RE: The Seven-Day Universe - Part 2
St Augustine had some wise words on using the Bible for science, and he lived over 1500 years ago. These arguments are not new!
The zeitgeist of American culture sees a lot of the "faith vs science" argument, but there's also a danger in literalistic readings of the Bible. I see some comments here are interested in resurrecting (no pun intended) the geocentric theory, using out of context quotes from leading scientists to say, in short, that geocentrism is the truth and heliocentrism is false.
It's an ultramontane argument that ignores the Church's humanly limitations: Her divine mission, given by the Savior Himself, is to "go forth and baptize all nations".
While a great deal of scientists have come out of the Church's members, the Church has no particular grace or promise by God to have infallibility in matters of science. The pope is only able to speak infallibly in an extremely limited number of issues that are related to faith and morals!
My final point is that we needn't be afraid that science may reveal that God has done things in a way we didn't expect: He may have made the world billions of years ago (He is outside of time, of course), or He may have made the world in a way we really don't understand. But we can have faith that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead so that we may share in His resurrection.
I have really enjoyed reading the comments and seeing the charity shared between people in this post. Thanks for the great conversations. :-)
Greetings, @protegeaa,
Thanks for reading, and for your substantive comment.
I couldn't agree more. It is nonetheless part of our humanity to have and express a driving curiosity to know and learn about these things, and discussing them certainly makes my life more interesting.
And, though Jesus/God needs no "defenders," I revel in sharing the Glory of his that I see revealed in creation, and pointing out alternative ways of looking at things. I think Dr. Humphrey's ideas are well worth considering and experimenting with, to the extent possible.
While that is certainly a possibility, I'm not going to abandon the attempt. ;)
Thanks again for your visit here. I hope you may find other writing in my blog of interest and value as well.
Thanks for the response! I certainly don't recommend we abandon the attempt-on the contrary, I support seeking truth wherever it is found: both in faith and in the natural world.