Why am I so skeptical of the science that contradicts my Bible and so accepting of the science that doesn't?

Question

I go to my doctor and trust her completely even though medical research follows the scientific method.
I trust that when I go on a plane it won't crash even though aeronautical science follows the scientific method.
I trust that almost every single technology I use will work correctly because all the research that allows for it to work follows the scientific method.

Except when it comes to evolution, the big bang and the age of the earth for some unexplainable reason I suddenly stop trusting science right then and there.

It's like when I see flaws in the evidence for evolution like that one fake hominid fossil I completely reject the whole theory. But when medical science does the same thing like when a pharmaceutical company recalls a certain medication for health reasons, I still will trust my doctors and the medicine they administer afterwards and I don't start denying medical science.

Why am I such a hypocrite?

Answer 1

Religions create a lens through which people see the world. A religious belief system will say that one thing is the correct one and that alternate opinions are wrong. It starts with a conclusion (a specific god, ritual, behavior) and tries to make the world fit within those boundaries. The scientific method constantly sifts through old ideas, without bias, and finds evidence to support that point of view, even if it contradicts what humans think *should* be the case.

Here are a few quotes by the late Carl Sagan, an astronomer. Maybe they will help you see things through the lens of a scientist:

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.


If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?


The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way."

There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny.

There is a place with four suns in the sky — red, white, blue, and yellow; two of them are so close together that they touch, and star-stuff flows between them. I know of a world with a million moons. I know of a sun the size of the Earth — and made of diamond....The universe is vast and awesome, and for the first time we are becoming part of it.

Answer 2

It's good that you're asking that, that you realize something is wrong. But why do you believe that those other things contradict your faith? You might think that some of them contradict the literal stories of Creation in the Bible (though I'm not sure that they all do..), but then those contradict themselves/each other as well, so that's nothing new. I read something somewhere... What was it.. ? "The Big Bang, if there was a Big Bang", would have required an infinite amount of energy applied to an infinite amount of matter in an infinitely small space. God only knows how that could happen!"

Answer 3

Well as for the big bang and age of earth/universe they are constantly changing the age of the universe and its always under debate even by scientists... The big bang is a concept alot of scientists dont really agree with and the fact that we dont know what happens before the big bang means its not a fully developed theory not that there even are any fully developed theorys... The age of the earth is pretty well known but I mean we dont know it exactly I mean we dont really even know when to start classifying a planet a planet when its forming yet... And the time frame in respect to the bible can be interpeted many ways and a God if truely a God could make a days work look like 1,000,000,000 days work... Perhaps you have a trust issue and untill you resolve it you'll probably have a trust issue if you have it. I had a trust issue and I resolved it by understanding I cant trust anyone till I can trusted nobody. The shortest path to any given point is a dirrect line. May not be the smartest tho. And for me that ment I had to go through hell on earth inorder to get to heaven on earth... In retrospect I probably could have goten to heaven on earth just by living my life the way my parents wanted me to... But thats not the path I made so thus it is.

Answer 4

You are far from alone (if indeed you are speaking your real thoughts).

Most people don't think things through when it comes to religion. It's the sad fact that people would rather have the comfort of a myth than work hard enough to find comfort in the fact that the only thing we have is one another. There's no God, no devil, no heaven no hell. And the scientific method works so well at discerning how the universe works because it is self-correcting.

Trust that the world can still be filled with wonder if no God is imposed upon it. For most of us, our intellectual integrity is worth acknowledging our non-specialness, but also claiming our fascination with the universe we (in a minuscule manner) inhabit.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 5

If you are really a man of science then Christianity is not your religion of choice honey..
There is one religion however that paved the way for all the science and discovery on the Planet…this religion is Islam.
If you want to know how…? I can help you see through…no nonsense…just be patience… and contact me at my e-mail…

Answer 6

When science can explain the origin of something with no origin; how human life and intellect were created; why a thin blue gas, a handful of electrons and gravitational pull - which have apparently been here forever and ever with no origin - were able to spontaneously combust to produce everything we know and see and even some things we can't see; when science can explain how evolution developed love and joy and peace and faith and hope.....

.....maybe then science will have some credibility for me. But on matters of creation, science sucks!

Answer 7

Because hypocrisy is just so darned easy. Understanding biology is too much like work.

Pardon the sarcasm, but after all, you asked.

Answer 8

Because it's easier than thinking rationally and having strong consistent beliefs.

Answer 9

I cant answer that. Only you can. I would suspect it has something to do with fear of letting go of the religious beliefs you have...

Answer 10

It's called bias. It's not a good thing to have.