I am in no way anti-creationist, anti-religion, anti-Christian, or anti-bible. I can accept and understand how many people use Christianity, which is based on the Bible, as a source of their religious inspiration.
That being said, those who home in on ambiguous Old Testament passages and construe them as proof that the universe is a handful of years old are not being honest. They are not being honest intellectually, socially, scientifically, or spiritually. They are likely not dishonest intentionally or with malice, but with confusion and misunderstanding. However, they are still doing a disservice to many.
Intellectually, they are being dishonest because they refuse to learn lessons from common knowledge of Galileo's experience with the Roman Catholic Church. The church of that time put forth a false argument that had nothing to do with spirituality. Did the fact that the earth revolved around the sun cause spirituality to topple and disappear? No. It had no affect on spirituality whatsoever, it is simply the nature of Earth.
Socially, they are dishonest because they spread confusion and cause havoc with school boards. Disagreement with common accepted principles may be a reason to homeschool your child, but it is dishonest to deny a complete education to other children.
Scientifically, they are being dishonest because they misconstrue basic facts due to a restricted paradigm of thinking. Science - honest science - involves the testing of ideas on their own merit, and nothing else. It is scientifically dishonest to construe facts to fit an outside paradigm. Obviously there are gray areas where things may be misconstrued at a certain scale, but the systematic denial of observations amounts to nothing more than scientific dishonesty.
Consider two philosophers living on a coastline who are debating the shape of the earth. One has a hypothesis that the earth is flat, the other believes it is mostly spherical. The latter challenges his companion to observe sailing vessels on a bright, clear day as they travel away from the coast and into deeper waters. "Look carefully at how the bottom of the boats seems to disappear below the horizon as the boat sails very far away," he says. "The sail is the last part that can be seen before the boat is too far away to make out. This is because the curvature of the spherical earth begins to hide the boat from the bottom up as it moves far enough away." This explanation makes sense, and can be verified by anyone on a clear day. The best conclusion would be that, indeed, the earth has curvature and is likely some spherical shape, as water surfaces can only be curved on a curved earth.
However, the companion to this philosopher, in a systematic denial of concepts as thorough as any who purport a young earth, scoffs at this obvious explanation. "That doesn't prove anything about the curvature of the earth. It only looks like the earth is curved, but really, the diffraction of light off of the water's surface makes the boat look like it's disappearing! This effect makes the boat look shorter when it is farther away, so that refutes your claim!" While this could be a legitimate claim, it is wrong. If the person did experiments on this effect, he would discover that it doesn't exist, and therefore it was dishonestly conjured up. What many young-earth proponents don't realize is that they are doing the exact same thing in their contradictions of geology, astronomy, and other sciences.
Spiritually, they are dishonest because the point of spirituality is to become at peace with a purpose in life. Honest spirituality involves a good amount of love for others and self and awe in the complexity of every piece of the universe. Dishonest spirituality is bickering over ancient documents which have no spiritual weight. Does the age of your world really affect your ability to love a God and those you share your world with?
Religion has given us many beautiful inspirations. What does confusion and dishonesty inspire?
That being said, those who home in on ambiguous Old Testament passages and construe them as proof that the universe is a handful of years old are not being honest. They are not being honest intellectually, socially, scientifically, or spiritually. They are likely not dishonest intentionally or with malice, but with confusion and misunderstanding. However, they are still doing a disservice to many.
Intellectually, they are being dishonest because they refuse to learn lessons from common knowledge of Galileo's experience with the Roman Catholic Church. The church of that time put forth a false argument that had nothing to do with spirituality. Did the fact that the earth revolved around the sun cause spirituality to topple and disappear? No. It had no affect on spirituality whatsoever, it is simply the nature of Earth.
Socially, they are dishonest because they spread confusion and cause havoc with school boards. Disagreement with common accepted principles may be a reason to homeschool your child, but it is dishonest to deny a complete education to other children.
Scientifically, they are being dishonest because they misconstrue basic facts due to a restricted paradigm of thinking. Science - honest science - involves the testing of ideas on their own merit, and nothing else. It is scientifically dishonest to construe facts to fit an outside paradigm. Obviously there are gray areas where things may be misconstrued at a certain scale, but the systematic denial of observations amounts to nothing more than scientific dishonesty.
Consider two philosophers living on a coastline who are debating the shape of the earth. One has a hypothesis that the earth is flat, the other believes it is mostly spherical. The latter challenges his companion to observe sailing vessels on a bright, clear day as they travel away from the coast and into deeper waters. "Look carefully at how the bottom of the boats seems to disappear below the horizon as the boat sails very far away," he says. "The sail is the last part that can be seen before the boat is too far away to make out. This is because the curvature of the spherical earth begins to hide the boat from the bottom up as it moves far enough away." This explanation makes sense, and can be verified by anyone on a clear day. The best conclusion would be that, indeed, the earth has curvature and is likely some spherical shape, as water surfaces can only be curved on a curved earth.
However, the companion to this philosopher, in a systematic denial of concepts as thorough as any who purport a young earth, scoffs at this obvious explanation. "That doesn't prove anything about the curvature of the earth. It only looks like the earth is curved, but really, the diffraction of light off of the water's surface makes the boat look like it's disappearing! This effect makes the boat look shorter when it is farther away, so that refutes your claim!" While this could be a legitimate claim, it is wrong. If the person did experiments on this effect, he would discover that it doesn't exist, and therefore it was dishonestly conjured up. What many young-earth proponents don't realize is that they are doing the exact same thing in their contradictions of geology, astronomy, and other sciences.
Spiritually, they are dishonest because the point of spirituality is to become at peace with a purpose in life. Honest spirituality involves a good amount of love for others and self and awe in the complexity of every piece of the universe. Dishonest spirituality is bickering over ancient documents which have no spiritual weight. Does the age of your world really affect your ability to love a God and those you share your world with?
Religion has given us many beautiful inspirations. What does confusion and dishonesty inspire?
