Let’s do some science: wrap a narrow strip of paper around a jar lid and cut with no overlap. Mark off diameters on the circumference strip. How much remains after marking off diameters?
Cut a strip one diameter long. Fold it in half, then in quarters and finally in eighths. How does the folded paper compare with the remainder mentioned in the previous paragraph?
Let’s do some religion: open your Bible to First Kings 7: 23-26. "And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one rim to the other it was round all about, and … a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about …”
The Bible says a circle with a diameter of 10 cubits has a circumference of 30 cubits. The diameter divides into the circumference exactly three times.
The science experiment you did showed that the diameter divides into the circumference three times with a significant remainder of perhaps an eighth of a diameter (three and one eighth = 3.125, pi = 3.14159…).
If the Bible writers wanted to demonstrate greater accuracy they could have said, “… a line of 31 cubits and a hand-span (roughly 31.5 cubits)” instead of 30 cubits.
What do you choose to believe, the results of your own experiment or the words of desert nomads who lived 3000 years ago? If you say that you choose the words of the Bible over your own observations, for whatever reason, you are delusional.
Although the issue of evolution versus creationism is much more complicated, and, in general, it is not possible for you to personally perform experiments demonstrating evolution, the amount of evidence supporting evolution is huge and the only support of creationism is the words of those same, 3000-year-old nomads.
Creationists frequently criticize evolution by saying it is only a theory. I have previously discussed the confusion between theory and hypothesis. Suffice at this point to say that a theory is a hypothesis (or a set of hypotheses) that has been tested multiple times and never been proven false. If parts of a theory are shown to be incorrect, the theory is modified with that new evidence.
The important thing about theories in science is that theories make predications. Scientists can test a prediction. If the prediction is wrong, the theory could be partially or completely wrong. If the prediction is correct, scientists look for other predictions to test.
Creationism is a belief or construct. Creationism makes no predictions and cannot be tested. Those who believe in creationism speak of “creation science” but creationism is not science for the simple reason that it makes no predictions and cannot be tested. Saying, “God did it,” does not lead to new, testable ideas. Saying, “God did it,” is a full stop and a dead end.
The Bible speaks little about mathematics and there is little or no controversy in that area. The Bible speaks about origins and other science related issues and there is controversy when the Bible is contradicted by science. Science has mountains of evidence to support its claims while the Bible has only itself. For a believer, that may be enough, but that, too, is delusional.
In the February 1, 2012 Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Billy Graham responds to a confused high school by telling the student he or she should ignore the evidence and believe the folk tales told over fires in the desert three millennium ago.
Billy’s reader says, “My high school science teacher says we humans are just animals, and God didn't have anything to do with putting us here. This is really confusing me, because I've always tried to believe what the Bible says.” You can read all of Billy’s answer here.
Billy starts by trying to make a case for the necessity of God. He says with no creator God, we are here by accident and our lives have no purpose or meaning. He implies that without God, we would be selfish and hurtful. A person has to be a bit empty inside if they expect their invisible friend to supply meaning to their life.
If there is no supernatural being injecting purpose and meaning into our lives, we must invent purpose and meaning on our own. We must invent ourselves. When things change, we can reinvent ourselves. We are not stuck with the same, outdated non-working ideas.
People who expect God to give them purpose are at the mercy of the people who claim to speak for God. I would rather struggle and invent my own purpose than let Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Eddie Long, Robert Tilton, Peter Popoff, or Billy Graham dictate to me.
I also have to wonder at the purpose about which Billy speaks. Atheists are not fighting to the death over an arid patch of sand in the Middle East. Atheists are not using their political muscle to deny happiness to those who are different. Atheists do not teach their children to believe in magic before the child is able to reason. Atheists do not strap bombs to their bodies and blow up innocent men, women and children.
It was not atheists who murdered Billy’s Jesus. It was not atheists who have been fighting religious wars for 2000 years. It was not atheists who burned women and children as witches or sponsored the inquisition.
Billy says, “… the Bible says God created us and put us here…” My response is, so what? The fact that nomads living 3000 years ago had no idea where people, animals, trees, and the whole planet came from doesn’t make their ideas valid. The fact that people have believed those incorrect ideas for nearly 3000 years doesn’t lend any credibility to the ideas. Those desert nomads thought it was necessary to state both the diameter and the circumference of a circle. The fact that they had no idea about the relationship between the diameter and circumference of circle doesn’t mean we should accept their false idea about circles. They were wrong about what holds up the sky, what the stars and planets are, disease, animal breeding, and the sin of wearing cloth made of two different fibers. Why should we say they were right about the creator God when they were wrong about so many other things?
Billy ends by saying something right: “Respect those like your teacher who look at life differently -- but don't be misled by them or assume their views are right.”
Billy just didn’t make his statement broad enough. We should respect others regardless of how they look at life. Others should not mislead us, even those who profess to believe the same way we do. We should not assume that anyone has a viewpoint that is correct due to his or her status. We should question all viewpoints and only accept those with evidence to support that view. Unfortunately, that leaves Billy out in the cold, since there is no evidence to support his view.
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