- Nov 13, 2017
- 12,212
- 12,468
- Country
- Romania
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
YEC means "young earth creationist" (who believe the universe is about 6000 years old)
In primary school my science teacher said that he didn't believe in evolution or that we came from monkeys. I also went to a travelling museum about dinosaurs and it had a display that said that some people believe we come from Adam and Eve. When I started high school there was a travelling "Creation Bus" that showed a video saying that legends of dragons were based on sightings of dinosaurs. I bought some books and Creation magazines that made a persuasive case that YEC is true.
Then I moved and started going to a Lutheran high school. Over the years I bought more YEC materials and went to presentations. I started trying to convince staff of the school (librarian, teachers, pastor) that YEC is true but none of them became YECs. Well one science teacher did, about 10+ years later. In year 12 I saw an anti-YEC article in a youth science magazine and I wrote to them a letter that was several pages long about the evidence for YEC. I also wrote them a short letter that was published. At around that time I said to God in my mind "I want to know the truth, no matter how depressing it is". Me talking to God like that is very rare. Then I got a very strong tingling sensation over my body - that's one of the only times that has happened to me.
I also heard about a popular anti-YEC book called "Telling Lies for God" by Ian Plimer. In university I made a web page about it which found dozens of problems in his book. The web page was part of a site I made called "Dirt or Slime" - you can see some of it here:
Wayback Machine
About the title of the site:
During my first year of university I wanted to try and find the truth - so I looked at books about the evolution of humans, etc. Then I was contacted by a former creationist from America - Edward T Babinski:
Ed Babinski
He also wrote "Leaving The Fold: Testimonies Of Former Fundamentalists". He told me about the Green River formation - this convinced me that the earth must be at least a few million years old so then YEC can't be true. I already believed that the Gap Theory ("Lucifer's Flood" - I think Benny Hinn believes in that) and the Day-Age theories couldn't be true. I believed that the Bible must be 100% true or otherwise the God of the Bible isn't true - so I became an atheist who believed in a 100% physical reality. As a YEC I had been comforted by the belief in the after life and being able to pray to the creator of the universe so I didn't mind too much of my depressing history of dealing with girls. But when I became an atheist all I had was my earthly life so I became depressed.
Here is an interesting comic about a YEC who also goes directly to atheism after he finds problems in YEC:
It's here -> Evolution and Creation Science, The Bible Taught It First
Now I believe that there is an intelligent force making itself known to me through coincidences:
Hearing songs with seemingly supernatural significance
I also believe in guided evolution where an intelligent force intervened in small ways from time to time leading there to be a lot of amazing flowers and birds, etc. Perhaps it involves a simulation (like a computer game) with AI intervening from time to time so that things like birds evolve, etc. It is just a hunch though.
I think the best interpretation of Genesis is this:
Framework interpretation (Genesis) - Wikipedia
I don't know of any problems with it. I hadn't heard of it before earlier in my life.
This is the fundamental issue (pun intended) with YEC. Once you buy into that you either have to close yourself off from learning, or ditch your faith. I think it is hard to recover from, if it has been an integral part of your belief system.
Upvote
0
