Expert: Thurman C. Petty, Jr. - 1/29/2010

Question
QUESTION: The following is a copy paste of what I have typed on a message board:


Day 1

God makes heaven and a formless earth, and light and dark.

The earth was formed 9.2 billions years after the big bang, not even remotely close to each other in time periods...



And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Evening and morning the first day... hmm... that sounds like a 24 hour day  (6 days of 24 hour periods). The timeline of the big bang however is in the billions of years



God raises up the land on a watery earth, and then he creates trees and grasses.

Plants and grass were later arrivals in the history of life and earth. Grasses arose in the Cretaceous, angiosperms evolved in the Jurassic. This would put them past day 5 (after fish).


Good one:  Day 4:

God gets around to making the sun and the moon and the stars.


The sun and moon came BEFORE life existed on this planet, not after... MAJOR inaccuracy of genesis...

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Well more evidence that the days were really 24 hour periods...

Day 6

God creates terrestrial animals, and people. The people are put in charge


I'm sure anyone who has even been to elementary school would know about fossils and how ancient they are. And anyone who has studied biology AT ALL will know animals came before (long before) humans did.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Even more for the 24 hour time periods

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So in the above, basically the bible is proven to be wrong... open up genesis and see for yourself, or I can quote the verses in a areply if you'd like.



ANSWER: Dear Mike,

Thanks for your commentary on Genesis. I’m sure your pleased to be able to prove the Bible wrong in just a few sentences.

But perhaps you’re a little hasty. There are many things in the Bible that give it credence. For example: Archaeologists have discovered evidence that can be correlated with the Bible, and have shown that in nearly every case, where the archaeologists have found a tie with the Bible, the old book has been proven to be accurate.

Then there are the prophecies—predictions of events that were future to the writers—that have been proven to be correct. What are we to say about these?

Take the 2nd chapter of Daniel, for example. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, in the 6th century BC (about 586 BC), has a dream about a multi-metal image that alarms him. A young Hebrew slave interprets the dream.

The short version says this: There would be  4 major, (then) world-dominating powers. Then it seems that the old world spits up into many nations instead of continuing with single dominating powers. But the startling part of the prophecy is that it ends with a huge rock that crushes the image—all of the world powers represented by it—and then fills the whole earth.

Now go back in history to the time of Neo-Babylon in the 6th century BC, and count how many world-dominating powers there have been—in the area where these empires were installed. You’ll find that there were exactly 4—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Macedonian/Greece, and Rome. Why didn’t Daniel go on, having other huge, world-dominating powers—a 5th, or a 6th? That would seem to be logical. But, no, he stops with 4, just as history has proved. There were only 4. And the 4th,  Rome, split upon into many smaller countries, just like Daniel described. It couldn’t have been just a guess on Daniel’s part. There are too many details in the predictions that attest to it’s accuracy. (I'm waiting to see what's the rock that breaks down all the kingdoms and then fills the whole earth.)

Examine it for yourself. Use your scientific mind to look into this one. You owe it to yourself. And if you find that this part of the Bible is accurate, then why not Genesis 1?

After all, neither you nor I nor any scientist or Bible believer were there when the Earth began. Who’s to say that Genesis isn’t so?

Have a good day.

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
PettyPress@gmail.com
www.PettyPress.com (20 e-books; 42 Bible Study Guides; more)


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello.

You come off better than other people, jumping to conclusions saying science is wrong. The important thing to know is that what science says has moderate to very strong evidence for its theories. I could give you plenty if you'd like, and present to you endless videos which strongly validate evolution, abiogenesis, big bang, etc etc.

I don't look too much into "prophecies" or predictions.
If a book contains any errors at all, it is not legit.
Your example can be a mere coincidence, and you have no legit evidence to support it.

The bible is clearly geocentric, ideally matching the beliefs 2000 years ago. I don';t think anymore needs to be said when a book contains factual errors.

How many years have you studied science?

ANSWER: Dear Mike,

I’ve studied some physics in high school and college, and a little biology. I’m not a scientist. I’m a Bible instructor.

You’ve discredited the Bible because you find some errors in it. Have you ever discredited a science book because of errors you’ve found in it? If you find one error in a book, does that mean the whole book is useless? And what if the “error” you find is something that you have no way of proving to be in error? What do you do then?

Let me ask you another question: What about your future? You live your life the way you want to live and one day you die. What about your future?

The Bible teaches that when a person accepts Jesus as his Savior and trusts in Him, then one day he will rise again and live in an earth—like ours—but with none of the pollution, and war, and evil. That gives me a great deal of hope for the future, and gives me happiness and peace now. It gives me a bright, joyful life.

