You Gotta Have Faith

Over the past several months I have been asked the same question several times - "How do Christians reconcile scientific evidence, like carbon dating, with the creation story of the Bible?"  Now as you can imagine, this answer could go on for many pages, but I will attempt to cut to the chase...

When it comes to science and the Bible, we need to get something straight upfront.  Namely, we need to acknowledge that BOTH "religion" AND "science" involve underlying faith commitments.  For example, when it comes to the "science" of origins, we must make "assumptions" about the past.  One of the assumptions scientists make to extrapolate data backwards in time are certain rates of physical degradation.  Whether or not they assume a constant rate is irrelevant, because the point is that they must assume something.  They must posit or believe in something beyond what they can empirically demonstrate in order to make calculations.  These assumptions are faith commitments.

When someone says, "You have your faith, and I have my science," they are simply fooling themselves.  In an ultimate sense, we both have our faith.  If someone wants to reject the Triune God because they have faith that random collisions of impersonal matter resulted in this world, then that is up to them.  If someone wants to reject the Triune God because they have faith that matter and a vague god-force resulted in this world, then that is up to them.  As for me, I couldn't have such a staggeringly blind faith.  No, my faith commitment is corroborated at every point by the intricately personal world we live in. 

There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is miracle.   - Einstein

You heard the man.  You gotta have faith, but it shouldn't be stubborn or blind.