Are students being suffocated in this national fracas?

Faith & Science Conversation
1

The Discovery Institute is coming here to Dallas on February 20th. When they come it is often to an audience of 500-1000.

The Institute for Creation Research has a museum here worth I think 30 million.

To ICR people I want to say…
…”Look, I know your group is tied to the 1970s push for defending biblical inerrancy…but do you see the tight spot your position is putting students into?

“You are saying the earth was created 6,000 years ago and all fossils were deposited by the Flood.

“The student is thus forced to decide whether multiple science departments are deceiving him or whether his pastor is deluded in his interpretation of Genesis 1-11.”

To the Discovery Institute I would say…
…”I know you’re upset that Richard Dawkins called people who reject evolution insane or evil in his 1980s book The Blind Watchmaker…

…but don’t you see what a mess happened in Dover in 2005 during and after the trial? Is this following the Great Commandment? Was God glorified in this process?

I know there are students who have benefitted from learning PhDs believe in a designer and that a student’s faith in a purposeful universe can survive professor’s attacks…
…but can Discovery afford to turn these students into culture warriors? Is that spiritual?

Biologos provides an important counterweight to this system heavily loaded with antievolutionists since Morris’s publication of The Genesis Flood in 1961.

Campus Crusade of which I was a part was and is heavily connected to Discovery. I don’t know where Intervarsity stands formally.

I hope YECs, ID people, and ECs can see how short our lives are in terms of influencing the next generation.

YEC thrives in the countryside churches. Those churches have youth groups that are keeping kids away from sex and drugs.

ID is helping some students including my pastor feel confident the historic faith has a place on the secular campus.

BioLogos is making the point that “science and faith need not be at war.”

I hope we all…all three…can see the students as first priority in our dealings among ourselves as elders and influencers.

These kids are just looking for guides. But sometimes the guides argue. And the kids can get hurt or leave us all behind and abandon the church.

Thoughts?

3 Likes
2

Thats a good way to think about it. But id rather have EC scholars doing the evvangelization to seculars rather than ID or YEC ones. Just my opinion. Thanks

3

Well I’m not in favor of 'secular’s spreading anti-theism and I don’t welcome your evangelizing. Why not work on living together in acceptance and love for all. There was a guy in the new testament that promoted that.

4

Then thats your decision not beign openminded. If you already made up your mind about God thats one thing. But not wanting to hear arguments it truly shows something. But i guess depends what you mean by evagelazation. This goes as well to some christians who dont welcome the atheists "evangelazation’ as well

5

And did Discovery ever comment on Ben Stein’s comment that science leads to killing people?

6

I live in southern alabama and I grew up in a place where when I was young you could ride a horse to school and leave it in a fenced area most roads were dirt roads in the county. Not long ago either, I was born in the jan 1989. It’s true that while YEC dominates the Bible belt type regions and more country areas of society, at least in USA, and it does help drive some towards Christ the majority of them, us, still sees contention between science and faith because of it and those that like to read and enjoy academics usually run into a conflict of rejecting faith because of the clear evidence of science or either abandoning logic for conspiracy theories thst scientists are liars seeking to create these crazy impossible things just so they can be paid money to pursue it and so on.

I don’t think YEC , ID, or EC is a “salvation” issue as in if you reject EC for YEC it means your damned. I think anyone from any of those movements can understand the gospel and pursue truth and righteousness. I think there should be some sort of partnership between all disciple on promoting Christ.

But with that said I don’t think we need to pretend that all these ideas are created equally, or that all these ideas are actually found in scripture. I strongly believe that most Christians who turn their backs on their faith and chose atheism or another faith often comes down to one of a few specific issues and the contention that YEC creates with science by ignoring good biblical hermeneutics and basic scientific understanding. It’s a problem. As someone who lives in a area where many are anti science I don’t like it. When people ignore evolution they often also ignore the age of the earth and when they ignore the age of the earth they often ignore climate change and environmentalism and when they ignore those things they often fall into that camp mentioned on another post about thinking it’s ok to Jack this planet up because it’s going to be destroyed and so it does matter and these same people often are very skeptical towards what experts say about things like wearing masks and so on.

A rejection of evolution often results in a rejection of many other things and it’s never great to celebrate stupidity. I think that Evolutionary Creationist or Christian Theists who believes in evolution are fighting a two sided battle of atheism and literalists but that it’s extremely important because the lost need to hear about Jesus and saved who believes in anti scientific propaganda needs to learn about being intelligent in deciphering data.

7

This topic was automatically closed 6 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.