Question for well educated Christians?

Question

This is a sincere question and not an attack on anyones beliefs, for Christians who have decent scientific knowledge regarding earth and the universe. I would really like to know the thought process that goes into all of this.

How have you maintained your faith in the bible after learning that the unverse is 13.7 billion years old, the earth 3.5 billion, and that humans have been around for .05 million years? How can you see fossils that are millions of years old and of animals not even mentioned in the bible and still believe? How can you acknowledge the scientific flaws of the bible and still believe?

Do you have any explanations for this other than "it is a test from god" because i dont even see where that comes from .The bible never says god was a sneaky person who was out to trick us.

Answer 1

I'm not a Christian, but I took a class on Religion & Science, and I was impressed that so many Christians accepted the views of science, while maintaining their faith. Our textbooks contained many articles that were written by Christians who accepted the scientific theories. You may be interested in reading some of those just to see how they do it!

Here are the books we used:
"Physics, Philosophy, and Theology" edited by Russell, Stoger, and Coyne (this carries the Vatican seal of approval).

"Perspectives on an Evolving Creation" edited by Miller. (this one is mostly Evangelical Christians who accept the scientific theories).

"Can A Darwinian Be A Christian?" by Michael Ruse. (the answer he offers is yes).

In my own opinion, those passages of the Bible that are in conflict with science were never meant to be taken literally. The authors who wrote these did not think that they really knew the whole inner workings of the universe. They were not there when God created the universe, and they knew it (see the book of Job). So why did they write such things? It was to teach spiritual truths. Not scientific ones. The teachings are allegories.

I used to believe in the Bible, and I believed that the stories were literally true. But after I lightened up and realized that they were not literally true, I began to see them as allegories. Once I saw them as allegories, I was like, "aha! So this is what they meant to teach!" I finally was able to see the real message the authors were trying to get across. This is the beauty of "mythology." Mythology is not a put-down. In fact, mythology is one of the most brilliant ways of conveying deep spiritual truths that cannot easily be conveyed by straightforward prose or discourse. I think this is why Jesus taught in parables. He knew the power of allegory to penetrate the mind and soul.

If the Biblical authors really thought that the creation stories, for example, were to be taken literally, then why did they place 2 contradictory creation stories back to back right at the front of Genesis? I think they knew this was allegory.

Answer 2

I have a Master's degree. The problem with claiming that the universe is 13.7 years old and the earth is 3.5 billion years old is that there is no way to know that.

Ever met someone who is 13.7 billion years old, or was around when the earth was being formed? Ever read any evidence or a written log produced by mankind that was there at the beginning of the universe? You can assign dates and ages to rocks and bones all you want, but unless you actually have something to verify that something is 1 billion years old, all you have is another religion and a false god. You have no way of knowing the earth is 3.5 billion years old. And nobody else does either!

With the Bible, you have a written record and accounts of people who were there passed down from generation to generation. The Bible is not meant to be a scientific document. It is meant as a record of what was and how mankind interpreted it. It is a story of a lonely God who created a planet for a companion named Man that God made in his image. It is a story of how Man abused that friendship, but God loved Man and his sons and daughters anyway, and is giving Man every chance He can to continue the friendship.

I really don't care how old the Earth is. What I care about is the point of the story and how I need to live to justify God's love for me. I go with what I have (the Bible and its historical documents proven true through archaelolgy every day), and not by independent speculation by somebody who decided he or she does not agree with the Bible.

Even the founders of many of the dating methods used today say those methods are only accurate back to about a hundred years at best. If someone says the earth is six million years old, how would you know? If someone says the Jews came from Abraham, you know that because it is documented in the Bible and there is evidence around you in the world today. Ask a Jew, even an Arab and check on the descendants of Abraham. If someone says there was once a great city named Babylon that ruled most of the known world, you have a historical document, the Bible, you can refer AND you can go to the ruins of Babylon in Iraq to confirm. You have empirical evidence.

If someone says the earth is six million years old, you have nothing, no historical or scientific reference to confirm that.

Answer 3

In order to grasp a balanced understanding of this, u must examine the theology and the historicity of the Bible. (I will only profer a simplified answer since I can not write a book on this forum).

Moses was the one whom God gave the vision of how He created everything. This was at a time when there weren't many scientific definitions (but the people of that age were also asking questions and God decided to give them a "brief background" on how they happened on the planet). Moses therefore could only put a lot of things in plain language for easy understanding (NASA scientists might do a better job now if they saw the same visions).

Moses didn't define howmany years (maybe billions) were between "In the begining, God created the heavens and the earth" and "Let there be light" (which was when God started creating the universal elements that define time as we know it) - Gen. 1. I mean, this was a trance he was to see for only forty days! There obviously had to be some kind of fast-forward>>!!

There is no specific list of animals that God created anywhere in the Bible, we only know He created them all. There are animals mentioned in the Bible that science - till now - knows nothing about (leviathan, Behemoth).

