In the Beginning

I suppose that would be a good place to start. There's a large bone of contention between the creationists and the scientific crowd and it has to do with a certain story in the book of Genesis. Now, the creationists believe that the earth was created in 6 days, that Adam named all the animals and everything else in the story is historical fact. Some even go so far as to say the world is only 6000 to 10,000 years old. This causes some problems, like the explanation of fossils, carbon dating of artifacts and the like. These folks believe in Biblical inerrancy and a literal interpretation of the Bible. On the other hand, you have the scientific crowd who discounts anything with even a slight religious overtone. These are the folks who believe solely in things proven through the scientific method. In this case, that would be the Big Bang and Evolution. Both of these groups don't brook any deviations among their peers, marginalizing anyone who doesn't adhere to the party line. In the middle, you have..., no distinct group. There is the intelligent design crowd, those who kinda believe in Evolution but think God had a hand in it. I'm okay with that, until they want it taught in science class. Then, you have the people who don't think about it all that much. This is probably the majority of people. It's important, but just can't compete with their life and family right now. Finally, you have people like me, who see the creation story as allegory. Unlike the extremists, my point of view allows me to believe both the Bible and science. How is that you ask? They are two equally valid views, but they mean different things. In fact, contrasting the two is the whole apples and oranges thing. Science is how we got here, the Bible is why we're here and why we're so messed up.
The science part is pretty straightfoward and, we're not here to talk about that anyway. It's the Bible story I'm going on about. We'll break it down a bit. First, notice what the author says after everything God creates: "and it was good". And, then, you have that whole 7 days thing. I've learned that there are certain numbers in the Bible that aren't just numbers, specifically the number 7. 7 is actually a combination of two other significant numbers, 3 and 4. 3 signifies Divine perfection, 4 represents the Trinity and it's manifestation in creation. Combine those you get 7, which denotes spiritual perfection. The point being here that God brought his Creation into being and it was perfect in every way. Which leads us to the Fall. In this little tidbit, Eve is tempted by the serpent and eats fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which she and Adam were expressly forbidden. Not satisfied going down on her own, she talks Adam into eating it too. One of many lessons here is that women have always been able to do stuff we didn't want to do. But, I digress. God had given them all kinds of wonderful things to eat and a great place to live and they rejected it. So, they were cast out. Up to that point, they had spoken directly to God and even been in his presence. Not any more, though. Things that were perfect were now broken. They were seperated from God. Which is the very essence of sin. Our task is to get back to God. Oh, that's easy, you say. Just repent and go and sin no more. Right, go and sin no more. When I figure out how to do that, I'll let you know.