So you think that your understanding of the radioactive properties of carbon 14 is more enlightened than that of the world's scientific community?
http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/confused.gif

Ditto.

No, my understanding of carbon-14 dating is that it has proven time and again, consistantly, to be unreliable outside of a few thousand years. Why anyone would continually try to use a dating method that is wrong to prove millions of years is beyond me.

the numbers on this poll are much closer than i thought they'd be. 19 believe in some kind of god, 19 don't. 3 think it's for fools (but didn't say whether they believed or not :haha:), and 2 didn't vote because there was no pagan choice.

no wonder these threads go on for so long.

Beestie, carbon-14 dating isn't accurate beyond a few tens of thousands of years - it doesn't in any way discredit young-earth-creationist arguments. Ice core samples in Antarctica, on the other hand......

This argument isn't winnable by either side, based on available evidence. The Bible doesn't offer a clear timeline (trying to add up years based on geneological lists is just as silly as using carbon-14 dating to prove something is 44 gazillion years old), and the best science has to offer is "we don't know, just believe us, we're mainstream science, and we do experiments and stuff."

Creationists would do well to forget about the young-earth thing and concentrate on the more important messages in the bible.

What in your opinion, is the most important message in the Bible?

I think that focusing on "more important messages" in the Bible are completely dependant upon the validity of the book.

If I can't believe, "In the beginning" then how can I believe anything else in the same book?

edit: this is what I mean by blind faith....I don't have it.

I don't.

Let me put it this way:

If God didn't create the heavens and the earth, then it was not necessary for Jesus to die and resurrect.

Doesn't that make creation pretty important?

I picked "Only fools..." because there wasn't a choice equating to "Insufficient evidence for a truly rational mind".

:D

Not particularly. Neither is a proven occurence.

I meant in the context of the important messages in the bible, TS.

Ah, my mistake.

Gosh now that's not the result i was expecting to find. How heartening to see somany people dont believe in the tooth fairy...sorry I mean dont believe in God:P

oh wow...do you do standup? That was so freaking funny.... man...

[insider Christian-talk]
Oh nononono. The fact that God created everything is very important. The biblical timeline vis-a-vis the "evolutionary" timeline is not. In fact, it's a distraction and a barrier to sharing the message of Christ - which is the central theme of our faith.[/insider Christian-talk]

As long as the argument amounts to "Whaddya mean we came from monkeys???" vs. "Pfft on your so-called god and your cute little non-Darwin-inspired 'theeeeeories'." nobody from either side learns anything.

I'm still convinced that all the people waiting for a "sign from God" will get none until they actively search with an open heart. No free magic shows. I also think that people who believe blindly will find themselves disappointed and doubting God more often than not. God gave you a brain, too.

DanaC, why so aggro?

Bravo!