Why are evagelical Christians be so backward in their understanding of the world?

Question

How can you grow up in the late 20th/early 21st centuries and be so miserably uneducated so as to believe in creationism over evolution, the bible over science, the existence of h*** or heaven or miracles or angels or "divine" appearances or original sin or any of the other ancient stories attempting to explain what was for them unexplainable but explainable with modern science?

Homeland - yea....how could you let yourself be so duped into believe in things so ridiculous....you'd have to switch off your intelligence to do it!

angle - you're a scientist and are unaware of the overwhelming, tones of evidence in favor of evolution? Did you go to school at Bob Jones or other such Christian school or did you go to a real school?

john_d - a hypothesis does not become a theory until there are mountains of evidence to support it. Creationism has NO evidence at all...unless you count the one ancient book written by unsophisticated, uneducated people. If you must include God in this...when will you learn that evolution is the way God works.

Lynn H - you're right, modern science does not have all the answers, and we likely never will, but we're working in that direction, pushing back the curtain of ignorance all the time....it makes it tough when so many Christians keep trying to pull the curtain closed, again.....dancing around with their fingers in their ears, singing 'lalalallalalal....i'm not listening.......'

austins mom - your definitions are the everyday, common person use of the word, they are not the scientific community usage....in science a hypothesis does not become a theory until it has mountains of evidence to support it, and once accepted, it becomes sci law

rayneshowers - the earth was not "placed" or designed so that we could live here...we came into existence because of the conditions, maybe unique, that exist here. God didn't invent us, we invented God.

how many gods before this one have humans had? Non of them, including this one, "gave" us "his word"....human beings wrote a book which was, for centuries past along in pieces until it was cobbled together in the 4th century and was the only book there was for another span of centuries until Guttenberg, and then it was the only book people could own for another few centuries and took on the weight of truth simply by means of age. "God" didn't give us anything anymore than all the gods you reject from the past.

Answer 1

My faith is not irrational or ignorant...The Earth just by its exact size, placement in the universe, the perfect proximity to the sun and moon thus creating the perfect atmosphere for life to exist, temperatures to sustain life, gravity for that life to stay put on the earth and tidal pulls. I see Gods grand design in that alone. Add the complexity of the life that crawls, walks, slithers, swims in, and flies above this planet. If there is no God, no designer, then all we have is random chance. If we decide to believe in random chance what do we get....Humans ultimately evolving from a single simple cell that would have formed from some amino acids. (For the first spontaneous generation to occur, the odds are about 1 in 1055,000...That's one chance in a number that is 1 followed by 55,000 zeros! In mathematical statistics, anything beyond 1 in 1050 is considered impossible.)* The Bible says that humans are unique among all other life on earth, created in the image of God**. In what ways would we agree that man is different? Just as God creates so do we. As an artist when I paint on a canvas I can only do a poor copy of the majesty that is before me that God created. Evolutionary anthropologists speculate that the Fumane Cave “paintings are the current record holder at 32,000 years--and possibly even older”***. Seems man has been creating a long time! Humans have emotions, make moral judgments, think abstractly/reason, etc, etc., When God made us he made us from the earth and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7) Our soul makes us not just material like other life forms but also spiritual#. What I call soul you may call conscious. What does the bible say about creation that we would agree on? The creation account follows an exact order 1)the separation of light from darkness or as astronomers would call it photon decoupling event 2)The creation of the earth itself – pick a theory maybe big bang 3)The separation of the dry land from the seas the creation of plants in a particular order - grasses, shrubs and trees otherwise known as Miocene Epoch### 4)The placing of the heavenly bodies in relationship to the earth which gives us seasons, days, years, 5)the creation of animal life in a particular order - fish, birds, land animals,6)The creation of man (#) God created certain fixed laws##…we know that a pig will not produce a chicken. The Bible says life produces "according to its kind" What other scientific facts has the Bible been telling man for centuries? Statements Consistent With Paleontology, Astronomy, Meteorology, Biology, Anthropology, Hydrology, Geology, and Physics are in the Bible that are only recently being sought and proven by scientific study. (for these verses and what in science they are http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/science.shtml ) Do not be so hateful.

Science without Religion is lame.
Religion without Science is blind. Einstein

Answer 2

Perhaps you wish to deflect criticism away from Christians for their part in the evils of Naziism and the Holocaust, and you think that by narrowing it down to whether Hitler was Christian or not, you can do so, using the logic that if Hitler wasn't Christian, then Christians weren't responsible for all those terrible things. But yours is a false logic. Whether Hitler was a Christian or not, it's abundantly clear that the vast majority of supporters were Christians. As you yourself say, 90% of the population was Christian. Without those supporters, Hitler would have just been some crackpot on the street corner shouting crazy things. Those Christian supporters praised him, supported him, ran the government, ran the concentration camps, killed the disabled, rounded up dissidents, turned their backs on the suffering, and committed countless cruel acts. Also: you have no evidence about him being in favor of evolution. However, we have considerable evidence that he believed in junk science that contradicted evolutionary teachings.

