them.

From a totally self preservationist point of view, the answer is the same...we are no greater than our weakest link. Open debate, -even if they take time and patience to work through them to a place of mutual understanding and acceptance,- is one good path to eliminating hostilities on all sides.

Great question! Peace and grace to you, friend.

Answer 9

Elimination of Capitalism, redistribution of wealth and assets, conversion to a marxist style system, elimination of religion, and the elimination of royalty and celebrities would be a great start.

Answer 10

Wouldn't it just be wonderful if we could learn to accept one another just the way we are, without the terrible need to make everyone over into copies of ourselves?