Qms:Pseudoscience can become a challenge to faith

From Reconciling understandings of Scripture and Science
Jump to navigationJump to search

QMS: Questioning Mainstream Science
← to QMS index

Young Earth Creationism as a challenge to faith

Many Christadelphians (some here for example), and others whose beliefs about Origins have changed, say that their faith in God as Creator was challenged when they realised that their beliefs about creation were impossible, and they thought those mistaken beliefs were the Bible's teaching about creation. The belief that there is a Conflict between Science and Religion meant that if the science is true, the religion must be false. Well-intentioned efforts to "correct" mainstream science and make it conform to interpretations of the Bible can have the unintended result of threatening faith in the Bible itself.

Blogger Robert Hawkes describes how he worked through the realisation that the earth is ancient – without losing his faith – in a post called "Thousands...Not Billions" - The Young-Earth Creationist Book that Moved Me Toward Old-Earth Creationism. The catalyst for his loss of faith in Young Earth Creationism was an Institute for Creation Research book which tries to make geological science conform to a YEC understanding of Genesis.

By contrast another blogger, writing Confessions of a former creationist, had been taught:

  • that the Bible is true,
  • that the Bible contradicts science, and
  • that the science is wrong.

He had accepted the "conflict theory" of Bible and science. Consequently, he lost all faith in God through seeing the witness of God's creation and realising that the science was true.