A. The True Path is the Truth

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Bible Creationism vs. The Truth

1. The Importance of the Truth in Beliefs

Generally speaking, there are two main ways to explain the creation of the universe, the biblical one and the scientific one. Does it matter which one we choose? Absolutely! Who wants a religion based on falsehoods?

Religious values determine, or at least influence, many major aspects and parts of our lives. False beliefs lead to false conclusions, internal emotional conflicts, and potentially to wrongful actions and abuse. Think of the centuries of repression of gays and lesbians (LGBTQ+). Was it right or wrong? Were centuries of condemnation by morally upstanding people (in the mind of the faithful) actually reprehensible bullying, harassment, and abuse!

"It is a matter of faith" is not good enough an excuse or explanation to exonerate a religion for subscribing to falsehoods.

Religious values have major impacts on society and the world. Think about the open Christian communities versus Muslim societies. Without being judgmental about either of them, most people would agree that they are significantly different living environments. Most of today's wars and continuing conflicts are ones for which the battle lines are drawn along religious values: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, India, among others. Terrorist acts are even worse; the vast majority of which specifically target peaceful religious places and communities for the openly admitted purpose of causing the maximum number of casualties.

Disregarding the truth is not a laughing matter when it comes to religious values. The consequences over time can be staggering.

2. Creationism

Science has clearly established that the universe was not formed in seven days as per the creationist story of the book of Genesis in the Bible's Old Testament, in other words, as per the Word of God. And, God created the universe in seven days. From Bible.com (GNT Translation), here are partial excerpts of the story:

1 # In the beginning, when God created the universe, 2 the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. 3 Then God commanded, “Let there be light”—and light appeared.... ...that was the first day.

6-7 # Then God commanded, “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places”—and it was done.... ...that was the second day.

9 # Then God commanded, “Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear”—and it was done. 10 He named the land “Earth,” and the water which had come together he named “Sea.” And God was pleased with what he saw. 11 Then he commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit”—and it was done. 12 So the earth produced all kinds of plants.... ...that was the third day.

14 # Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin; 15 they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth”—and it was done. 16 So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars.... ...that was the fourth day.

20 # Then God commanded, “Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the air be filled with birds.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters, all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds.... ...that was the fifth day.

24 # Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small”—and it was done. 25 So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.

26 # Then God said, “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small.” 27 So God created human beings, making them to be like himself.... ...31 God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and morning came—that was the sixth day.

And, on the seventh day, He/She took a break!

Of note, the Old Testament places the creation of the universe at about 6,000 years ago. How do we know that? It traces the ancestry of Jewish people all the way back to Adam & Eve!

The truth matters. If a religion is not truthful, then what is it? Can faith be about lies and falsehoods! Spiritual and religious people are interested in true values, not lies.

This series on Neo-Spirituality looks at a spirituality that is based on the truth. You will find the journey a lot more exciting and powerful than you may think. It is also very liberating:

You can kiss goodbye to biblical gender inequality and other types of discrimination as well as false stories of creation and various forms of dis-empowerment.

Say hello to a new way of thinking.

The True Bible: Evolutionism

1. Evolutionism

Creationism is a story that we know, today, is blatantly false. It should not be surprising as the Bible is based partly on accounts of true events and partly on myths and oral traditions.

Faith seems to have reached an impasse in the 21st century. Christians have been leaving their own religion in droves for a couple of decades already, and Islam is falling apart: at war with itself and with others, and under siege from its own home-grown extremism.

Are these just random occurrences or could they simply be the direct result of falsehoods in scriptures? If the information on which you base your beliefs is false, it should not be a surprise if the result is people losing faith or even war and chaos.

Evolutionism is basically the scientific view taught in school, where the earth is not a flat plane hanging below a sky with two big spotlights in it but a gigantic globe in space, one of trillions of other globes in a universe that is almost infinite.

The most reliable source of information that we have about God's creation is written in the DNA of living organisms (which led to Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution), in the layers of sediments of the Earth's crust (which with the help of geology provided us with a true story of the creation of the earth), and in the light from space (which allows us to see back almost as far as the beginning of time, the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago).

God's Work (life, the Earth, and the universe) is your True Bible.

By studying it, science has found the true story of creation: Evolution. Science relies on massive amounts of data and knowledge, and most importantly, it relies on proof. While it does not always provide absolute answers, it is a lot better than accepting a story that we already know is false.

The true story here may be that God, if there is a god, left traces of evidence everywhere in creation so his children may one day find the true path as well as be able tell the true leaders from the false ones.

This work follows the trail of evidence hidden in God's Work.

The journey will be liberating and a lot more exiting than you think!

Stay tuned if you want to see where it leads.

2. God's Word vs God's Work

Science does not argue that God does not exist. It rather says that none of the proofs provided for its existence add up or are valid. There might be a God, but so far no one has successfully proven its existence.

The Word of God (the Bible) says that some foods are unhealthy, unclean (non-kosher, non-halal foods). What does the Work of God (the True Bible) say about this? Pork is haram (forbidden) food for both Jewish people and Muslims. Science has studied the Work of God (animals, plants, nutrition...) and does not support that pork is less healthy than other kosher/halal foods. The issues are not the kind of animal but the levels of fat, cholesterol, carcinogens...

People can say anything! People can write anything. That does not make it true. What makes things true is whether they are proven or not. When we examine, re-examine, re-re-examine God's Work (which is what science does), we find that many of the things written in the Old Testament are not true. The question is, is a faith based on false information going to lead you to God?

Those who want us to base our values on blind faith do so because they know that they lack proof for their claims and beliefs. More likely than not, it is because they are not true.

A truthful path will lead you to God, if there is one, or to True Spirituality, if there is not.

A truthful path will also prevent you from straying onto wrongful roads stemming from myths, oral traditions, ignorance, malice... like the centuries of oppression of women, LGBTQ+, and God knows who else... by religions... just because... it is written in a book.

Both ways, you win. The truth is the path you want to be on.

The Path to God Is the Truth

1. Charles Darwin Changed the World

Charles Darwin is an example of a person who, despite adversity and the massive controversy that was attached to what he discovered, chose to forge ahead on the path of truth.

Born in 1809, he was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist. He became famously known for his theory of evolution based on natural selection, which argued essentially that the universe was not created spontaneously in 7 days but that all life (from bacteria all the way to human beings) evolved over long periods of time from a single ancestor, a single organism, through a process called natural selection.

The branching in the tree of life, or differentiation that happened over time between all species, occurred in a competitive process in which the organism best fit for a particular environment would out-compete and out-survive others. In the struggle for existence--for food and resources--less fit species would lose out and die off. You may remember from school that his research was carried out while on a journey on the HMS Beagle that took him, among other places, to the Galapagos Islands.

His theory, which is universally accepted today and one of the foundations of modern science, was highly controversial at the time and faced opposition and hostility from religious authorities (New Scientist) as it contradicted directly the creationist story of the Bible.

2. Charles Darwin Followed the Truth

Charles Darwin was not an evil person or even an atheist. Before he took interest in evolution, he was actually studying at Christ’s College, Cambridge, UK, to become a clergyman (1928) and took the creationist story literally as most people would at that point in time. His journey to the Galapagos Islands was not made with any intention of disproving creationism.

In 2008, the Church of England finally apologized saying "that it was over-defensive and over-emotional in dismissing Darwin’s ideas" (New Scientist, Vatican says it does not owe Darwin an apology, Sept. 17, 2008). That is, 150 years after the fact. On the other hand, this is better than the Vatican, which still refuses to apologize. How many hundreds of years is it going to take them?

The traces of evidence that God left in His/Her creation show us even today who is who!

When he was faced with evidence, Charles Darwin persevered on the path of truth despite that his theory contradicted his own fundamental beliefs and religion. As a result, "Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history" (Wikipedia, Charles Darwin, Sept. 20, 2021).

In Charles Darwin's time, New Age and Neo-Spirituality did not exist. Yet, his story is a perfect example of one who has chosen to follow the truth and, in the process, taken humanity one step forward. This is not theory, imagery, preaching, moralizing, or proselytizing. The truth is real. As seen in Darwin's story, it can change the world and has done so.

More importantly, the question here is, what did religious authorities themselves choose to do when faced with the truth? The ran the other way.

And, God created the universe.

On the first day, there was a big, big, Big Bang.

From there, life evolved from inert matter

slowly over the longest period of time.

In His/Her creation,

God left traces of evidence everywhere

so that His/Her children can one day know the truth,

the right path forward, and are able to tell the true leaders from the false ones.

While science has been the quintessential foe of religions because it exposes lies and falsehoods, it has been the genuine and unrivaled friend of faith.

It did so by enabling us to uncover the truth, to disentangle it from traditions, myths, scriptures, and from the layers upon layers of deception of those seeking power and of those who wanted to be first.