Notice in Gen.1:2 - "Now the earth was/became (depending on translation) formless and void ..." Must've been some kind of natural phenomenon (just an example: the ending of the ice age, etc) that erased an earlier creation (maybe even dinosaurs & mamoths) and necessitated a new creation. Notice God "brought the animals to the man to SEE WHAT HE WOULD CALL THEM" and not to name them. Man got a pass mark coz he got their names right.

Ask for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when you read the Bible and God will give u. Then u may understand some more. Godspeed!

Answer 4

First, understand I was RAISED concretely on PLUTO being a planet and NOW It isn't.

Does that mean I get my diploma revoked for being ROTED with an OLD WIVES TALE concocted by Scientists who decided to change their minds.

That's problem #1

And it concerns science.

Science practises what George Orwell calls Double Speak

Today we are friends with the Red Country but not the Blue Country.

Today Pluto is a planet, tomrrow it isn't.

Next year the Universe may only be 7 light years old

Or 54

Now, Dr. Carl Sagan, the late professor of Cosmology at Cornell put forth a Cosmic Calendar in which Man came on the scene in the First Second of the First Minute of the First HOurs of the Last day of the month and we are still in taht first hour.

So, Dr. Sagan says the Universe is one month old and Man less than 1 hour old.

The most distant suns are 14+ billion light years away, however the first Gamma Rays are even further. Some put the diameter of the Universe at 78 billioin +

The Sun is siad to be 5 billion years old or made 2/3 of the way between Creation and Today.

The Bible says That the Sun and the EArth and the Moon happened on the 4th day, in a 6 day week. That just happens to be 2/3 of the way from Day one to Day 6

Count it, you'll see that's what it is.

The Bible also says MAN was created on the 6th day. When we don't know BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER God rested on the 7th day,

Therefore MAN was created near the last minute of the last hour of the 6th day.

If you DIVIDE all of this by 14.5 billon years you find Dr. Saga's one month Calendar and Gods' 6 day work week are almost identical.

So Science, CArl Sagan and the old testiment of the Judeo-Christain Bible ALL fit the time frame.

The odd thing is that the Judeo-Christian OLD testiment is verifiably 3,000 years old.

There is an Extant copy of a 1,000 BC Torah

In fact there is two or possibly three.

One is in Egypt, one is in Russia somewhere and I think one is in Iran.

There are also the dead sea scrolls.

Now, how did the 3,000 year old Bible come up with PERCENTAGE WISE the same time line as Science came up with in the 20th Century.

The ball is in your court.

Read Genesis. Day one the Big Bang (POstulated by a Catholic Priest who was a Phsycists), day two, three and four the formation of the universe, the heavens, the firmmanent, the division of waters, the formation of suns, galaxies.

Day 5 the beasts that live on the Earth, here before man.

Day 6 man, right before God Rests.

For all we know, God is still in the 7th day and still resting.

For all we know we may still be in the first few minutes of the first hour of the 7th day.

Answer 5

Yes, I still believe in the Bible and my faith even with all the scientific discoveries that have been made. I have no problem accepting an Earth that is billions of years old. I don't think that the Bible needs to comment on those things because the Bible is a book of faith, not a science textbook. The inspired men who contributed to what we now know as the Bible probably had no idea exactly how old the world was. Also, I don't think the Bible makes any claims as to when and exactly how the Earth was created. It is open to interpretation. God made the world is six "days." I see it as referring to six creative periods, not 6 actual days or 6000 years. It was six periods--that could have been billions of years each for all I know. About the fossils--again, I don't think that the Bible needs to mention all the plants and animals that ever existed. The point that the Bible makes is that God created the world--it didn't come into existence by chance. So, I feel no real conflict in accepting much of what science has to say and still believing in what the Bible is trying to teach.

Answer 6

My answer is simple: Your answer is the same:
You put your faith and belief in Science and I put my faith and belief in Christ Jesus. Science says the earth is 500 million years old and you accept this as fact, knowing full well that human beings make mistakes. God says the world was created and I accept this as fact, knowing full well that God is incapable of error.
Science is based on "Guesstimates" Carbon dating and all such age, dating systems rely om some guesswork. Scientists have to assume (Guess) atmospheric conditions at the time these fossils were fossilized. Weather, water, wind, type of rock or soil fossil was found in all have a direct bearing on the age identification of the object being tested.
Many guesses have to be made before science can come up with a "Theory" as to the age of the fossil being analyzed.
There is no clear cut way to do this without first assuming many different "catalysts" the may or may not have acted upon the sample being tested. Any scientist will agree with this statement. Science has recently discredit it's highly acclaimed theory of evolution and has now replaced it with a new theory called "String Theory" What science highly acclaims today, 20 years from now will be outdated and in need of a new theory. Gods Word has stood the test of time, Gods Word cannot, nor will it ever be, proven false.
God Bless You....Peace.

Answer 7

How many times have scientist changed their minds about the information you are claiming is true? Next month your science estimates will have to change, but the Bible is still the same.

