College, Christianity, and Change Part 2

Prior to college, I read The Case for the Creator by Lee Strobel, so I'd have a good response for the godless evolutionists. Also, since I was home educated, all my science textbooks were filled with YEC dogma. I mention this only to emphasize that I was well-grounded in Creationist pseudoscience prior to my time in college.

However, as I mentioned in my last post, my own observations started to conflict with YEC dogma. I couldn't find a satisfying answer to this conflict in YEC resources. I, therefore, decided to investigate the other side. After reading a number of blog posts on this issue and the bookWhy Evolution is True by Coyne, I became fully convinced of common descent and an 4.5 billion year old earth.

Although the evidence for evolution is impressive (esp, the genetic evidence), my rejection of Creationism was based more on the critical study of the Bible. I find it incomprehensible that an individual can read Giglamesh or Enuma Elish and still cling to the claim that the Bible is scientifically accurate.

Now, even with the rejection of Creationism, I was still fully convinced that theism is not disproven by evolutionary science. I did and do find scientific reductionism to be philosophically shallow and incompatible with reality as I experience it.

However, over time, I began to see the extent to which Christian theology (esp. the typical Evangelical understanding of the Bible) must change in order to accommodate modern science. This lead me to the exploration of higher criticism and the issues of inspiration and inerrrancy, which will be the subject of my next post.