Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

10 Questions That Every Intelligent Christian Must Answer, Question 4: Why does the Bible contain so much anti-scientific nonsense?

You mean nonsense like there was a beginning to the universe, when most prior to the discovery of the Big Bang believed in an eternal universe? Or how about "God stretched out the heavens"? Reminds me of Edwin Hubble.

From the transcript:

You have a college degree, so you know what I'm talking about. You know how science works. You happily use the products of science every day: your car, your cell phone, your microwave oven, your TV, your computer. These are all products of the scientific process. You know that science is incredibly important to our economy and to our lives.

Are you aware how much of science relies on theism?

It is no accident that science flourished in the monotheistic West.

Why don't the laws of nature change? As a Christian, I can easily tell you. They are God's laws. He sustains the universe.

An atheist has no basis for that belief. The laws of the past will be like the future because...? There is no foundation for those laws under atheism.

From the transcript:

But there is a problem. As an educated person you know that the Bible contains all sorts of information that is total nonsense from a scientific perspective.

- God did not create the world in 6 days 6,000 years ago like the Bible says.

- There was never a worldwide flood that covered Mt. Everest like the Bible says.

I'm an Old Earth Creationist and I believe there are good, textual reasons (as well as scientific) for holding such a view. I'll let Young Earth Creationists defend their own positions. I would recommend Reasons to Believe, an Old Earth Creationist ministry, for tackling these examples.

The video goes on:

- Jonah did not live inside a fish's stomach for three days like the Bible says.

- God did not create Adam from a handful of dust like the Bible says.

Now, I have to part company here. Your views of what is possible here is colored by your lack of belief. If God exists, why can't He prepare a big fish for Jonah? Why can't He create Adam out of the dust of the earth? Now, in the last example Scripture doesn't seem to be using precise scientific language.

But the problem seems to be anti-supernatural presuppositions, not any sort of theoretical impossibility about the two events.

Labels: 10 questions