Rethinking Ignorance
Amongst
college students in America, the typical attitude toward God is uneducated and
uninterested. Try imagining the
lifestyle of the typical student on campus today. Cold pizza, warm beer, and empty wallets may
come to mind. Of course, not all college
students are broke alcoholics, some study long and hard preparing for their
professors' assignments. It seems no
surprise then that students have no time for church and recant their faith when
given the opportunity. In fact, some
professors begin their semesters vowing to eliminate any shred of God from
their students' conscience. Yes, here
and there religious devotees can be found, but the average American college
student seems to dogmatically proclaim the words of Sam Harris, “The idea that
any one of our religions represents the infallible word of the One True God
requires an encyclopedic ignorance of history, mythology, and art.”[1] Do these words put an end to faith? To the uneducated and uninterested maybe, but
for the student who is willing to take what he has and understand it, his faith
is not in ignorance of his studies, but the end result.
Questions
must present themselves. Despite today’s
best research, Biblical fundamentalists still claim that the earth is only thousands
of years old and not billions.
Furthermore, can that same man’s Bible give an accurate history of
civilization? Looking at the Bible scientifically
and historically, is it possible to leave with a sense of infallibility
anymore?
Surely
the curriculum in secular schools will not jive with a Christian school's. The first notable difference is that in
science. Evolution will most definitely
be taught in a secular institution.
However, to their shame, textbooks often contain erroneous claims on
evolutionary development. Illustrations
of Haeckel’s Embryos, proven to be forged and fraudulent, still appear as
fact. While Stanley Miller's experiment,
shooting electrical currents over water, remains in the text despite being
proven incorrect in guessing the earth's early atmosphere. Ask the average high school student about
whether or not Lamarckism has been proven to be true and be prepared for a
lengthy reply.
The latest
science seems to declare victory in the Fundamentalist corner, but just because
evolution cannot be proven to be true, it does not necessarily mean that God
exists or that the Bible is His word.
Again,
the question of the earth's age always comes up in a debate with Biblical
fundamentalists. For good reason, any
learned Bible student will point out that the Bible narrative only spans six to
seven thousand years, leading back to creation, whereas the equally educated
atheist will harken back to his studies of biology and geology. As noted above, evolution has been a shaky
argument, but can a candle be raised to radio carbon dating?
Geologists have
dated layers of rocks at billions of years old.
This is common place in the class room.
However, it would not be so common in the class room of a Christian
institution. Instead, geologists from
the Institute of Creation Research (ICR) would quickly point out that radio
carbon dating is not the most accurate way of dating material.
According
to a study published by the ICR, a single stone could be dated using two
acknowledged dating methods; radio isotope dating and helium diffusion
dating. According to radio isotope
dating, the rate of nuclear decay is measured and thus the age of the rock is
discovered. In accordance with helium
diffusion, the existence of helium molecules that have not escaped from the
rock date the rock accurately. Assuming
the accuracy of both tests, the age of the rock should be consistent between
the two. This was not so according to
their research. Instead, when dating the
same rock, ICR researchers have shown that radio isotope dating produces an age
of hundreds of millions of years, while helium diffusion produces only
thousands.[2] Both are accredited methods of dating, but
the results shown by radio isotope dating are those published in text books.
Further
woes in radio carbon dating have shown flaws in the method. According to the method, when a volcano
erupts the carbon clock is set to zero as the new rock is formed. Such was not the case of Mount Saint Helens
in 1981. When the lava dome was tested
it was aged at 2.4 million years, not the thirty years which some of us were
alive to see. Other volcanoes such as
Euseubius and Croatia bear similar results.[3]
Again,
the ball bounces into the fundamentalist's court when the scientific evidences
are reviewed. Surely, it is not the
fault of the average American college student.
We were not taught these things in high school. Perhaps their claims of a six thousand year
old earth are not as irrational as once thought. Even further, the notions that a personal God
who sent his Son to die for the sin marred man made in his image are heavy
claims. These are all claims from a book
that was authored over the span of fifteen hundred years by a myriad of
authors, but do they hold truth?
The
postmodern outlook of relative truth is self-refuting and should not concern
any educated student, but is the Bible truthful? As a record of history, this should be an
easy argument to solve. In order for the
Bible to be historically true it must give the accurate progression of human
history. This sounds easy but turns out
to be rather difficult due to the claim of a universal flood. Noah's flood is not science fiction in the
geological record. Layering in the soil
shows an age of worldwide flooding, and along with inconclusive methods in
dating it, Noah's flood is not impossible.
Yet the question is not in the flood, it is what occurs thereafter.
If
Noah and his descendants were the root of restored humanity then all current
people groups stem from the plains and valleys of Mount Ararat in Turkey. Modern genetics do show that people of all
races share the same genetic makeup, contrary to Darwin's hypothesis that
Africans were less evolved than whites in Britain. Therefore, genetically speaking, modern
civilization stemming from one place is not impossible.
The
ancient civilizations of Sumer, Akkad, and Egypt are common knowledge to the
average college student. Mesopotamian
society arises directly where the Bible's account of a city called Babel leaves
off. The people sought to forget God and
build a tower toward heaven when God confused the languages and dispersed the
people. As a result, ancient
civilizations were birthed. Through the
scope of a Biblical time line history seems to weave itself together.
Has
archeology remained silent on the fundamentalist claim of inerrancy? Never has there been an archaeological
discovery that has overturned any Biblical claim. Only the opposite has occurred. For instance, skeptics scoffed at the
existence of the Hittite people for centuries, until the twentieth century,
when archaeologists discovered the Hittite civilization. The same story goes for the imploded walls of
Jericho and the governance of Pontius Pilate.
All were thought to be fairy tales until modern archeology firmly
established them in our historical record, precisely as the Bible indicates.
It
is a shame that college students will herald Sam Harris' words as infallible
while overturning the claims of Scripture.
They suffer from a poor curriculum riddled with relative truth,
contradicting facts, and fascinating theories taught without any sense of
uniformity. It is no wonder they turn
out confused! One thing is for sure
however, faith is not dead. A student
does not need to possess an “encyclopedic ignorance of history” to believe in
God. Instead, he benefits from an encyclopedic
knowledge of the facts that only strengthen his faith.
[1]
Sam Harris, “The Myth of ‘Moderation’ in
Religion,” in The Seagull Reader
Essays Second Edition, ed. Joseph Kelly (NY: W. W. Norton
Company, 2008). 124.
[2] Thousands Not
Billions, DVD, Produced by The Institute For Creation Research (Ten31
Productions: 2005).
[3]
The Mysterious Islands, DVD, Directed
by John Erwin (Vision Forum Films: 2009).
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