The Hard Questions (Short): Should We Throw Away Science or Belief in Favor of Our Biases?
Have you ever heard an atheist say you can’t subscribe to the Bible and the scientific consensus on how life developed on planet Earth?
That they are incompatible with one another, and thus, since we have overwhelming evidence for evolutionary processes, the Bible should just be thrown out.
The problem with that line of thinking is that nowhere in the Bible are we meant to take it as a science textbook.
Most young-Earth creationists are mistaken for this reason. We have evidence of humanity going back hundreds of thousands of years, even to a million years (1).
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I believe current humans weren’t specially created by Yahweh to serve as His image on this planet.
That much is clear from the biblical texts.
But in the biblical Hebrew language, Adam means mankind just as much as it denotes a personal name.
You could take Genesis to be saying, “Let’s create Adam in our image and likeness.” Meaning humanity is in view from a higher-level interpretation rather than a single man alone.
Genesis is not a scientific discourse on the methods God used to create. But the Earth can’t be 6,000 years old (some of them say 10-50,000, too) if these pieces of evidence of human activity go back almost a million years.
There certainly were a primordial Adam and Eve, as Jesus taught us He made them at the beginning of creation, male and female.
The story in Genesis also shows us the origin of sin, though I subscribe to the idea that death is a natural part of this creation epoch in the animal kingdom, and human death entered the world because of disobedience. The Bible mentions God gives the lions their food and describes carnivores as a given (Psalm 104).
It is only during the Millennial Reign that animals will change their nature and become vegetarian.
When Jesus arrives, He heals planet Earth in some ways until the new creation removes decay for all eternity.
Should we take the Bible as a science book? It mentions ocean currents before we knew they existed, but it’s not trying to teach us how chemical bonds work. The Bible isn’t a biology textbook. What it teaches is humanity’s need for a Savior, for One born as a human (the Son of Adam or Man) to redeem us from our fallen state and into glory.
Am I saying I subscribe to evolution when it comes to what scientists have named homo sapiens? No, not at all. I believe God specially created the first two modern humans and believe using genealogies that likely have gaps isn’t the best way to find the age of anything.
No offense to young-Earth believers, but the world is far older than thousands of years.
In fact, the Torah calls the mountains ancient many times, and that’s in Deuteronomy 33. Our modern understanding of ancient being around 6,000 years ago when writing was developed, might not overlap with the Torah, but if even that is calling them old, that should perk our heads up.
Let’s not mix up the Bible’s spiritual truths and the truth of God’s creation. They can coexist and not destroy the allegedly opposing viewpoint.
The fact remains, it is God who controls the ancient galaxies, and God who can overturn mountains in His wrath.
If the animal kingdom changed over time, that’s His prerogative, His domain as the Infinite One.
Just a short thought to think about.
Shalom.
