Most of the western thought up until the 1800's held the Biblical view of creation and the flood. Then naturalist started trying to remove God from creating man, the animals, and the world.
What was the motivation for this? This is a huge assumption to make. You have to prove that all of 1700-1800's scientists were atheists with an agenda. It wasn't the case.
This idea that no supernatural events were required to explain all of nature soon turned into a filter for all future academic work. So before you could suggest a theory for anything you first had to assume that naturalistic methods were responsible.
Since you cannot find tangible evidence from a supernatural source, it is untestable. What scientists found was that the data supported a timescale different from that seen in the Bible. Many of these discoveries were made before evolution was even an idea. You also have to analyze what we had to work with from 0-1700 AD. Not much. I'd say Man believed in YEC because they were naive. Science was absolutely primitive from the Fall of Rome to the Renaiissance so we didn't know any better. Is it a coincidence that things began to change ONLY when we began to look more closely?
The connection to the raw data was not as important as the assumed methods. The more the theory hoisted the naturalistic banner the more it was pushed by the seculiar world. Those who chose to examine the data and point out that the theory did not lead to the conclusions listed in the theory were ridiculed and shunned by academic circles. The naturalistic worldview became a self fulfilling prophesy. Genesis was under attack.
Yes, it was a HUUUGE conspiracy to refute the Bible. That's the reason scientists wanted to become scientists... we all hate God and Jesus <rolls eyes> You ignore that the scientific method requires one look objectively at the data. How could someone look at the data with an evolutionary bias if they didn't even know evolution. On the contrary, YEC's look at the evidence with a Biblical bias. So in your logic, I could say that YEC's are trying to destroy science!
Several theories were written which tried to reconcile the Bible with this new science of geology. The “Gap Theory” and “Day Age Theory” were written by people with a theology background. Why these men saw a need to take scripture and shoe horn it into a naturalistic worldview is beyond my understanding.
They are trying to find a theory that is befitting of the actual evidence AND the Bible. I don't see a problem with that at all. If there is an explanation that supports both sides, that would be great!
The next wave of naturalist made no attempt at covering their agenda. By now many people of faith were being told by their ministers that sections of Genesis were in error or it was just a nice story. Since the 1850's this naturalistic view has grown to the point that nearly all college professors believe and teach this view as fact. Tens of thousands of ministers today also hold the naturalist view of creation.
So now you are saying all secular science is wrong AND the majority of religions. It is quite likely that it was a story. Who's to say the Egyptian Creation Story isn't right? You are less than 1% of scientists and less than 1% of religion and so YES you must be right.... hahahahahahahahahahaha
Just what is in the geologic record that would cause this huge shift in belief. In my research I did not find a reason based on the data for this shift. Just as with evolution the theory became an infectious thought that rolled over belief in scripture.
What geologic record did you look at? You never answered any of my questions based on the geologic record. The entire Flood scenario you lay out is the opposite of what we see in the geologic record. YEC is an obsolete idea that has only been bypassed because it is backward to what we really see. YEC's are blinded by an overwhleming desire to MAKE everything fit what they read in the Bible. YEC don't care about the data! They could get published if they had data! Science today is based on data. Look in any journal, you have data in every page!
Scripture has a purpose and it is not to supply a geologic history of the earth. There are several passages that discuss geologic events but they are in the context of the environment of the people being discussed. You can think of these descriptions as snap shots of the earth at various times in the past. In much the same way most of the geologic record is made by catastrophic events in the earth's past. This creates another series of snap shots of the past. To suggest that these two sets of data must fit into a naturalistic worldview is a fool's game.
You admit that the Bible is not a science book here yet you try and make up these elaborate theories. If the Bible "glosses over" these ideas, then how can you justify ANYTHING you put on this thread? You say the Bible focuses on the people, why not keep it as a "book for the people", not the animals and Universe.
Yes, there are catasrophic events in Earth's history, but there are periods of catastrophe (meteors, volcanoes, Ice Ages) sprinkled into a uniformitarian Earth. Earth has remained uniformitarian for the last 4000 years of recorded history. A few isolated volcanic eruptions, quakes, and tsunamis are not considered catastropism. Since 4000 years is 60% of Earth's history, you have proof that 60% of Earth's history is uniformitarian.
I have already included a history of the earth earlier that shows a suggested scriptural timeline with geologic events. I included this to show that the current data can be overlayed on scripture and a theory can be written which shows a fit with Biblical events. Just as easily someone could use the same data and could come up with a theory which does not overlay scripture and creates a timeline with vastly different ages for the events.
So, if both sides are biased, then you cannot prove one side is right or wrong... so IF they are both based on different interpretations, then by logic both are equally possible. BUT, your explanation goes against the rock layers and science is fully in sync with it. Without using any scientific jargon, we see layers of rock, one on top of the other, meaning that the lower one were layed down before the one above it (and so on up the column). The fossils in each layer were obviously laid down when the rock layer was laid down. We find different fossil assemblages in each layer that progress from simple to more advanced (with some stasis in some groups). Interpret please...
