A few mornings ago, I was sitting at a small table at my local Starbucks, sipping on my vanilla latte and reading my news feed on my iPhone. Starbucks was crowded and I was sharing the table with another guy who was reading the newspaper.
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed. The guy sitting across from me looked up and asked if I was okay.
“Some congressman said that it’s a fact that the earth is 6,000 years old. Can you believe this guy?” I responded. “He also believes in creationism.”
“Why do you find that disturbing?” he asked.
“Seriously? This guy is a representative in the Congress of the United States. He can create and vote for legislation that affects all of us, legislation that is based upon stories from the Bible.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So, he believes that the earth is 6,000 years old and doesn’t believe in evolution. He believes that one day God just created Adam and Eve and that they were the first two people on Earth.”
“That’s what I believe, too,” he said. “You don’t buy that bullshit that the our planet is billions of years old or that we evolved from monkeys, do you? That’s ridiculous.”
“We didn’t ‘evolve from monkeys,’” I said. “Humans and apes evolved from the same ancestors; from the same biological tree branch.”
“No, that’s just wrong,” he replied, a look of incredulity on his face. “Read your Bible, man. God created Adam and Eve in His image. Humans are a unique species. We are above all other creatures. We alone, among all of God’s creations, have a conscious mind. We alone have souls.”
Now I was the one who was incredulous. “Wake up and join the 21st century. The Earth isn’t only 6,000 years old. Adam and Eve were not really the first two human beings alive. If they were, and they had two sons, Cain and Abel, and if, as the Bible says, Cain slew Abel, where did the next generation of humans come from?”
My table-mate remained silent, so I continued, “Are you suggesting that Cain had an incestuous relationship with his mother? After all, she was the only female on Earth, according to the Bible.”
“This whole evolution thing is a relatively recent theory, and that’s all it is, just a theory,” he finally said. “The Bible has been around for two thousand years. It’s the word of God. It’s beyond question. You can’t equate some cockamamie theory developed by man to the gospel written by the hand of God.”
Exasperated, I just shook his head. “You should consider running for Congress. You’d fit right in.”
This post was created for today’s one-word Daily Prompt: Create.
This, That, and the Other 
If only there was a third, competing theory! I wish someone else had joined in.
I like the tag “holy shit.”
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There is a third theory. It’s called Scientology.
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Ahahahahahahaha! Well done.
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I believed what that person believed for a long time… and then I discovered these things called books and opinions of other people and it helped me create my own belief. Great post… thank you for sharing.
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I hold these & other beliefs simultaneously (except Scientology) — Quantum-Superposition-like.
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Thanks for reading and commenting. Generally all it takes is reading those “things called books” (other than, or in addition to, the Bible) to open up minds to more rational beliefs.
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for me, it’s always better not to engage this type of people, I mean if they believe that earth is 6,000 years old, it won’t change earth’s actual age. It still greatly frustrates me. But they are experts at that level of ignorance, and arguing with them is futile.
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You’re right. Talking to people who equate the Bible with a history and/or science book is a total waste of time and energy.
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I’m still trying to figure out where they found dudes with the names, Peter, Paul, John, and Luke in the Middle East.
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Their names were changed to protect the innocent, or something like that.
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My two cents: one problem is that people assume the Bible to be all literal…and, Adam and Eve (created perfect) had more than two male children (how could they not?) – so, yes, ”incest” with sisters is how the human family began but, again, we are talking thousands of years ago, long before the effects of birth defects from incestuous relations occurred and, if we think about it, it wasn’t all that long ago that ‘royal’ families stopped marrying close relatives.
No, “arguing” with people over beliefs or theories is a waste of time. Everyone is entitled to believe what they want especially considering there are no real consequences (and elected officials most definitely should not base decisions on their personal beliefs but what will benefit all/most).
Well,…I guess that was more than two cents.
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I’d give you at least a nickel! 😉
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