The original question was:
Why do you treat the Bible as a science book when there is no way the early chapters of Genesis ever could be scientific?
Answer by John Mackay
Our answer is simple – we don’t!
The Bible never claims to be a science book, but more importantly – it does not claim to be a religious book either. What it does proclaim from cover to cover, is to be the Word of the Living God who was there, who both initiated and witnessed the events that are stated. Unlike science, which by its own limitation of having to always change to incorporate new ideas, and therefore can never be the truth, the Biblical text does claim to be the truth from God about any area it talks about, whether that is issue is the origin and history of climate, clothing or sin, murder, the creation of Man or coming judgement etc.
Yet when scientists speak about the past, which is where most of the conflict is, i.e. creation vs evolution, we need always remember their claims are at best the opinions of men who weren’t there. Since all the evidence (e.g. fossils, genes, racial differences, etc.) whose origin and history they are trying to explain can be examined only in the present, they must therefore use assumptions about how the present connects to the past, as well as one assumption about how God’s Word fits in (or not). Therefore, evolution, old earth ages, etc., are mere interpretations, claimed to be scientific hypotheses, repackaged as history and boldly presented as fact. It’s all a big bluff, sadly swallowed by academics, theologians and politicians who then proceed to use it to denigrate the Biblical record and Christianity in general.
Now for the real issue at stake concerning Genesis or any part of the Biblical text: Truth demands both proof and substance. The God of the Bible does not expect you to believe anything in order to make it true. He expects you to believe it because it is true – so don’t be surprised that His word includes statements such as “Prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), or the writings of Dr Luke, beginning with the statement that Luke has gone to all the trouble of gathering eyewitness accounts so his readers might know for sure the truth about Jesus Christ! (Luke 1:1-4)
That’s what makes us do creation research, and it is the chief reason we do so well in debates. The real issue is not Science vs Religion – it is Truth vs Error. Christianity is not an airy-fairy subjective belief like Dawkins’ atheism. It’s a fact-based objective faith, where it actually matters that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead, and that the New Testament proclaims Him as the Creator God of Genesis, as well as the Redeemer of John’s Gospel. The facts matter from Genesis to Revelation. Never forget it!
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