Answer 3

Modern science hasn't explained everything. Even if you go down to the minutest form of life protons neutrons etc. where did they come from who created those? As I recall we still haven't found the "missing link" in the evolutionary chain so that is not explained either. Modern science does not have all the answers. There are some things that you just have to believe without seeing. For example, do you believe in the big bang theory, did you see it happening, no that's impossible but you still believe it happened, same with christian beliefs. I have a very close friend who is a rocket science engineer at JPL, Jet Propulsion Laboratories and he is a scientists and he says that there are still things that are not explainable through science, so either way it's all about faith, or in the case of science, theory. I guess we will all find out one day....

Answer 4

It has less to do with religion and more to do with the human condition - or more specifically the American condition.

Most of them descend from religious extremists. Although most of them are NOT religious extremists, a degree of fanaticism remains in most Americans, even some of the atheists.

So if they've got a belief they'll shout it out and stick at it for as long as they can and even make up outlandish stories to cover it, like 'creation science'. And the atheists got organized prayer forbidden in schools. I'm atheist and we had prayer in my British school. Big deal. The physical action of lowering my head once a week for a minute, along with everybody else, didn't harm me in the least.

Answer 5

Lets look at the definition of theory -the dictionary states this:

- speculation: abstract thought or contemplation
- idea formed by speculation: an idea of or belief about something arrived at through speculation

It seems to me that you are basing a question based on the THEORY of evolution....it can't be proven. People can justify anything they set their minds too, just as Christians chose to believe in creationism. JUSTIFICATION is a wonderful thing!!

Modern science has not proven anything, it conforms to what it can put it's hands on through justification. Creationism is of faith and the beliefs instilled in us~it is blind and there needs to be nothing more than what is read~THAT is the power of faith, hope and love! However isn't each in itself, a measure of belief?? So what is the harm in picking the belief that lets you sleep at night, or make it through the day?? I don't see the harm in it at all. Too much speculation, and too many people that are trying to "prove" things, impose their beliefs on others, and cause conflict. When it is more peaceful to believe what we want, and just move on!! Sounds good to me!!

EDIT: So because my answer isn't scientific, it doesn't count? Are you saying that because I choose to have an education in business administration, sociology and early childhood education(one masters degree and working on a second for education currently), my opinion does not count, because it is "common"~~~sounds to me like you have a chip on your shoulder, and you are so busy trying to convince everyone that your point is the ONLY point, you have no open mind for the community discussion that is a wide variety of everyone's input. You don't have to like my answer, or anything about me, it affects me in no way, shape or form. You however seem to be obsessed with proving your point~and if it were so obvious, why then would you NEED to prove it?

Answer 6

How can you be so ignorant in the ways of God? He gave us His Word, and yet you reject it.
Christians belong to God. We do not perceive the world the same way as others do. We look at it from a heavenly viewpoint. All you look at it is from a worldly view. Jesus told us to be IN the world NOT OF IT. That is how we see things. Evolution is nothing but a fantasy, and if you could see it from my view, you would see it as one of satan's biggest lies. It is so rediculous to me, that I can hardly believe anyone could believe it.
I choose the very Word of God over your ignorant science. Afterall, He did create the world. He should know all about it.

If you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him how "educated" and "intelligent" you are. You people say it so much, I think you are actually trying to convince yourself of it.
If you want to believe you came from a pile of goo, and that your life has absolutely no purpose at all, except to live and die, and populate the earth? (what for?) What would be your reason why the earth needs to be populated if there isn't any kind of plan or anything? It's absolutely senseless.
God wanted the earth populated so He would have us to be with Him, and we could tell others about Him, so they could come to know Him also, so everyone could have ETERNAL LIFE. He LOVES us, and wants to Bless us with all the wonderful things He has PROMISED us. Heaven is waiting for us. This earth is groaning because it is under a curse, and is waiting for Jesus to return, so all things can be made new again! Now, there's a plan! What is yours??

Answer 7

I don't know, are they backward? Remember modern science can't explain the things beyond empiricial experimentation. All of you mentioned limitations in science and need for revision. It isn't a replacement for a world framework.

WOW I am utterly surprised that atheism has taken science for itself! Science is compatible with christianity and there are plenty of believers who engage in science! And, there are even atheists who don't give a flip about scientific progress and don't utilize research to support their stance either. :) I thought there was no cohesion with atheists.

Answer 8

A lot of it has to do with simply never taking the time to read about science. Also, when somebody's had a profound personal experience that they attach a lot of significance to, they will defend that over whatever reality presents them with.

I don't think all Christians use their religion as a crutch, but for those that do, well if you kick out somebody's crutch they don't start walking. They cling to the crutch tighter.

Answer 9

Who is to say that your scientific explanations are anything but "educated" speculation?

http://www.christianapologetics.org

Science used to prove that what the Bible says is fact. Proves that Christ is God, that God exists, etc.

Check it out. for real. You atheists are always saying "go here and go there and read this and read that to see that you are wrong. So go to this one, and see science used to prove that YOU are wrong.

My point? That scientific evidence can be used for whatever purpose that someone wishes to use it for. Your question and all the subsequent comments have no merit. Good day.

Answer 10

Just look at what the schools are producing today. Ask any one who the Vice Pres is , the sec of state their Gov. you will be amazed at the stupidity.