Major in Earth Science

[TheDrummer]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently finishing up my freshman year in college, and I am pondering several options for my major. I am looking at majoring in something science related, and I was originally thinking about going into environmental science. After taking a geology course at my college, I have started to develop an interest in Earth science and geology. I am a strong believer in 6 day creation, but I understand that this major would revolve around the concept of an old Earth. I have a strong interest in God's creation, and I would love to be an advocate for creationism in order to lead people to christ. I also have a strong interest in biblical archaeology and how we can better understand God's work through these things. I was also thinking about taking writing and public speaking classes to help me express my ideas about creation.Would a bachelor's degree in geology, geoscience, Earth science, or environmental science be beneficial to me? If I was to seek out a traditional career within this field, would I have many options with only a bachelor's degree? Thank you.

 

[Sketcher]

All I have to say is have a faith that is strong enough to hold up even if a creation in 144 consecutive hours doesn't seem to be the case for you anymore. I'm not sure if it took that short a time, or if it took longer. I do know that God did it, and that most importantly, he rose Jesus from the dead on the third day.

 

[keith99]

If you want to keep a belief if a 6 day creation and a 6000 year old earth stay well away from Geology!

Modern Geology was in large part started by men seeking to confirm that and the evidence simply is not compatible with such a belief.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently finishing up my freshman year in college, and I am pondering several options for my major. I am looking at majoring in something science related, and I was originally thinking about going into environmental science. After taking a geology course at my college, I have started to develop an interest in Earth science and geology. I am a strong believer in 6 day creation, but I understand that this major would revolve around the concept of an old Earth. I have a strong interest in God's creation, and I would love to be an advocate for creationism in order to lead people to christ. I also have a strong interest in biblical archaeology and how we can better understand God's work through these things. I was also thinking about taking writing and public speaking classes to help me express my ideas about creation.Would a bachelor's degree in geology, geoscience, Earth science, or environmental science be beneficial to me? If I was to seek out a traditional career within this field, would I have many options with only a bachelor's degree? Thank you.

This article might be of interest to you:
Where science meets creationism | Harvard Gazette

I agree with David Montgomery when he stated:

Science and religion certainly approach seeing and understanding the world from opposite directions, and they do come into conflict when scientific discoveries contradict religious beliefs about the material world. But in doing the research for my book, I was surprised to learn about the long-running view in Christian theology that God’s two books — the Bible and nature, creation itself — could not contradict one another because they shared the same author. In other words, there is a strong tradition in Christianity that what one can learn from the study of nature must inform how one interprets the Bible. While the collective enterprise of science does not need any particular religion, or religion at all, all religions must grapple with how to interpret their own beliefs in the context of scientific discoveries about how our world works. I’ve come to see the war between science and religion as better viewed as a conflict within religion over how to view science.

If you are willing to examine and expand upon your beliefs you might be able to reconcile your faith that God is indeed the creator of the universe and all life within it and the narrative of what creation itself tells us, and therefore be unencumbered in your studies. The conflict has more to do with the interpretation of scriptures than the truth of them.

 

[parsley]

All of the friends I know who went into geology (for the love of rocks and identification), were disappointed to find that most of the jobs were in hydrology, oil, and energy. If you like that idea, then go for it!

Idealism turns to reality in most fields; the initial love of the subject keeps people in their chosen fields. Be blunt about what you'll face in a few years -- how you'll pay your bills, what cities most of the jobs are in (out in the Atlantic ocean?), and whether you'd be suited for the structure of typical jobs. Research the careers well now. (Occupational Outlook at DOL, Salary.com, Indeed.com, etc.)

 

[Papias]

Modern Geology was in large part started by men seeking to confirm that and the evidence simply is not compatible with such a belief.

Right. Modern Geology was started by Christians (including ministers) looking to confirm the flood. As the evidence accumulated for much more detailed and long history, with sedimentation, overthrusts, and so on, the evidence made it clear that the earth's geology is not from a global flood. You can see this by reading about Adam Sedgewick and others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Sedgwick

Even in the 1840's it was clear that the earth is not the result of a 6 day creation within the past few thousand years. The evidence has been clear for over 150 years, with all the additional evidence gathered since then - libraries full of it! - confirming our modern geologic time scale of 4.55 billion years.

