Why is it that only in the USA Christians are willfully ignorant (2 Peter) about what science really says?

Question

I am a Christian, but feel ashamed by those who share my faith, yet do not use the mind God gave them. Around the world Christians accept what science is and how it works, but here in the USA the majority know little about what science is and how it explains the world around us.

In science theories are used to explain facts; observed facts (fossil sequences, comparative DNA, homology, embryology) are explained by a theory called Evolutionary Biology.

Science itself cannot say anything about the existence or non-existence of God or anything supernatural since that is the realm of theology and not science, yet instead of educating themselves I have found many of my fellow Christians remaining ignorant about science, incredulous of its methods, and willing to deceive themselves and others about many fields of science (geology, physics, chemistry, biology) and even mathematics in order to attack Evolutionary Biology while proving they cannot even correctly define said theory.

Martin seems to have proven my point or not read the question. The difference between Science and theology; Science explains observations using ONLY natural causes while theology is the study of God. I asked why some Christians do not understand Science. He gave examples of scientific ignorance 1 Volcanic eruptions are normal conditions that are found in the fossil record and easily identified as such in Geology 2 Physics explains why some compounds/crystals retain helium 3 fossils can form under normal conditions such as anoxic aquatic layers, regular wind/water deposited sediments, or sudden burial in volcanic eruptions that occur all over the Earth all the time 4 Cataclysmic events are part of uniformitarianism in Geology since even though they might not occur on a human time scale they do happen often and 5 there is a MAJOR difference between a canyon being cut in newly deposited volcanic sediments by muddy flooding water and relatively clear water cutting hard layers of an uplift.

Hand of Justice gives a perfect example of how Christians have been lied to about science. Science cannot say anything about the existence or non-existence of God or anything about how God works. That is called theology. Science is also not atheistic because of this simple fact; it can say nothing about God or any deity since then it would not be science. If science was based in atheism it would be a theology.

Science is also neither conservative nor liberal since it is not based on ones political leanings.

I am not insulting those whom with I share the faith, but instead I hope to learn from them and unite us all by using our God given gifts of intelligence and inquiry.

I would suggest for everyone to do some research into the Philosophy of Science to learn how science works and the history of how it came to be. You can do that on this great man made invention called the computer which was created by scientific theories such as electromagnetism and quantum physics.

Thank you for pointing out Robert Genty Adriftfeline. Not only have I kept up with his work but he was the one to peak my interest in science. In Jr High School I was given his book on Polonium Halos starting me on my life of scientific investigation. By High School I had gone from wondering if all science was somehow wrong to finding constant cases of creationists only telling half the story, claiming things that were not true, and confusing different fields of science with each other for the soul purpose of attacking one particular theory. These facts and my love of nature is what guided me into a degree in Biology and a career as a science educator. The problems with Gentry’s Halos are numerous and known of before his “discovered” including his misrepresenting samples as being from granite when they were not and that uranium was found in the areas he took his samples, decays into radon that is a gas and can move into the crystals making the Halos. I will check out the other site

Answer 1

You know, you don't seem like a true Christian because you don't support your brothers and sisters in the faith but instead you denegrate their intelligence in front of the world. I'm not judging you, just giving you my impression about the words you have posted.

Personally, I have given quite lengthy scientific explanations for why science is mistaken and God's Word is true. A true Christian doesn't accept the theories of the so called wise men of this world over God's Word. Scientific theories come with a lot of presuppositions. For instance when fossils are discovered archeologists look at the sediment layers to try to determine the age of the fossil. They observe how sediment layers are formed today and how long they take and they calculate how long it would have taken to form all of the layers above a fossil.

The presupposition they bring to this dating process is that the layers were all formed under normal conditions. Then we had Mt Saint Helens erupting in the 1980's and voila! In 4 hours massive mud slides formed sediment layers that according to the accepted methods of dating fossils would have taken 12 million years to form. If the mountain had erupted 1,000 years earlier and an animal had gotten caught in the mud slide and it's fossil preserved today's scientists would have concluded that the animal was 12 million years old.

Another method they use is radiometric dating. The presuppose a certain amount of material in the original object and they calculate from the rate of decay how old the object might be. When they used this method with diamonds they came up with some extrodinarily high figures in the 100's of millions or billions of years. Unfortunately when they run these same tests for helium in diamonds knowing that after 10,000 or so years there should be zero helium present they find that the diamonds are about 4-6 thousand years old.

Getting back to fossils, we know that when plants and animals die they almost always decay and leave no traces. It is only when some extraordinary circumstances are involved that fossils are preserved. The Bible says "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. Genesis 7:11

Notice the phrase "all the fountains of the great deep burst forth". We don't know exactly what that entailed but it certainly sounds cataclysmic. Vast portions of the earth's surface were disrupted and just the conditions needed to form fossils all over the planet would most likely have occured.

