BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!

BY DRAKE   DE LONG- FARMER

With the so called debate of the century behind us, I want to spend a little bit of time to express my thoughts of how much of a complete waste of time this is in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I am not an anti-debate or anti-apologetics guy. I think it would be ironic, to say the least, if I was and be the editor and creator of this page.  But all in all, I think this whole venture probably missed the mark.

Much to the trend of the culture/belief wars, this topic has become such a circus with both sides entrenched in their own delusions. What is worse, this debate of both extremes make it seem as though everyone who is observing this go down is either on one side of the other, when in reality the majority of the people wouldn't hold either view--at least not in the pure form it wishes to represent here.  

The truth is a 2012 Gallup Poll found that 32 percent of Americans believe God guided a process of evolution. That reality may trouble some people. if you hold that God and evolution could never be in the same sentence. But giving us either the option of creationism or atheism is ridiculous. As VICE Magazine puts it:

...matching creationism up against atheism is a “false dichotomy,” as an article in Catholic Online about the debate puts it. Plenty of Christians believe in both God and evolution, but the Nye-versus-Ham debate seemingly pits the Bible against Darwin as mutually exclusive systems of thought. “Viewers are being asked to either favor a Protestant fundamentalist young-Earth creation story, or a scientific, atheistic view of the universe,” writes Catholic Online. What about a third option?

Nye works from a purely naturalistic perspective that won't even concede to the possible idea of anything outside that natural world. And Ham wants us to reject anything that might challenge a purely literal and so called scientific understanding of Genesis. Both sides are anti-reason.

As a Christian, I find it increasingly troubling that so many Christians wish to draw this line in the sand even in our own camp. This is done even to the point that they would say that unless you hold a similar view of Ken Ham, you are not a 'true defender of the truth' and somehow don't take the Bible seriously. What is absurd about this is that the ongoing effort to read OT texts, like Genesis, as some scientific journal written by God of how everything was created.  When in reality, a good case can be made that the evidence, the culture, the forms, context and literature point to a very different conclusion. There is much room for interpretation into this ancient text and we need to hold it with confidence, but not utter certainty.  

We have created a false separation of faith and reason and live in a dualistic reality that needs to be mended. I would recommend reading Harold Eberle's book: 'Christianity Unshackled' to understand how we got to where we are today and see a better way.

But for now, let me leave you with this video, it does an amazing job explaining some of the ins and outs of properly understanding Biblical texts like Genesis in light of what it was meant to be, and not being understood in light of a 21st century understanding. 

If this video resonates with you and you want to explore this way of reading the Bible more and dig deeper into learning the story behind the stories of the Bible and you live in or near the Edmonton area, make sure to check out The Academy held at Gateway Alliance Church. You won't regret it.