Question for Fundamentalists

[billvon 2,470]

>So, you are assuming that all Christians have been nabbed by the church,
>as children, and brainwashed, into their belief . . .

Many churches and schools try; fortunately, many fail.

> If you were serious about your research, you'd find that many of those
>brainwashed children, already heard your message, and spent years, wandering
>in a wilderness of decadence and pleasure,[ I believe the followers of that
>philosophy call it Hedonism.] only to turn back to the Church, in later years, for
>an inner peace, which they could not find, in the world.

That's great! That tells me the Church is a good guide for people who want inner peace.

>So, what does it matter, whether a person believes the earth to be 6,000 or 6
>billion years old....

Doesn't matter too much, unless they are in a profession where accurate knowledge of the earth is important. So if your proposal is that being a literalist is fine as long as they avoid the science, engineering and medical fields, I'd go with that.

>You can't prove either one, and you would be a fool to insist that you
>were correct.

Actually it's quite easy to prove it's older than 6000 years. Don't forget, we've been to the Moon and have seen well into other galaxies.

[nerdgirl 0]

Responding as if there is a question mark at the end of the quoted statement.

Quote

So, what does it matter, whether a person believes the earth to be 6,000 or 6 billion years old....

It matters for some people apparently. Based on your writing, it seems to matter to you.

For some people it matters for things like plate tectonics and understanding areas at greater risk for earthquakes as one example … or for where one might chose to locate a long-term nuclear waste storage repository. If nuclear waste will remain radioactive at levels dangerous to humans (in the volumes stored) for tens and hundreds of thousands of years, it’s wise, im-ever-ho, to understand the underlying geologic processes. For others it matters for understanding diseases and molecular forensics (e.g., using molecular biology to track pathogens). Many of the infectious diseases that have been or still are the greatest killers of humans are thousands (e.g., malaria) to hundreds of thousands (e.g., pertussis) years old. Understanding how they mutate and why they mutated (usually from zoonotic species [animal-infecting]) is important for development of countermeasures and responses to new emerging infectious diseases. Those are some of the reasons that an accurate understanding of the Earth’s age and geologic/geo-physical/geo-chemical and evolutionary processes matter to me. YMMV.

For other people it matters for maintenance of a literal truth of the Biblical account and concerned about maintaining the integrity and authority of the Bible. It seems to go to perceived credibility. If one part is wrong/factually incorrect, *some* seem to think that threatens the usefulness of the entire document … or *some* see that as indication of underlying flaw, therefore the entire effort should be discarded. There are some who seem to treat it like a pure binary proposition: “if the Bible is true, the earth is young” versus “if the earth is old, the Gospel is false & there's no value in any of it,” when there's a lot between those two options, again imo.


From a historical perspective and by analogy, did it matter that the Earth was not the center of the Universe?

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying