All religious belief are based on faith, so how do you resolve?

Question

the conflict between rational thinking and blind faith, the bible is filled with hundreds of conclusions that defy rational thinking. I will give an example. Noahs Ark since we could not built something today with all of our technology to hold 2 of a kind of each animal, how could Noah? what were the meateaters fed how did Noah get to all the countries to collect all these animals since most are unique to certain part of the world if the water covered the entire globe hundreds of feet deep where did the water drain to. This is just one example of hundreds. I need some thoughful response on how to address the conflicts that many people have when it come to religious faith.

Nothing by Anodos & Suspendor made any sense there are over 300,000 species of just birds alone, million of species of animals. you would need hundreds of ships the size of modern cruise liners to accomedate them. The continents seperated hundreds of millions of years ago ,not thousands. The history channel had a panel of archeologist discuss the exodus theory and they said it would be a stretch to come to that conclusion. On of the things that they did talk about was the validity of exodus, beacause the Egyptians at that time kept execllent records of both their victories and defeats and there is no record of a exodus which makes the archeologist doubt it's validity.

Answer 1

You can't. People compartmentalize their thinking (to use the term loosely), and don't apply logic to religious issues. We see it over and over again in this forum: people can think, but choose not to. I consider this [i.e., faith] to be not only evil, but the ultimate evil: since the essence of one's humanity is the ability to use logic, to deliberately abjure that ability is to give up one's humanity and become an animal. And what could be worse than that?

Answer 2

In Noah's time, the continents were connected so there was not countries. Furthermore, God directed the animals to the Ark. It has also been determined that if Noah took baby animals, they would not have eaten as much and they would have fit onto the ark. As to where the water went after the flood, part of the flood waters came from underground and after the flood they went back underground. This is why we dig wells. The rest of the water makes up the oceans and seas and the clouds. There is an amazing amount of water contained in the clouds which surround the earth. If you will look at the book of Genesis, you will find that Eve's rational thinking caused a lot of trouble. She could have simply listened to God and not ate of the fruit, but she looked at the fruit and saw that it was pretty, edible, and would make her wise. So she rationally decided that she could eat it. How much better she would have fared if she had relied on faith instead of rationalization.

Answer 3

1. Due to speciation, there are more varieties of animal today than there were in Noah's time. Baraminology is the study of these original "kinds". For instance, all varieties of cat today come from the original kind of cat. Also, Noah only had land-dwelling animals and birds on the ark, not fish, etc. By various estimates, as few as 2,000 animals were necessary on the ark, and it could have easily accommodated at least 16,000.

2. The meat eaters did not become meat eaters until after the flood.

3. Genesis 7:8-9 indicates the animals came to Noah. Before the flood, the geography of the Earth may have been distinctly different. The shapes of the continents indicate they all may have been connected at one time.

4. The oceans are deeper today than they were in Noah's time. The water went here, and also is frozen at the north and south poles.

In short, the world was different in Noah's day than it is now.

Answer 4

Great question but fantastically complicted one. I would highly recommend "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins which addresses this question in chapters and chapters.

I don't know what context you want resolution in! Within your own mind or in conversation with whom? (Family? Friends?) I would suggest a few "short" responses would be that a bronze age religion doesn't FIT 2006 for many good reasons. It was thought up in a different age to explain "mysteries" that science can now explain ("God of the Gaps" is shorthand for this idea. You can google or wiki that). You can also use Occams Razor - which is that the simplest explanation of something is often true. (And if something like Noah's Ark quacks like a myth and waddles like myth, ... it's a myth).

Try checking out Dawkins official website for more info if you're interested. http://richarddawkins.net/home (you can read the first chapter of the book I referenced there)

Answer 5

Recently I've read that at least some Jews consider that story an illustration of some principal. I honestly don't know if it should be taken literally or not. But I'm open to the possibility. Evolution could account for most of the species present now vs then.

Here's some food for thought: They found Pharoh's Army - in the Red Sea! Care to explain THAT away?

Answer 6

The Indian natives of the US had their story of Noah similar to the Bible; so did the Indians in South America.
The dimensions of Noah's Ark is of the same ratio of all modern ships built today. Think about it.

Answer 7

Yeah. How 'bout that. Tough, huh? Nice day, ain't it? Ever look at the sun? A 6K Tungsten light for a movie shoot costs lotsa bucks and if you group enough of 'em together you are required to have an electrician ( Licensed ) present. Just loooook at that sun. Hm.

Answer 8

As I have journeyed in faith. God as presentedme with experiences that often defy the rational world but are experienced through sight, sound and touch. Ultimately it is these experiences that have converted my faith from blind to rational.

I know it is real because it happend to me.

Answer 9

"Evidence That Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell.

Read that and come back to tell us that there is no reason behind our faith.

The Bible says to "Study to show thyself approved..."

God Bless,

Sue