Winning the Battle; Losing the War

I remember my freshman year of high school when my science teacher began teaching about the Big Bang.  Having been taught to be skeptical of scientists, I was surprised by how much the Big Bang resembled Genesis 1.  God spoke and ‘BANG’ it happened!  I also noticed how the creation order of Genesis 1 went from no life to simple life to complex life.  My transition from Young Earth Creationism (YEC) to Old Earth Creationism (OEC) was that easy. 

The church I grew up in didn’t focus on Young Earth Creationism (YEC).  They were focused on the end times and their own unique theology…very unique.  When I went to college, I realized that their very unique theology was very wrong.  This sent me into a period of severe doubt to the point of agnosticism.  Everything was on the table, including my belief in God.  Around the same time, I learned about the 1^st and 2^nd Laws of Thermodynamics in my Thermodynamics class.  This made the Big Bang and the origin of life all the more amazing to me.  What kept me from atheism was my knowledge of science…..knowing that the universe and origin of life needed a transcendent cause.  This was before I had studied any apologetic arguments for the existence of God.

It wasn’t until several years after graduation that I learned the majority view among evangelical Christians was YEC.  This wasn’t a big deal for me until I realized that many churches make this view an either/or issue for the Bible; either Genesis 1 is a literal six-day creation account or the Bible is false.  I also was surprised to discover that according to many YEC’s I am a “Compromised Christian”.  The problem is when kids go to college and see the evidence for an old universe and an old Earth, they are forced to choose between evidence or faith; reason or faith; fact or faith.  Apologetic arguments that use science, evidence, and reason to support faith are ignored because they have been taught it’s either literalism (but only in certain parts) or atheism.  Many times faith loses.  I’ve seen this play out online where the individual says if Genesis 1 cannot be taken literally, Christianity is not worth following.  Around 400 AD, Saint Augustine warned we should not hang on to views that can have more than one interpretation with such dogma that we lose our faith over it.

 “In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received.  In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it.”

~Saint Augustine, 400 AD, The Literal Meaning of Genesis

What I lament the most about the literal interpretation of Genesis requirement is that some of the scientific theories YEC’s fight against provide some of the best evidence for a creator.  When the Big Bang is thrown out, so is the fine-tuning argument which most atheists agree is the most compelling evidence for a creator.  When a prominent pastor and author publicly says that the 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics was caused by sin he is essentially saying the beginning of time, which Stephen Hawking says “smacks of theism”, was caused by sin.  To be fair, on most YEC websites this is on the list of arguments not to use, but the damage is done when this view is publicly proclaimed by well-known figures.  The Bible says that God has revealed himself through what has been made.  It’s unfortunate that well-meaning Christians are unknowingly fighting this revelation.

The scientific theories that give support to a creator should be taught in our churches, not blindly rejected.  We are sending our kids into the world unarmed and unprepared to defend the faith they are supposed to give their lives to.  When they have questions, they are frequently told to just have faith.  The world sees this and is lead to believe that Christianity is not intellectually viable. 

 

 

Tomorrow night there will be a debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham on creationism vs evolution.  The real topic will be YEC vs atheism.  What will not be seen is evidence for the Christian faith that can be used to engage an unbelieving world or answer the questions of those struggling with their faith.  No matter who wins the debate tomorrow night between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, we are losing the war for the minds of our young people.

 “Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of the faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men.

If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason?

Reckless and incompetent expounders of holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.”

~Saint Augustine, 400 AD, The Literal Meaning of Genesis