I went through my childhood like all children. I believed what I was told. But, at some point, I started to question things that didn't make sense to me and I wouldn't stop questioning things that seemingly contradicted each other. My story isn't at all special, though. All children do this. If you're reading this, then you did it, too. It's all part of learning. Small children take things at face value and do not need a logical order to the different aspects of how they believe life functions. Though, at a certain age, once their cognitive abilities reach a certain level, they begin to recognize that some things that they've been told don't sit well with others. That's when they begin asking adults questions trying to sort out their mental inconsistencies.
Anyone who has raised children past six years old knows this is true and has seen it for themselves. Sometimes, those inquiring children have a hard time accepting the answers that they are being given. They might start to present rebuttals that seem to turn into arguments. Sometimes the adults working with them through this process get frustrated and don't understand why the child is having such a hard time "getting it."
What has transpired here is that the child has developed a worldview that is being challenged. Their worldview is a complex mess of memories of what they've been told, experiences they've had, and what they've chosen to believe. Some aspects of their worldview have solidified into perceived truths that may be correct or may not be. And, when presented with answers to their questions that challenge these perceived truths, they can't just accept the new information. They have to have it make sense alongside all their other previously stored information. However, children don't always understand how to go about making sense of their thoughts. They don't ask the right questions and commonly wear their emotions on their sleeve which may come out as a not-so-very polite tone. Unfortunately, myself included, parents don't remember all this and start to get frustrated with their children and the way they are handling the conversation. But, we should all try to understand and relate that these children are demonstrating the emotions that come with having a worldview challenged. And, unlike well-trained adults, they don't have filters yet that keep their emotions at bay while they perform these mental gymnastics. I say "well-trained adults" because most adults will behave somewhat like the children I have described here when their worldview is challenged, as well.
*** If you haven't read my last blog, The Power of a Worldview, please do so now. I think it's pretty important that you start with that knowledge before continuing where I plan on taking you in this blog. ***
It's understandable that we lash out in defense when our worldview is challenged, though. Our worldview is what we believe to be true and when that "truth" is threatened by new information, our intellectual foundation is literally shaken. I would highly recommend, however, that you make every effort to suppress your emotions and explore new information given to you for if you are actually harboring incorrect thinking and someone or something comes along that delivers to you truth you most certainly wouldn't want to mindlessly reject it simply because it doesn't align with your believed untruths. Truth doesn't align with untruths.
In the last blog, I teased you with statements including "we've all been lied to" and "step into the rabbit hole". I don't apologize for the teasing, though I know it's a literary trick to build suspense. I'll try to refrain from drawing it out any further and just jump right in with both feet.
If, like me, you've been publicly educated then you've learned some things that have become your intellectual foundation. They are as follows in no particular order:
The earth is old, somewhere around 4.5 billion years.
All life sprung from a happenstance mixture of chemicals and perhaps lightning?
Life evolved into different complex creatures that evolved further into other complex creatures that evolved... etc.
The earth may be old, but the universe is older.
Natural laws (or physics) dictate all things.
The greenhouse effect is the cause for glacier depletion.
This will likely set off your worldview alarm. So prepare yourself...
All these things in the list above are not true.
Now, reading a blog may or may not be effective in swaying you into the realm of being able to challenge your worldview. But, I'm going to try to get you there. And, you shouldn't be alarmed. The intellectual gymnastics we are about to do can't hurt you. You will either decide that I'm wrong and affirm your current worldview which feels pretty good, or you will find that I am on to something truthful at which point you will find yourself on a path to finding an assurance and a hope you've never known. So, with all fear cast aside and our emotions properly tamed, let's begin.
Uniformitarianism is the belief that the rate at which things happen today is the rate that they have always happened. It's a belief, not a truth, and it's flawed because it's based of the assumption that the conditions surrounding the thing in question have never changed. Note that I used the word 'never'. This suggests inherently that there is also no beginning to the material in question which I've properly stated since uniformitarianism, in addition to not allowing for changing conditions, equally does not allow for a beginning.
Uniformitarianism is a "first principle" of virtually all fields of modern science. Wikipedia states that a first principle is a "basic, foundational proposition or assumption." Wikipedia then states a proposition is an "object of belief." So, don't take just my word for it. Let it be known that all modern science is based off of assumption and belief, not fact.
