In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
In age of scientific enlightenment, does the Bible story of Creation have any credibility? After all, it is now claimed that, science has explained nearly all of the mysteries of life from a naturalistic point of view by showing how life began, how life evolved and how the universe came into existence.
This idea is so entrenched in academia that anyone who dares to suggest that the Creation story of Genesis 1 and 2 is anything other than mythical is regarded with contempt. Or to put it more directly-
If you meet someone who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane (or wicked, but I would rather not consider that.)
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Supposedly free-thinking, rational people no longer take seriously the Bible stories of creation- especially the story of Adam and Eve, according to Dawkins. At best, they claim, the Biblical creation story and the story of Adam and Eve are just primitive myths. Therefore, religion deals with myths and legends, but science deals with facts and truth. Yet in recent years this debate between Creationists and Evolutionists has been fought with scientific data and has stepped up and been waged in schools, courts and the media.
Are Science and the Bible at odds? Is there a contradiction between Science and Scripture? [more]
The problem is not with Evolution vs. Creation as much as it is with the insistence of fundamentalist Christians on an extreme literal approach to Genesis. This is the root of the problem and what is ultimately pushing people over the line.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. What you refer to as the "extreme" literal approach might be better defined as a "wooden" literal approach. To take the Bible literally is to take it as it was intended. Many Biblical scholars do not consider that the 'days' of Genesis 1 were intended to be taken as 24 hour days but rather they have discovered that the Hebrew word "yom" can refer to a sometimes unspecified period of time.
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