Scientists look at the Grand Canyon and they theorize that millions of years ago a river was running along the surface of the earth and over time it eroded this massive canyon. Similar but smaller "canyons" were formed when Mt Saint Helens erupted. I could go on and on shooting down the presuppositions that scientists bring to their theories, but hopefully you get the point. If you really are a Christian then why don't you study up on this matter and defend the faith instead of caving in to unproven theories and bowing down before the science of men?

Answer 2

It's not just US christians...

Pope John Paul II requested Stephen Hawkings to stop researching the origins of the universe, because it was God's domain.

Proverbs 3:5 makes a blatant call to ignore both wisdom and instinct. The differing sects of christianity can't even agree about how to interpret the bible, figuratively or literally. Typically, its the fundamentalists who take a more literal translation that choose to place their head in the sand. There are many christians who are rather forward thinking, and attempt to reconcile the facts that science puts forth with the myths and stories of the bible.

Answer 3

I am equally emabarrased by people who call themselves Christian that bow down to the dogma of the societal elite that has come to tell any conservative that dares question evolution that they have no brain. Then to throw gasoline on the fire, they come on in a public forum and insult and break unity with other believers.

Actually science has had much to say about the existance of God confirming him, but I bet your atheist friends didnt share that with you did they? And actually looking at the fossil record as a whole proves without a doubt evolution never happened. That is why atheists narrow their evolutionary study and models to primates. It is interesting to note that todays science starts out with the naturalistic ASSUMPTION that there is no god and view science ONLY through that lense. The academics have already abandoned God based on their own philosophy but luckily the truly smart people in this world havent.

If you want to believe in evolution based on assumed self-fullfilling so-called positive evidence discovered by atheistic science, be my guest. Bow to the world all you want and integrate their philosophy to your hearts content. Dont come in here and offer a broad insult to believers because they disagree with you. We are supposed to be your family. Which side are you on?????

Answer 4

Perhaps that is part of why the beast in Rev. 17 is the USA.
Afterall, the scriptural old testament is the law of Moses (according to scripture, Moses was not born until Exodus), not Genesis-Malachi.
There are several other points I could mention too, but I will stop for now.

Answer 5

Christianity in america has degenerated into cults, for the most part--I have seen the textbooks from religious schools and they are at least four years behind the rest of the schools in america, so a student from a christian school graduates with less of an education than someone who dropped out of the eighth grade in an actual school

Answer 6

And so...why is it that a Christian gentleman (see link) finds a piece of evidence that refutes evolution, tries to present it to the scientific community (as he does hold a doctorate), and to this day has been unable to receive acknowledgment from his former peers (all evolution supporters) while asking for their critical opinion on his research?? Wouldn't the lack of willingness to dialog on the part of evolutionists suggest there's a cover-up going on somewhere?? Can I even hope to imagine you'll look at the following link?? Tell you one thing, this Christian American scientist isn't willfully ignorant!
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Thank you. I really appreciate your response. While I'm not a scientist, I firmly believe in Biblical creation and hope to continue learning. Plz get back w/ me on what you think of Dr. Walter Veith, former professor of zoology and evolutionist (now staunch creationist).

Answer 7

Hugo,
Foss . . . how did you spell tht word? Where's DNA? Is that in Borneo? I almost visited Borneo. And science, is that something to do with why the sky is blue sometimes, and grey other times? What about those fossils? Do they come in a bag? Are there other flavors, my favorite is Ranch.

Too bad we are ALLLLLLLLLLLL so ignorant. Sorry. Maybe you can lend us some of your brilliance for a while and show us how we ought to think? I mean, since you are so damn intelligent, you could spare some, right?

Answer 8

not only in usa bro
i can only support what you are getting at though
take the fossel record it is comparing shapes to enjoin betweeen monkey and man
darwins finches prooved vairiation within a given species ,in that case finches ,exceeds the vairiation between species
many birds have aspects of darwins finches ,yet arnt finches ,
fruitfly breding has yet in thousands of generations to produce any thing NOT a friut fly
the science creation debate comes undone when we have money that says in god we trust ,but no god who trusts money
again with belief in god our public servants swear oaths before god ,ie no god no wonder they are acting as they do ,to begin with they if not believing in god yet swear in gods name to serve they commit sin upon sin
same in courts you get thre ritch with lawyers to swear to tell the truth but they dont believe in god in the first place
yet god is real
god did cause our creation ,how is not for us to know and only for science to try to find out ,but science is lost in thier own self importance ,yet cant even duplicate the simplest creation of its own science
einstein believed in god ,many sciences no doudt were founded in religious need to understand ,yet now in stupidity deney thier own roots of peer revieuw and blind ignorance
science once believed the earth to be flat and the plasnetts to revolve around the earth ,now it is become a faulse god that will endanger all of creation ,because it has become selfserving and after the mighty dollar ,god gave us freewill ,so it is of our own chosing'
but im just talking to the converted ,we both could be wrong , but then who fools who
in the end we all must decide trust god or trust man

Answer 9

You don't know too many Christians or too many scientists. They are one in the same.