[COMMENT TO WEBMASTER: This home page must be replaced with the theme of the BOM being a testimony of Jesus. It should remain AS IS in sciencereligionunified blog. I will revise in WORD and submit for revision.BBB]
Where is the Conflict?
There are two diametrically different viewpoints about the Creation of the universe and many, many variations between those extremes. If we can conclude that the differences between those extremes are relatively minor, it should be even easier to bring intermediate viewpoints into agreement. SO, let us just deal with the extremes at this point–the differences between what the Bible says and what scientists of today say.
If we look at the Bible as an inspired book written by human beings who wrote of God’s works in their own era and made the record in accordance with the understandings of their day, we do not expect to find a scientific treatise. If we look at today’s science as the current state of understanding of how the world operates around us (and that it is the best of our human understanding at THIS time), we do not expect to find a spiritual realm.
But note that if we compare the first chapter of the Book of Genesis with what science tells us about the creation, the two accounts are not so far apart as most people think!
One viewpoint is considered to be a scientific approach and the other relies on faith and is based on the Biblical account found in the book of Genesis.
We will look at what each approach says and ask how those two, apparently-contradictory viewpoints really differ.
Keep in mind that the Biblical account is not expected to be a scientific explanation because it was written (no matter the exact time of the writing) for a people known as Hebrews, who were primarily agriculturists–they grew fruits, grains and vegetables, and raised sheep, goats, and cattle at the very least 2500 years ago–perhaps for some parts of the Bible, as much as 3500 years ago. Those farmers and animal herders knew nothing of the science that we know today because virtually ALL of today’s science has been discovered within the last 1000 years. Thus, there has been at least 1500 years between the recording of the Biblical account and the beginnings of the scientific method that gives us our knowledge of what happened at the time of the Creation.
Our science of today relies on measurements of observed facts about our universe, and places little value on the perceived beliefs, values and morality of the scientists who are the observers.
Thus, believers in the Bible tend to have a faith-based bias in their understandings of what the Bible says, while the believers in science tend to rely on the consensus or prevailing viewpoints of scientists who made the observations and interpreted them.
We will begin our study by comparing the Biblical account of the Creation with the scientific consensus (how the majority of scientists of today interpret) scientific observations about the universe.