Drummer, take your time learning about the evidence - while knowing that many major churches (both Protestant and Catholic) have long since accepted the evidence from geology, as have millions of Christians, so there is no concern in looking at it with an open mind.

Going into geology (or most of the other sciences too) while dogmatically believing in a 6 day, recent creation is like going into medical school while denying the germ theory of disease, or chemistry while denying the atomic theory of matter. It's pointless.

In Christ-

Papias

 

[Cearbhall]

Would a bachelor's degree in geology, geoscience, Earth science, or environmental science be beneficial to me?

I don't think so, but it's up to you.

I have to wonder why you would want to obtain a degree in this subject if you think the foundations of the discipline are false. What value do you see in it if you think you already know better? The point of becoming a scientist is to learn how to critically analyze information and improve upon it through the scientific method. If you don't want to do that, that's perfectly fine. You are entitled to your life decisions. But if that's the case, then I can't recommend formally becoming a scientist.

Again, you have the right to disagree with it, and I don't mean to insult you at all, but to answer your question, I would say no.

 

[seashale76]

The short answer is no, you will not have many options with only a bachelor's degree. If you are interested in Archaeology, then major in that. Things may have changed though. Back when I went through, if you had an interest in Archaeology you had to major in Anthropology (as Archaeology was considered a subset of the other- and you had to declare either Cultural or Archaeology as your track). I took a Geology course way back when and loved it. However, it was part of the Geography department (which also had the science vs. social science track). Most of my friends that went on in the field had to get graduate degrees. Most of my professors had difficulty finding tenured positions in the US. I didn't go on in the field and even I had to get a graduate degree.

In accredited universities, most students are required to take a certain amount of writing courses and public speaking anyway.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently finishing up my freshman year in college, and I am pondering several options for my major. I am looking at majoring in something science related, and I was originally thinking about going into environmental science. After taking a geology course at my college, I have started to develop an interest in Earth science and geology. I am a strong believer in 6 day creation, but I understand that this major would revolve around the concept of an old Earth. I have a strong interest in God's creation, and I would love to be an advocate for creationism in order to lead people to christ.

Newsflash: you're not going to win anybody to Christ with creationism. The vast majority of people don't care about the types of science related to creationism, so what you're preaching will be irrelevant to them. Those people who do care, by and large, know that creationism is a bunch of quackery and your advocacy will be a giant turn off. If you started preaching to me about a 6000yo earth, I'd tune you out, and I'm a Christian.

I also have a strong interest in biblical archaeology and how we can better understand God's work through these things. I was also thinking about taking writing and public speaking classes to help me express my ideas about creation.Would a bachelor's degree in geology, geoscience, Earth science, or environmental science be beneficial to me? If I was to seek out a traditional career within this field, would I have many options with only a bachelor's degree? Thank you.

If you want to do some kind of engineering, you might be able to get away with a BS. If you wanted to conduct actual research, then no. For that, you'd need a Masters at a minimum. If you want to teach, you need a PhD.

All of the friends I know who went into geology (for the love of rocks and identification), were disappointed to find that most of the jobs were in hydrology, oil, and energy. If you like that idea, then go for it!

Yeah, it's terrible when the only jobs you can get are in an industry that's booming and pays way better than most others. :-b

I have to wonder why you would want to obtain a degree in this subject if you think the foundations of the discipline are false. What value do you see in it if you think you already know better? The point of becoming a scientist is to learn how to critically analyze information and improve upon it through the scientific method. If you don't want to do that, that's perfectly fine. You are entitled to your life decisions. But if that's the case, then I can't recommend formally becoming a scientist.

This. If you're already assuming that you know the answers and your goal is merely to go around telling everybody else how you're right and they're wrong, then you have the completely wrong mindset to be a scientist. I would say that you don't even understand what it means to be a scientist.