Expert: Tom Smith - 8/4/2009

Question
Hi I am a 21 year old student majoring in evolutionary biology. I am not a christian but I do believe in some infinite power or force that set everything in motion. I never really been that religious and my aunt who is extremely religious acts like my views are those of heretic because I don't believe alot of things in the bible such as young earth creationism, the fact that humans have always looked the same, Noahs Ark, Adam and Eve and the miracles of jesus. Somethings things I cannot believe because it would be like denying gravity or the law of cause and effect. I don't think such blind faith to any man made religion without questioning it is a good thing. And so many things contridict themsleves in the bible that its hard to believe almost any of it. Like the idea of a young earth and evolution not existing, thats just simply not true. I mean if the universe is billions of years old how can man in his finite existence in the universe could acquire all of the answers in the last 2,000 years? How is jesus different from any another religious figure? I mean it seems that everyone of these religious figures has a vision and his vision is the only way to obtain salavtion, or you roast in hell? I have a fundemental problem with that. Well my Aunts discussion has lead to thinking about this and I was wondering if I could gain input for someone with an extensive knowledge of christianity

Answer
First, as I am sure you are aware, the broad scope of your question is impossible to answer in anything less than a book - it is like answering the question from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - "What is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?". So because of that, there is no possiblility of giving you a complete and definition answer covering the full breadth of your question. Nonetheless, i will provide some input on each of your points:

1) Creationism:

You expressed reservations about Noah's Ark, young earth, age of the universe, rate of knowledge growth, and Adam and Eve.

Okay, this is a topic of interest to me because I used to ridicule those who held to creationism and a young earth. As a man of science, with university education in science, I found this to be unbelievable. I said the same as you, how could one toss away all the findings of science for the sake of a story from the Bible.

Yet what happened to me was that I started actually looking into the science. What I thought at the time, and what most people believe today who reject creationism, is that evolution has been proven and that the evidence supports it.In fact, if you take the time to separate the fact of what has been found, from the assumptions added to it, to come to the conclusions that most people believe are fact, you'd be amazed. Most scientists will NOT claim evolution has been proven, because they know that so much is based upon unproven and unprovable assumption.

Indeed an increasing number of scientists (yes, even secular scientists) are now rejecting evolution as being scientifically impossible and contrary to the evidence. You might like a book by a leading biochemist, Michael Behe called the "Edge of Evolution" in which he discusses the latest findings. Fascinating reading. And Behe is not a Christian.

I have had similar discussions on line with Evolutionists and Atheists and put forward evidence of creationism, and they had no response, no answers to the evidence put forward. The evidence was directly from secular science.

My message here is to be careful as to what you are accepting as fact. Too often articles put forward for general consumer consumption present conclusions too strongly, making them appear as fact and failing to clearly differentiate where the assumptions have been made.

2) Faith and Religion

You said:

"I don't think such blind faith to any man made religion without questioning it is a good thing."

I agree wholeheartedly. In fact God teaches the same in the Bible. Christianity calls us to use our minds, the intelligence that God gave us. You will find that most people who fall into cults do so because they are told to stop thinking, or to accept what they are told blindly. The Bible encourages the opposite. The Apostle Paul commended the Bereans in Acts 17:10-11 for using their minds and checking out to see if what he said was true.

You Said:

"And so many things contridict themsleves in the bible that its hard to believe almost any of it."

I've seen the lists on internet and have yet to see a single items on those lists which is a real contradiction. These are quite simply refuted by the following process:

- Read the context of the chapter (vast majority refuted by reading one verse before and after the quoted verse)
- Contradictions in fact only exist when the two verses are completely incompatible (mutually exclusive)
- Unclear verses must be interpreted in the light of those are clear.
- Rare cases require additional study in the larger context of scripture, or the original culture/languages of the Bible  
- Often one book gives part of the story and another gives a different part. They are complementary, not contradictory
- Quotes from the NT may not always be word for word with that of the OT. Translations, for example may make changes or the writer provides the essence of what was said.
- Some numbers are rounded off.

I've yet to see one of these so-called contradictions that withstood any examination of the facts.

3) How is Jesus different from any another religious figure?

Simple. Jesus claimed to be God, God in the flesh. He died on the cross and came back to life on the third day and ascended into heaven. Either He was who and what He claimed to be or a madman. No other "religious" figure made these claims, and no other has the backup for their claims, for example:

Evidence of Prophecy
---------------------
- Over 2,000 prophecies fulfilled in perfect detail.
- Chances of Biblical prophecies being fulfilled as they have to date has been calculated to be 1 out of 102000.
- Over 100 prophecies dealing solely with the life of Jesus. (Ps 22 is a good example)

External Evidence which speaks of Jesus
---------------------------------------

1. Antiquities (Josephus)
2. Epistle to the Corinthians (Clement)
3. Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord (Papias)
4. The Didache
5. The Talmud
6. Pliny the Younger
7. Tacitus
8. History (3rd Book) (Thallus)

What do we know which comes solely from these external sources?

1. Jesus lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar
2. Jesus lived a virtuous life.
3. Jesus worked wonders
4. Jesus had a brother named James
5. He was acclaimed as the Messiah
6. Jesus was crucified at the time of Pontius Pilate
7. He was crucified on the eve of Passover.
8. There was darkness and an earthquake when he was crucified.
9. The disciples believed that He rose from the dead.
10. His disciples were willing to die for their belief.
11. Christianity spread to Rome.
12. His disciples denied Roman gods, worshiping Jesus as God.  

This is only a brief start - the evidence is absolutely overwhelming that Jesus is who and what He said that He is, and if indeed He is God come in the flesh, then indeed He can do everything that He claimed, and the message of the gospel is also the truth and must be taken seriously.

I hope that this helps.

Tom
http://discern.ca