How can anyone read:
John 20:29
“… blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed…”
2 Corinthians 4:18
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we live by faith, not by sight.”
Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Qur’an 2:3
Surah Al-Baqarah
“Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them”
And just blindly accept such preposterous nonsense without the slightest pause to contemplate what the words actually say?
Science or Denial?
With no such intent, accumulated scientific knowledge has rendered all religions irrelevant and superfluous.
If one chooses to follow the precepts of creationism and anti-evolution, fine, you are welcome to unsubstantiated beliefs.
Certainly, the devoutly religious see the advances of science as direct threats to the validity of whatever religion.
Well, fine then, deny science.
But don’t be hypocritical about it.
If one is to deny science then one should also avoid use and enjoyment of scientific advancements.
You must not use nor take any benefit from the following;
Anything and everything machine made, clothing, automobiles, phones, computers, aircraft, pavement, food grown industrially, genetically altered plants including corn, plastic, aluminum, steel, titanium, carbon fiber, electricity, gunpowder, wood or machine screws, nuts and bolts, medicine, professional medical services, water utilities, matches, petroleum fuels and lubricants, pesticides, herbicides and on and on. You get the idea.
You may use gold, brass, copper, bronze, iron (no steel), leather, manually grown and harvested foods, manually spun and woven fabrics, animals and animal byproducts, hand worked wood, not much else.
Your fires can be started from flint on stone or the friction of sticks rapidly rubbed together.
Hunting and self defense weaponry is limited to stones, sticks, clubs, spears, bow and arrow. Oh, and the atlatl and other slings.
Your water comes untreated from wells, rivers or lakes.
You are free to build wheeled carts, chariots and the like.
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Among the sciences, biology and specifically evolution are among the most thoroughly explored, tested and verified.
Do not be misled thinking “but evolution, it’s only a theory”.
A scientific theory is not a mere hypothesis but a thoroughly examined and tested explanation of natural phenomenon, tested and explained to the best abilities of scientific methods.
Scientific theories also have a quality of possible falsification. This means that as research continues and newly learned information becomes available, the theory may need modification or it may even be discarded entirely, replaced by a new theory based on updated information.
You are free to choose to believe that Earth is flat, wonder where The Sun goes at night, have no idea of the germ theory of disease and instead believe illness is caused by demons that can be prayed away, that there’s a firmament above, that Stars can fall to Earth as the Ancients wrote.
Should you contract leprosy, expect quarantine followed by banishment as your fingers, toes, lips, nose and eyes fall from your body, this is how scriptures treat leprosy.
Medical science CURES leprosy, has come close to eliminating it.
Ever heard of antibiotic resistance? It’s nothing less than observable evolution of bacteria, a topic well worth a few minutes googling.
Here, I googled that for you.
The humans who wrote ancient scriptures were troubled by many of the same questions many ask today.
These ancients had no concept of anything beyond the pedestrian, when called upon for answers they guessed, making things up as they went. I suspect they well knew their answers were whole fabrications, no one had nor dared have other answers.
Along came the Scientific Method of Discovery. Telescopes, microscopes, chemistry, physics all allowed researchers to delve into many of Nature’s properties in excruciating detail, finding things the Ancients never imagined existed even though many of these things were immediately to hand.
Life Sciences are truly amazing because of the vast amount they have learned.
Cosmology is equally amazing because all that is known so far is a miniscule amount compared to all that can and is yet to be learned in that field.
No, science does not have every answer to every question, rather foolish to think that it should or can.
Far more foolish is to conclude magic must have been responsible for topics science cannot yet and may never answer.
Charles Darwin, the man who’s ideas creationists would most like to deny and discredit, his ideas and research findings are possibly the best ideas any human has ever had.
While his theories were far from complete due to limitations of the time, his observations and conclusions were spot on accurate.
Modern Life Sciences, especially through the discovery of DNA and the subsequent sequencing of the Human Genome have confirmed Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in exquisite and excruciating detail.
Archaeology has independently confirmed Evolution through many thousand, possibly million fossil finds.
The ‘Molecular Clock‘ aspect of DNA analysis predicted a transitional species to have likely lived in a specific date range. Geologists were aware of the location of exposed Earth surface of the appropriate age, Paleontologists then went to that location and over a period of several years’ searching, found fossils of what they named “ Tiktaalik roseae”, a species of partially limbed fish, one of possibly several species in transition from aquatic to land based life.
There’s a NOVA PBS Documentary titled “Evolution – What Darwin Never Knew”, runs about two hours, might be the best two hours many will ever spend.
There is nothing at all anti-religion in the presentation, no reason for anyone to expect personal insults.
As of this writing it can be viewed on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYBRbCLI4zU
or
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One need not be a scientist to appreciate the findings of science any more than one needs to be a musician in order to enjoy music.
In this current age of information, the only possible reason to remain ignorant of scientific principles is the willful intent to do exactly that.
Consider that willful intent as willful stupidity.
Creationists, do you intend to affix the label of willfully stupid to yourselves and continue to wear it? It’s yours as long as you wish.
Denial of reality does not change the nature of reality one bit.
When one posits supernatural causation one takes themselves out of rational discussions of verifiable reality.
Are you in or out of the conversation?