Posted on 05/11/2003 4:38:14 PM PDT by Junior
Despite movements across the nation to teach creationism in public schools, a science historian said Monday that Christians haven't always used a literal interpretation of the Bible to explain the world's origins.
"For them, the Bible is mostly to teach a religious lesson," said Ernan McMullin of the earliest Christian scholars.
McMullin spoke to a crowd of about 60 people at Montana State University on "Evolution as a Christian theme."
McMullin, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and a Catholic priest, is recognized one of the world's leading science historians and philosophers, according to MSU.
He has written about Galileo, Issac Newton, the concept of matter and, of course, evolution.
It's a subject has been hotly debated ever since Charles Darwin first published "On the Origins of Species" in 1859.
Christian fundamentalists have long pushed the nation's public schools to teach creationism as an alternative, which in its strictest form claims that the world was created in six days, as stated in the Bible's Old Testament Book of Genesis.
But McMullin said creationism largely is an American phenomenon. Other countries simply don't have major creationist movements, leading him to ask: "What makes it in the U.S. ... such an issue (over) evolution and Christian belief?"
The answer probably lies in the nation's history, with the settlement by religious groups, he said. Also, public education and religion are more intertwined here than other countries.
McMullin discussed how Christians have tried to explain their origins over the past 2,000 years, using several examples to show that many viewed Genesis as more of a religious lesson than an exact record of what happened.
It wasn't until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century that Genesis started to be taken literally. Then theologians started using nature - and its many complexities - as proof of creation.
Charles Darwin spoiled that through his theory of natural selection, and the battle lines have been drawn ever since.
"It replaced an older view that had sounded like a strong argument for the existence of God," McMullin said.
Personally, I think the creation story in Genesis is a much simplified version of the actual events. Imagine, if you will, that you were trying to tell a six-year-old how television works. You might be able to cover certain technical aspects, but you would of necessity have to considerably simplify many aspects and use metaphors to describe others.Sure, but would God explain the Big Bang & evolution by way of the Genesis story? If I were God, I'd come up with a better, yet still simple, explanation of how I created the universe. Something about how I started everything in motion, giving the elements the ability to combine in a myriad of interesting & unpredictable ways, and living things that had the ability to change over the generations & morph into countless interesting & unpredictable genera, families, even kingdoms - all for my amusement. Finally one such type of living thing developed into a species with the ability to think about these things, and now I get to have a relationship with you. When that happened I was happier with my experiment than I ever thought possible! In fact, I now consider you my children, and I want you to live in peace & harmony... Hey you, stop killing your brother! Hey, I'm talking to you! Stop that right now or I'll end this experiment RIGHT NOW. Do you hear me???Compared to the mind of God, the mind of Man is nothing--the difference is far greater even than that between an adult and a two-year-old. The Creation Story must almost certainly, then, be a considerably abridged and simplified version of actual events since I don't think the mind of man could fully comprehend what really happened.
Well, something like that.
The thing about your explanation I really don't agree with (and it's a popular one in apologetics) is that God wasn't trying to explain cosmology to six-year olds. An adult from 6000 years ago may have been much more ignorant about a lot of things than we are today, but he was still an adult. God shouldn't have to make up children's stories to explain this. He should be able to come up with a simplified, yet straightforward, explanation.
In fact, if He had given them an explanation with parts that wouldn't get completely verified until much later, that would be even more compelling. Similarly, if He hadn't created all those beams of light already in transit to Earth from all those zillions of brand-new stars, we'd see more & more stars blink on every year, and that would be compelling evidence that the universe really is only 6000 years old.
Your faith does not need to be compromised at all. In light of the Christian view of our final destination, what does it matter when or how God may have created the Universe and each of us? As God is recorded as saying to Job:
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?
(Job 38:4)
None of us were there, we don't know for certain how He did it...BUT evidence that our Universe is very old and that complex life forms have evolved from simpler ones does exist. These facts should not be threatening to anyone with a belief in a Supreme Being...God is God and can do anything He wants, whenever and however He pleases. Our task, it seems, is to believe in God's existence, lead moral lives, raise our children as best we can, and help others whenever the need arises. That is what Jesus taught...quite simply and with great humility.
I see nothing of Christ's humility and love in these discussions...what I do see plenty of though, is FEAR. Perhaps it is the fearfulness that we actually are required to exercise the brains that God so graciously gave us, instead of using a literal interpretation of the Bible as an excuse not to search and be thoughtful.
Creationists keep saying this, but they've never given any evidence to support this contention. I suppose you have a few scientific studies to back your claim?
The parable of the talents comes to mind...
Wrong. Absolutely wrong. Utterly, hopelessly wrong.
Um, no, there is zero evidence that crocodiles are decendants. Thereis only a false theory, evolution, that makes that claim.
There is ZERO evidence they are decendants. Besides, we have fossil crocodiles from back then, too. That means they were one of those terrible lizards!
You have got to be kidding me! All the term dinosaur means is terrible lizard, it is not a genus, it is not a phylum, it is not a class, it is a latin term used to describe large reptiles that were dug up in sedimentary rock, like what would be caused through Noah's flood!
And by the way, what is your evidence of this so-called 65 million years ago theory? What is the genuiine evidence of this time period?
You show that you do not understand God's word with that comment.
If evolution is true, there is no 6 day creation, and what the Bible says about Adam and Eve is a lie. That means sin entering the world through a created man, Adam, is a lie, and the promise of a redeemer to Adam, through Eve, is a lie.
If you call all that a lie, you call Jesus death on the cross absolutely inconsequential, because it was for the sin of Adam, not some mythical ape-man, but the man created from the dust of the ground on day 6, that man's sin is why all human kind are sinners, and why Jesus Christ came to die on the cross so we can all be reconcilled to God by Him through faith...all because of Adam.
When you try to make evolution fit some Biblical theme, you call the Bible a lie.
(Rom 5:12 KJV) Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
You also call Jesus a complete liar:
(Mat 19:3 KJV) The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
(Mat 19:4 KJV) And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
(Mat 19:5 KJV) And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
(Mat 19:6 KJV) Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
(Mark 10:5 KJV) And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
(Mark 10:6 KJV) But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
You seriously need to re-think that position, for Creation is the most vital doctrine we have. It is because we are created that we know God as Creator. It is because we were created, we found out about sin. It is because were created, we had need of a Saviour.
< If there is no creation, there is no need to describe sin or the need of a Saviour, and you call the clear teaching of the Bible a lie.
You sir, are a Pharisee. Salvation is the most vital doctrine of the Bible.
Note the key words: as taught to me as fact in junior high
The peppered moth story was taught as fact. That dinosaurs were cold-blooded reptiles was taught as fact. That life began when chemicals in the ocean reacted to cosmic rays was taught as fact.
These things have been discredited or at least called into significant doubt.
And add all the pop psycho-babble -- unreleated to evolution -- taught as science fact, along with the prohibtions on prayer and Bible readings, one can conclude that that our educational authorities are more interested in descrediting Christianity than in imparting knowledge.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.