With God a thousand years is like a day (2 Peter 3:8) and now on earth Christians can only know in part (1 Corinthians 13:9), but the parts we do know have not changed.

I don't expect you are any unbeliever to be able to understand this, but let me ask this. Would it be strange to you if five people ordered ice cream and five ordered chocolate, but for some reason the five who ordered chocolate kept worrying the five who ordered ice cream as if they didn't enjoy the ice cream? If you like chocolate, why are you so worried about what the people think who like ice cream. Go figure.
Alan Ballou www.thehealingbook.com

Answer 8

Hello, Ruthie:

So glad you asked this question because I wondered the same thing as an athiest. Now I've dug deeper and see the big picture.

Bible chronology is very precise, and redemption starts with the fall of Adam and ends with the victory of the Second Adam, Jesus (1 Cor 15:45).

There can be no compromise on this point, either we are amoebas or God created Adam, our first ruler.

After studying the prophecies in the Old Testament of the coming Messiah, and seeing them fulfilled in Jesus, I knew there had to be a God.

I had studied mathematics for electronics for years, so the numeric prophecies caught my attention, too--they predicted in advance, the exact year of Christ's baptism, and exact day of His crucifixion.

Puzzled on Carbon 14 dating, the first thing I did was study about it. It assumes a static level of C14 to be accurate, and requires cosmic rays to generate c14 from N14. If the Bible was correct, and before Noah's flood there was a protective canopy around the earth shielding us from cosmic rays, THEN THERE WAS NO C14 BEFORE THE FLOOD, giving an erroneous ages of millions of years.

There is more, like the declining gravitational force, collapsing mountains, dust on the moon, declining speed of light, human footprints in cambrian strata,Lucy's head found 2 miles from her "upright" kneecap and in deeper strata, other forged findings,etc. And many books have been written about it.

But the best source is a secret Bible code that explains God's plan of redemption and the timing of the great conflict. It is well worth reading FREE on-line, all five chapters.

Any more questons, please feel free to e-mail me.

Blessings, One-Way

Answer 9

I am going to give you my theory.

People interpret in the bible that the author of Genesis was referring to a few years, and that God created everything in a week. While I do believe that life had to start with some matter, I think it was an interesting way to discuss evolution. Remember that animals were created towards the end of the "week:"

It also does not mean that Adam and Eve were created and then everything else happened right away. It is possible centuries and milleinums seperate Adam and Eve from Abraham, and then several more to Noah. Genesis does not specify timeframes like other history books do.

Remember, God created Man in his own image, but He didn't do it right away.

Answer 10

It's actually quite simple. There is no proof of the age of the world. If the world was that old, there would be no uranium, it would all have degraded to lead by now, most likely helium. This and too many other things that make it impossible to rule out a creator. Might I suggest a book, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Athiest by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. Read it if you dare, if you really want to know truth. I am confident it will cause you to rethink things.By the way, the Bible was not given to us to be a book of science. It was never intended to be.

Answer 11

Firstly, I would like to profess that there are many highly intelligent, critically thinking Christians who have obtained PhD's and other prestigious degrees from accredited schools all over the world. Those who doubt this are simply ignorant of the facts; those who would deny that either a) Christians are not smart because of what they choose to believe, or b) the schools who give them degrees are worthless; those people have only a few words branded upon their foreheads: ignorance and malice. If anyone doubts these claims, let them hire history as their tutor. The invention of the institution of University and College is a Christian one. That is correct - formalized and organized education has the Church to thank, as the Church was the institution to educate people about all subjects (not just theology and religion) for hundreds of years. Only since the modern period has there been a movement to secularize schools. In fact, some of the most famous and highly-regarded educational institutions, such as Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge and the like, were all originally founded and funded by the Church. It has always been in the interest of Christians to see the world educated, and not just about matters of Christian theology and religion. the famous reformer John Calvin, opened up a liberal arts school so that people could learn about art, literature and other "secular" subjects. Even the shallowest endeavor to research these things will prove all the above points true. Some of the people who have already answered the question, for some reason, assume that if a Christian is awarded something like a PhD, that they must have gone to some obscure and worthless "Christian" college to obtain it. Well, that's simply not true. As per the information made available above, "Christian" schools are a recent development in educational history, and there have been plenty of rational and intelligent Christian men and women who have proved themselves to be worthy students, and almost as many whom have proved themselves to be worthy teachers. In fact, I don't doubt that many of the "nay-sayers" who have excreted their criticisms here have been taught by Christian Professors and Doctor's, and have subsequently obtained their own degrees under a Christian's instruction. Now, with that said, to move back to the question posed. I have already made a case for the existence of educated Christians. I am now happy to provide a link for a very prestigious faculty of a Christian school in Toronto, Canada: Tyndale University College and Seminary, where I currently attend. You will find that all the faculty are very qualified in their respective fields, and that even some of them have left other, more prestigious "secular" schools like U of T, just to be able to teach here. I thank you for this question. I hope that this has been an informative answer.