I am sure that many of you reading this must think I am making this stuff up. To those I ask a question: How many hundreds of hours have you spent studying the data in geology and biology? Do the study and then form your own opinion.
I have and so have millions of other scientists. And we have come to another conclusion. I have studied marine biology for years, and a whole lot more hours than you, believe me, and the patterns of distribution and relationships all FULLY fit the evolutionary explanation. You challenge me on physics, I dare you to challenge me in marine biology
If I showed this post to my colleagues at NOAA, DNR, Grice Marine Laboratory, and CofC they would have a good laugh at your story. These long posts by me are an attempt to make Christians reading this forum think about things logically before they accept stories like this.
Granville Penn, the grandson of William Penn argued in the early 1900's against the rising fad of naturalism. He argued that for God to create the universe and then to let dust self organize is against scripture and shows God as a naturalist and not the creator of all things. I for one agree with Mr. Penn on the grounds of scripture and because it is impossible for dust to self organize.
So, there is another YEC, how surprising. This is supposed to sway me? The complexity argument is completely untestable. YEC's throw out the words "the DNA molecule is so complex and codes for all this stuff, ect. ect. it couldnt have evolved". Over the course of billions of years, I believe it is fully possible for this to evolve. DNA only had to be created one time for it to work. Then it would be modified over time by evolution. All living things share the same structure of DNA and the same organic molecules. This indicates a common ancestor. If all animals had different biological systems, then I'd be forced to accept creationism since it's impossible that DNA could re-evolve multiple times. I finish by saying "isn't it possible that God created the first cells and therefore DNA, thus removing the complexity argument?"?
Sometimes people can be buried in data and miss the big picture. This happens to me all of the time. I need to stand back and view the tall trees of the data to gain a valuable perspective.
On your "snap shot" example. Of course you can make SOMETHING in the billions of years of Earth's history fit the stuff you see in the Bible. Of course there was a beginning, a beginning of life, large animals, erosion events, and catastophes. I could support my ideas by saying modern geologic thinking is a stop-action movie that fits exactly what we see in the geologic record. The Bible cannot explain all the action that occurs between each snapshot. If the Earth's history was indeed a short series of snapshots, maybe, but Earth's history requires alot more time.
The following letter is one of thousands from this time frame that shows the agenda of the naturalist to subvert the Word of God. The letter was written by Charles Lyell to George Poulett Scrope 14 June, 1830.
You say "subvert the word of God", I say they saw evidence contrary to the story and thus had "reasonable doubts". An example is when you believed in Santa Claus when you were a kid. Your parents and friends told you about a man that lived at the North Pole, that came on Christmas, went down chimneys, and left gifts. You believed it because you were naive and the evidence seemed to point to this conclusion (you only got gifts on Christmas morning). You saw the men in Santa suits and bought the Santa's helper story. Then, as you got older, you thought about the impossibility of a man going to billions of houses in one night. You thought about how reindeer couldn't fly and how some people don't have chimneys. You stayed up trying to see what was going on and maybe found out from your friends that Santa was not real. Then your parents told you the truth and it all made sense. Your parents got the gifts, snuck out to put them under the tree at night, and ate your cookies. It all makes sense.
The origins of modern science go the same way. Early scientists were naive and didn't set out to disprove God. Lyell was an atheist so obviously he had an agenda, but Darwin was a Christian so he didn't. Christian scientists began to observe their surroundings and began to have their doubts on if the Biblical story was accurate. As you see, no one has ever disproved God, just the Genesis stories. I don't see this threatening to God...
So strong was this wave of thought that only recently is it being challenged at the academic level.
YEC's have been trying to challenge science since the 1800's and they are getting nowhere. If I could present it in a grpah I would. YEC's are a tiny minority in the scientific community that cling to an obsolete belief.
Now you can disagree with me because of the beliefs that I hold. You may say that I am not looking at the data without my own rose colored glasses. That would be a fair assessment. But the rocks scream out on their own. Many geologist today are rejecting the assumptions of Lyell and his idea of uniformitarism.
Yes, we both have our own beliefs and we will not change them. I agree. But in your own account there i are only a few catastrophes interrupting almost constant uniformitarianism. Your YEC concept of uniformitarianism is more extreme than mine! Nothing is truly uniformitarian, scientists recognize that everything is continuously changing and that catastropes have occurred in the past.
The following letter was written in 1981 by Derek Ager in The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record. Mr. Ager was an atheist and a geologist with no axe to grind for the Bible. He is writing about the founding fathers of geology and how their ideas which are now dogma were based on their world view and not on observation of the rocks.
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Well, this quote can be used today by yourself. Creationists have said the same thing for years. Geologists recognize that there have been numerous catastrophes in the geologic past (but no global floods). You have to explain, besides the Flood, how life survived these post-Flood catastrophes relatively intact because geology says we had multiple huge catastrophes.