Spinynorman73
The Bible is a book that every intellectual in western civilization must study, because of its consistent impact on history and its phenomenal perserverance in popularity, as a serious philosophical (love of truth and wisdom) reference.
The Bible presents itself as dictated by a living being, a God to us, made of non-electomagnetic stuff ("Spirit", perhaps similar to the dark matter of modern physics), basically existing to show us how to establish contact with this Being. It provides mechanisms by whatever epistemological (way of knowing) strategy one might choose to know the truth, by which one may establish contact with this God, to hear His voice and engage Him in conversations or interviews. These include authority, art, science, and history.
Following these "materials and methods" many persons (including me, using the epistemological strategy of science) report contact with this God, who in interview describes as much as we or I can understand how He created the heavens and the earth.
Thus, I came to believe that the whole universe is created, originally over a "long" time, with more recent "restorations," the latter happening quickly, miraculously, the former by slower artificial selection and genetic engineering by the Creator.
I use this "truth" to deal justly with this Creator, giving them full due for the magnificence of what They created, and dealing with the environment as a steward of someone's beloved creation.
Teach your children how to use the four main natural epistemological strategies (trustworthy authority, the good answer to the question, "Oh yeah, who says?"; inspired art, "truth is beauty, etc."; defensible science, evidence supporting theory; and history, choices and consequences of choices of the past.) to find and love the truth. This will bring much reward, as much as it is possible for a teacher to obtain.
Stephen
™ Version 4.2