RE: Ten Amusing Questions Creationists Mistakenly Believe Science Has No Answers For
I am devoted to my beliefs as a Christian, but these people make me cringe. Their smug arrogance is very depressing for me as someone who shares the most fundamental part of their core ideology - belief in the One, True God and His Son. Beyond that, they have driven themselves into willful ignorance and pride. For being people that espouse the faith so vehemently, they should be a lot more humble in their assertion of it as undeniable fact. I don't browbeat my dad for his atheism, and, in turn, he doesn't browbeat me for my faith.
Moreover, science and faith are complementary. I really wish more people would devote more mental effort to exploring the absolute beauty that is found in our understanding of the universe. God gave us a brain, so to speak, and the ability to reason critically. It's high past time these folks used it.
I do not agree, for reasons laid out here and here.
I consider us friends, so I hope you will not perceive any of this as an attack or attempt to demean you. Of course you are on a very different level than the people in this article, please do not imagine I would confuse you for them.
However, I would urge you to read the following articles as your free time and energy permit. If nothing else it is a healthy practice to challenge your faith from time to time, and if I am right that Christianity is untrue, certainly that is worth knowing about?
https://steemit.com/scams/@alexbeyman/don-t-get-tricked-bro-how-to-recognize-a-cult
https://steemit.com/religion/@alexbeyman/diagram-of-a-memetic-virus
https://steemit.com/religion/@alexbeyman/jesus-predicted-a-first-century-return-that-did-not-occur
Let me start with the premise that I find your position admirable to a degree and appreciate the honesty and acknowledgement of reason. I'm replying because I'm interested in a reasonable conversation as I don't understand how would you come to your conclusions and beliefs while still being reasonable.
I would disagree with it too and all of the creationism is one of the bad consequences of putting them at equal footing. Science claims no absolute truth and the conclusions we have come to so far using the scientific method are well-substantiated and reasonable to believe until disproved. Faith assumes facts without demonstrable evidence which is not a real path to finding truth with any level of certainly. It allows you to have unsubstantiated assumptions which prevent you from exploring the actual reality and the evidence available on that and other matters.
Would you mind sharing if you've used your ability to reason critically to substantiate your faith? You seem much more reasonable than the people in the pictures, but I don't think you have that much less reason to question your faith than they do. Of course, that's only a guess as I can't pretend to know your reasoning or thoughts and that's why I'm asking.
My substantiation of my faith is based entirely on multiple first-hand experiences. I understand these experiences are not falsifiable, but that's not really the point of faith. Anyone who supplants reason with faith is using faith in a way that it cannot be used.
Science is limited in its ability to explain. In describing function and form, science is superb. The scientific method - observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and refinement - is excellent with regards to uncovering the way in which natural phenomena function. However, it is limited in being able to answer the question that underlies all the other questions it can provide an answer to: why do these natural laws and phenomena adhere to the rules science has discovered and not others?
Science will be able to describe with great clarity and detail the laws that govern the way the universe functions, but it can never answer the question as to why the universe is governed by these particular laws. It is incapable of answer metaphysical questions. This isn't a deficiency. Science simply isn't intended to do that.
So you're left with one of two choices, the latter of which can be subdivided based on what particular faith you adhere to. Either there is no underlying reason and it's random chance, or something outside of our observable universe set things in motion in a particular way. I believe the latter because of personal experiences I've had. From this perspective, my faith in God establishing the universe and creating it from a singularity is no less reasonable than that singularity simply existing and giving birth to the universe we can observe.
Where does that leave the Bible? It's a book of historical accounts, interspersed with metaphysical details and prophesy. I wouldn't argue that it isn't "divinely inspired," but to take it at face value as absolute truth verbatim is nonsense. As to the Son of God, as I said before, my understanding of who that is and what that means to me comes from personal, subjective experiences, some of which align with some parts of the New Testament. However, given that I've described God as the Great Engineer, believing in Him in no way forces me to suspend my mental faculties in order to sustain that belief.