Here's the problem. When you start with an untrue statement as your foundation, you are going to have a terrible time trying to arrive at a truthful one at the end. Now, it could be argued "it's not an untrue statement, it's a logical assumption." I would argue back that an assumption can, in fact, be wrong and often is and that it's not logical at all to assume that conditions don't change. Especially since we can observe in nature that conditions change all the time.
I hear people talk about "science" as if it's all proven fact, above reproach, and unquestionable. I have seen countless times where people questioning it or challenging it won't even get their argument heard but will instead just receive a barrage of condescending remarks about how stupid they must be. But, this behavior is simply people refusing to listen to new information and lashing out in defense of their worldview, the worldview they were taught to adopt.
But, what I am here to tell you today is that what we were taught was and is wrong. It's wrong because it's all based on belief, just as I said earlier and to which Wikipedia attests. It's the belief that the Bible must not be true what it tells us about creation because that would imply that it's true about other things it teaches which tells us that we are not our own and we so desperately want to be our own master of our universe.
Rewind to the 19th century. The majority of the world believed that God created the world just as it was written in the book of Genesis. Many cultures that had no access to the Bible even believed that the world was intelligently and supernaturally created. Atheists were a minority. Yet, there were some in influential positions. They were determined to find an alternative explanation to the existence of all matter, one that wouldn't require intelligence nor supernatural actions. This is called Naturalism, the belief that nature is all there is. They hashed out their theories to support Naturalism which, as I mentioned before, are all based on belief and assumptions. Yet, a sinful, selfish populace began to pick it up and adopt these beliefs as their own. For them, the removal of a God who would judge them for their lusts was a new kind of salvation. They were saved from damnation not because they were granted pardon, but because they adopted a new worldview that denied the very existence of a God who would pass judgement.
Like I spoke about in my last blog, the trouble with adopting a worldview that is all based on belief and assumption is that there is no true satisfaction, no intellectual contentment. More troubling, is that if they were right and there was no God and nature was all there is, then there is no hope. We are all destined to die and everything that happens from womb to tomb is utterly meaningless.
So, in an effort to abate their intellectual discontent and hopelessness, they set out to convince others. Over the years as their numbers and influence grew, they wrote books about it, published studies about it, added it to school textbooks, inserted it into children's books, made movies about it, produced television shows about it, etc. They pronounced themselves as the authority on the subject. And because it was just the alternative that a people whose ears enjoyed tickling wanted to hear, it spread until the theories, while completely unsubstantiated in truth, infiltrated the minds of generations. See, you can act like something is true, talk about it as if it's true, refer to to it as a fact, and use it as a basis for other untrue statements all day long, but none of that makes it true. However, it may make it be adopted as truth in the minds of the people listening.
Now, as one of the minority who believes the Bible over the beliefs of atheists concerning this subject, I say to you that:
The earth is roughly 6,000 years old.
All life sprung from the Word of God.
Just as they were told to do, all kinds of life reproduced according to its kind.
The earth and all known matter were made during a 6-day period.
God wrote the natural laws that dictate all things, but remains supernatural and can act as such.
Glacier depletion has been happening since the global flood roughly 4,000 years ago.
Long before the popularity of naturalism, we were told in clear and plain language about the truth of how all things came about. God began his Word to us in the first book of the Bible with this foundational knowledge because He knew we needed a proper platform from which to build our understanding of Him. Popular modern thinking tries to rewrite this account. Christians who have this worldview try desperately to marry the two, yet it cannot be done. God wants us to understand. He is not a God who purposefully misdirects us. He says "seek and you shall find." He made it very clear in His Word and all creation attests to His glory and the reality of a Creator. I am convinced that if you set out to justify a godless existence, you will find just that. I am equally convinced that the opposite is true. For that which we seek, we find. That is our choice. It is our freedom. He does not force our love. And, He makes His readily available to us if we would only seek it.
I can't write a blog long enough to cover every question that you might have. I certainly can't list out all the reasons I believe that the above statements are true. So, I would like to open up the comment section below for discussion. Comments can be made anonymous if you would like. These blogs stay posted indefinitely so feel free to comment if you have a question about anything that I have said here regardless of how old this post is. I welcome opposing arguments. But, stay polite, please. Rude behavior won't be tolerated regardless of its position.
P.S. I just had a great idea, though. I think that I'll write individual blogs explaining why my 6 statements are true over the course of the next few weeks. So, if you would rather wait and read those than comment here, I commend you for your patience. But, please don't let me discourage you from commenting here if you'd rather get a conversation started. I love this topic and am excited to find out more about it through talking with others.
Photo credit to http://www.dailymail.co.uk
