Replies

I know you meant that in jest but actually, I think you'd enjoy reading the various translations of Genesis 1 from the original Hebrew. According to the second link and thousands of years of thought and tradition by Jewish scholars - the poetic translation is correct, but the form and meaning of the words are quite telling especially wrt relativity, cosmology, physics, etc.

At any rate, we Christians receive Truth from the Spirit - both the living Word of God Jesus Christ (John 1, Rev 19) and the written Scriptures. Truth always trumps facts. Hence the 34 (or so) verses of Genesis 1 trump the hundreds of thousands of volumes of scientific text.

But they are speaking at two different levels, hence there are many misunderstandings. The only metaphor that comes to mind is a poor one: the Constitution v. the Internal Revenue Code.

Truth always trumps facts. Hence the 34 (or so) verses of Genesis 1 trump the hundreds of thousands of volumes of scientific text.

As she types this on a modern-day computer which _only_ serves to epitomize the validity of the scientifc method* ...

Playing at being a meta-physicist these days are we A-G?

(* Oh - you think that Dell, HP, Gateway et al pick their computers from trees? It astounds me that presumably LOGICAL people can go so off the reservation when it comes to the practical fruits of scientific endeavors; you might as well admit that the total sum of all your present knowlwdge is null and void when you claim "Genesis 1 trump the hundreds of thousands of volumes of scientific text" when the SAME techniques were used to unravel nature, matter and atomic structure so as to allow the design, development and the engineering that goes in to fabricating today's modern PC)

But they are speaking at two different levels, hence there are many misunderstandings. The only metaphor that comes to mind is a poor one: the Constitution v. the Internal Revenue Code.

You say: "Truth always trumps facts." Fine. But if reading Genesis, even in the original Hebrew, produces any apparent conflicts with what science has learned, then ... what shall we do? That's always the issue for some folks in these threads. How do we resolve scripture/science conflicts, without burning either bibles or scientists?

But before I deal with the cosmic issues, let me comment on your metaphor about the "two different levels," the Constitution (presumably analogous to scripture) v. the Internal Revenue Code (a really ghastly metaphor for science). Happily, there is no need to resort to metaphor. We have scripture, which -- although divinely inspired -- is the physical work of numerous men over many centuries, and which is also the work of various committees who have decided what stays in and what gets removed. If you're looking for a procedural analogy to the Internal Revenue Code ... [see footnote]

Footnote: I'm attempting to be humorous here, so don't turn purple on me. Any comparision to the Code is, I hope you realize, not to be taken seriously. I don't really see any similarity of the Code to scripture, and I hope you're not serious about using it as a metaphor for science.

Returning now to the cosmic issue: scripture is one of those "two levels" you spoke of. The same Author who inspired scripture has also created the whole universe, and it's there to be "read." That's what scientists do. And unlike scripture, the universe is still in God's original handwriting (so to speak).

So to return to your statement that: "Truth always trumps facts," we need to figure out, between observations of physical reality on the one hand, and our personal understanding of scripture on the other hand, which has the higher rank? The Pope has looked into this (as the Galileo affair has dogged his church for centuries). Here's his take:

Faith can never conflict with reason.. The Pope's statement on Galileo and science/scripture conflicts. An excerpt:

In fact, the Bible does not concern itself with the details of the physical world, the understanding of which is the competence of human experience and reasoning. There exist two realms of knowledge, one which has its source in Revelation and one which reason can discover by its own power. To the latter belong especially the experimental sciences and philosophy. The distinction between the two realms of knowledge ought not to be understood as opposition.

I realize that most around here don't look to the Pope for guidance in such matters, but he's at least given the matter a lot of thought, so his opinion on the "conflict" problem is certainly worth considering. Some other theologians have not addressed the issue in anywhere near the depth that he has, and some haven't considered it at all -- which is why we have "young-earthers."