What about you? Does science give you that kind of hope, happiness, and joy?

You see, you have nothing but your science. When your life comes to an end, sooner or later, you have nothing, your done. I have something to live for and a hope for the future.

I’m not trying to be sarcastic. I’m just looking at reality. It’s up to you, of course: scientific theories; or hope and joy in Jesus.

It’s good talking with you. Feel free to talk with me via my personal e-mail.

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
PettyPress@gmail.com
www.PettyPress.com


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for accepting that those errors do exist.

I'll answer your questions now.

I wouldn't say a science book is wrong because of an errror, because science is open to new ideas, and if they do not have good evidence, they will say they simply don't know yet.

Religion think it knows every answer to every mystery, it clearly does not. And religion is set in stone, whilst science can change depending on evidence.

Also... science books are written by smart men based on evidence. Religious books (although it is also written by men) claim to be from god, and that is where things differ.

I cannot prove to you factual evidence of scientific theories the same way I cannot prove that Zeus doesn't exist, or that the world is only 2 years old and our memories are all fake.

Would you believe in a book that says Zeus is real?

My future... well what you're saying is religion gives you piece of mind about after death. And it gives you joy and hope... well Santa Claus gave me joy and hope during christmas time when I was younger, but there comes a time to accept the truth... The tooth fairy also gave me plenty of hope as well everytime one of my baby teeth fell out.

Science is about reality. If you want to live your life thinking you're going to go to a magical place, that's fine, however do you honestly think it's realistic?

When my life comes to an end, I die the same way every humans dies every second, the same way animals die, etc etc. As human our brains evolved to the level to make religions and the deity counter is at almost 2800 gods I think, in the world.

You know... islam makes tons of claims to be holy based on presenting evidence from its book that is supposedly factual. How do you know they aren't right? How do you know another religion isn't right? but yours is for sure?

Plus, even if there was a heaven/hell (which is more rare than winning a lottery everyday of your life), god would never punish me for simply not believing in him, that would make him infinitely worse than a human being.  

Answer
Dear Mike,

Let me answer your questions first:

1. Yes, I believe Zeus is real, but not in the way the ancients believed. He represents the great Lucifer, who is fighting against the Creator-God. So, even though I believe he’s real, I don’t believe IN him. There’s an invisible war going on right now between two titan forces: the evil Lucifer and the Great Loving Creator-God. It’s real, and you and I are involved whether we want to be or not. (I’d love to tell you about it—if you’d like to know. But be warned: the evidence is from the Bible.)
2. Religion doesn’t have the answer to everything, and, as you’ve probably already found out, a large portion of religionists are phony. The key to true religion is to follow the teachings of the Bible. Any other “religion” isn’t valid.
3. There’s a great deal of difference between Santa Claus and the tooth-fairy and the Creator-God. Santa Claus and the tooth-fairy will come to an end, while the Creator-God will live forever. (I know you don’t believe what I’m saying; I’m just answering your questions!)
4. We’ll have to talk about reality when we become better acquainted. (I hope we can. I like your enquiring mind. Stick with me.)
5. I can’t talk about Islam, because I’m not into comparative religion. I try to stick with the Bible.
6. Will God punish you for not believing in Him? I suppose we’ll have to find out, won’t we.

How old are you? That may seem a funny question, but I’d really like to know.

I know a number of scientists and have listened to lectures from quite a few more. They are truly bright men, and most of them have the goal of helping to use their science for the good of mankind.

I know a great deal about evolution too. I couldn’t help but learn about it because every nature program expounds volumes of it. (I’m fascinated with the natural world.) So I haven’t come to my position on the Bible because I’m not knowledgeable about evolution. The Bible is in the world of faith, while evolution is in the world of science. I recognize that.

You most likely read my dossier at the place where you chose me for your question. You knew that I’m a Christian, Seventh-day Adventist Bible instructor.

Why did you write me? I’m just curious.

Do me a favor. Humor me. Go to my web site, www.PettyPress.com, click on “Books,” then on the book “Quest for the Super Leader.” It’s a short book—about 32 pages. Read it and give me a book report (like teachers like to have you write). The report should be a summation of what the book says. THEN tell me what you think. This will be a short exercise in patience, and I know it may seem humiliating, but just try. As I said. Humor me.

And when your finished, read the book “Wreck of the Wild Wave.” It’s an adventure story about a ship-wreck in the South Pacific in 1858. It’s not about religion—it’s just a story. I hope you like it.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
PettyPress@gmail.com
www.PettyPress.com