So I feel I should clarify that bit about Noah and the dinosaurs in my last post.
While I was home this weekend, my mom told me that one of the 6th graders she teaches in Bible study asked how and where dinosaurs fit in the Bible. So my mom “did a lot of research” and went back to this bunch of 6th graders and told them that dinosaurs were alive during biblical times, that Noah took them on the ark during the great flood, and that what they’ve been taught in school is wrong because dinosaurs couldn’t have died approximately 65 million years ago because the earth is CLEARLY only 6,000 years old.
And during the entire 5 minutes of this explanation, I stood there biting my tongue because all I wanted to say was, “Please, for the love of God, go back to those children and tell them you were wrong and that what you said was absurd.”
So when I got home last night, I googled the topic and found this.
Now, I’m no geology/paleontology expert. And if I can read that and find multiple holes in the logic, it’s not saying much about the validity of that theory.
I’m also no biblical scholar. So I reread through the first few chapters of Genesis just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything between those lines there. I hadn’t. But I did find this very interesting passage in my Bible’s commentary: “Students of the Bible and of science should avoid polarizations and black/white thinking. Students of the Bible must be careful not to make the Bible say what it doesn’t say, and students of science must not make science say what it doesn’t say.”
As I mentioned before, I minored in geology, and my first geology professor was a Christian. One of the courses I took from her was basically a complete history of the earth, starting with the initial formation of the universe and going through the entire 4.6 billion years of the earth’s existence, including evolution. And all this I learned from a devout Southern Baptist woman who believed every word she taught us.
I know I’m just a crazy liberal Austin art fag, but I guess what I’m saying is that accepting the validity of scientific findings does not have to invalidate your religious/spiritual views. I’m pretty sure the two can coexist quite nicely. In fact, isn’t one of the strongest affirmations of faith the ability to learn as much as possible about what the world has to offer while still maintaining your beliefs?
The next time I see a baby’s nursery decorated in Noah’s Ark theme, I’ll think about slipping a couple of T-rex in with the other plush toys.
My studying in astronomy have always strengthened my faith.
As a friend recently put it, science and religion answer two very different questions – the what/how (science) and the why (faith). Science is limited in scope, and cannot answer every question we have, and shouldn’t try.
I think it’s a wonderful model that your geology prof. was able to work in the sciences, especially geology, and still maintain her faith in God.
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