How can some people still completely believe the Bible?

Question

I am a scientific, logical person who believes in the Big Bang theory and Evolution(atheist). But I do not understand how some Christians, given the huge about of evidence against creation, can still believe in it.
For example, the universe is definitely expanding (as proven by red-shift) and if you work back through time the obvious start of the expansion is the Big Bang. I can understand how some Christians say the Big Bang was started by God, their guess is as good as any. But to totally ignore the huge amount of evidence about the creation of the universe, our solar system and the creation of the Earth and to say that the whole universe was created fully formed by God(or deity to your choice) is total madness. It simply does not make sense to totally believe in a book written thousands of years ago before the invention of logical science.
Please explain to me how people can still totally believe in the Bible, even though the evidence of science is massively against its claims.

Answer 1

People need their comfort blanket.

Answer 2

There's a scientific reason for the irrational belief systems of many people. God springs forth from the primitive limbic system of your brain, the last remnants of your reptillion past. The area where our raw emotions reside, including the irrational belief systems.

The 'religious' experience is triggered by deep depression, starvation, near death, or other highly charged situations. The 'born-again' christian phenomena has a scientific basis....yes, your limbic system. Why has man evolved this mechanism you might ask? Simple...it was a survival mechanism of our cave man ancestors to cope with a hostile and unknown universe.

In fact, neuroscientists have recently discovered how to artificially trigger the 'religious experience' by probing certain areas of the limbic system. The studies are preliminary, but they are intrigueing.

The cerebral cortex is a more recent development. Here is where our rational and logical thought processes take place. It is here that the atheists have found their basis in reality.

In reality, there is no sentient, omnipresent, omnipotent supernatural being, supernatural entity or force....therefore all the inequities and misery of the world will always persist, some will have good things happen to them and some not, some will blame the invisible entity but objective reality wins all the time....no matter how hard some try to get that limbic brain of theirs to work...sorry

Answer 3

You answered your own question in the first sentence of your additional bit - 'I am a scientific, logical person who believes...'
Belief isn't logical or scientific, it requires the abandonment of logic and science in favour of faith in something unknown.
Big Bang is a theory that you believe to be true, personally i agree with you, even more so on Evolution. What you and i believe may be based on lots of physical evidence, and so those who believe in God have to ignore this evidence.
They find a kind of bliss in this ignorance, it protects them from reality, and provides them with an excuse when life gets awkward. We humans are weak, we need help to get through the day - a lot of people choose religion as that helper.
Further proof that belief is not logical nor scientific.

Answer 4

Faith I guess. Although it is beyond me how anyone can put all that faith into something that has been so little provable fact and for the most part hundreds of translations by so many different people. Three people will not translate a language the same. We are experiencing the same thing on a much more applicable level with the translation of Asian dialects. There are different versions of the same thing and to say one is right and another wrong is narrow minded if you ask me.
wow, frizzfox just made herself look kinda dumb. Think about what you write because the whole world can see it.

Answer 5

Dear True Brit!

Many famous scientists have believed in God, and the more scientists understand about the laws of a universe that has been operating upon those laws for millleniums, such as gravity, relativity, motion, etc, the more one wonders at " how did all this come about? Who or what made all this clockwork precision possible and why ? Chance? Nothing? Absoluteness?
The Bible is a message for the Christian people, inspired by "God the Creator" who says of Himself in the Bhagwat geeta- "I create and sustain this entire universe with a fraction of my great yogic power".
Because some people ask the questions and need the answers the Creator bestows the answers through 'pure intellects' of saints, and those inspired words come to be known as " the word of God"
Infact in the Geeta, the big bang is described as the - '"kalpa" or end of the time cycle when I merge all beings into Myself and at the beginning of the Time Cycle I re-create them, using my subtle Yogic powers, according to their Karma"

Answer 6

I really wonder how much of a church goer you are? I asks this because if you're not, its obvious the reason you ask why.
Well, first thing, you say you BELIEVE in the Big Bang, that isn't you confirming your logical evidence is 100% truth.

I would also like to know what came first the chicken or the egg?

I dont classify myself any particular religion. But teachings from the Bible inspire a strong mind always willing to learn, search and inspire. Its also like history. To open the mind to multiple views on why as people and/or individuals we exist. Science wants one answer when you can't really have it because like us, scientists are human. None of us know how we came to be. No one is ignoring science, its just that is tries to have one answer for things that happened so long ago and are way too big for us to really comprehend. As people we are all living to understand just in various ways.
I can only say that everyone should have thier beliefs and continue to share and explore.

Answer 7

It's all about paradigms.

Given particular frameworks of belief, religious or otherwise, almost any data, evidence, events... can be made to fit the preferred or habitual structure.

Sometimes the dominant paradigm will even determine what is "good" data, who is a "reliable witness"
(if there is a firm belief against the existence of abducting aliens, accounts of alien abductions will discredit the witness, rather than provide support for the hypothesis).

"God made it like that" is a particularly difficult central paradigm to overthrow, as it it can absorb almost any circumstance or fact. Especially when coupled with the doctrine of "The Fall" which allows for less than good things in a world created by a good God.

Answer 8

The simple answer is people choose what they believe . You say you make a rational decision based on the perponderance of evedence. Science has been around a long time too and has been proven to be wrong at times so who can say our present understanding of science may fail us someday. I believe that every discovery by science doesn't change the Bible ,only alters our understanding and points out wrongful interpretations of the Word. T4

Answer 9

Actually, between the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are over 2000 years old and match perfectly what we use today, and the 24000 manuscripts of the New Testament, we can know 100% for certain that The Bible has never been changed. With over 10 times more supporting manuscripts than the teachings and existence of Aristotle.
Infact, The Bible is the most trust worthy book in all of antiquity. yet many reject it, because they simply dont want to believe in a creator.

Answer 10

I agree with you in a way. It's also a fact that the Bible is written by human hands and thus prone to error. Bible is also a historic book in a way. Thus, some statements would be questionable in this present time. But, just imagine the world without this Bible. You know, its been a source of explanations that justifies our action or more popularly known as ethics. Plus, it gives the believer something to hold on. Something to expect and something to believe. I understand the stand of atheists because I might become one myself.

Answer 11

I wonder this every time I hear or see anything involving the bible. It is ridiculous on so many levels... But since the beginning of time people have made up gods to explain the unexplainable and to be honest some people have not evolved past that time and feel the need to explain their ignorance away with god. Remember ignorance is bliss? Well it is for them. They're happy in their own little world believing a load of **** and to be honest I'm happy to leave them there looking like idiots.... I just stay away and be smart and logical!

Also the origional bible was different from the one we now have due to King Salaman had it written to and for his needs of Christianity and beliefs onto people, he took what he wanted and thought was valid and threw out the rest .. So yeah the bible itself is not whole and condricts itself quite a bit due to this .. Maybe if it was intact it'd make sense but it really just sounds like a bunch of tall tales being told down generation to generation and morphing into some belief ...