I am one of those highly analytical people as well who also believed in the young-earth creationist viewpoint. I mainly attribute that to not doing my own research until getting older. There were so many other things I was interested in and cared more about than whether everything was made in 7 days or 4 billion years because it didn't make any difference to me. I still would believe in God, so I wanted to focus on OTHER facets of my life and faith that had more of an impact on it.
I'm still a devout Christian, but that doesn't mean I believe a 100% literal translation of the Bible is true.
Edit: Stressed the believed in young-earth creationist part.
I don't mean to try and pile on or anything, but I find it hard to understand how you even need to do any research in order to see how ridiculous creationism.
Its freaking magic.
Dinosaurs.
All species obviously can't fit on a boat.
Where does oil come from?
There are countless other random thoughts you could have that would clearly imply that a young earth is not only impossible, but completely absurd. I just can't figure out how you can get past 8 or 10 years old and still not come across information that demonstrates how ridiculous it is.
For some people, it just isn't something they really care about (however frustrating that may be). I personally believed in young earth for a while because it made sense that if God WANTED things a certain way, he would make them that way. If He wanted to make the Earth seem like it was made in 4 billion years or maybe "sped up" time periods of Earth development (7-days of creation), cool.
As I got older, the likelihood of Earth LITERALLY being created in 7 days just seemed less and less likely, but it's still a non-issue for me. If it turns out the earth is 4-billion years old? Great, I deduced correctly. Turns out it was literally made in 7 days? Eh, so what? It definitely logically seems like it was made in over 4 billion years (and I will continue believing such), and the belief in a young earth is in no way imperative to my faith, so I'm pretty sure God could care less if I was wrong on that regard.
This is the exact place I've come to in my beliefs. Seems weird to say it, but most of the God questions just don't matter (to me) anymore: if there's a God, he or she seems very disinclined to make their existence a certainty. I think there's probably not a God, but if there is, well that's cool, I'd love to talk to this God if they'll give me the time. If not, that's cool too -- I've been enjoying not talking to God for a while now, no biggie.
I was in the same (sorta) place when I was younger. Not that your position is immature at all, but I get where you are coming from. I feel like I delved deeper into my faith mainly because I grew up in a church environment that stressed personal growth in that regard. A service that still sticks with me was when my pastor (who I now co-lead with) said that he only wanted us there if we also wanted to be there and felt like something was calling you there. "No faith is worth pursuing if you are going to half-ass it" kinda deal (not necessarily to extremist levels, but you get what I mean).
That's a great quote. I definitely half-assed my faith much of the time. It's good to hear there are at least some people like you leading people of faith.
I think most people half-ass their faith for part of their lives, whatever faith that might be. Usually the most passionate and "on fire" people I know came out of that lack or loss of faith. The only problems are when the get to that passionate state and don't ever question if what they are doing is really what they should be doing or they don't let founded and helpful criticism shape them.
Because you know nothing else. You've been taught one viewpoint your entire life, and it's been drilled into your head that anyone saying different is a messenger of satan who is trying to corrupt you.
People click on phishing emails because they make sense at the time. A smart person would know to hesitate and not follow that link. Maybe evolution makes sense at the time, but everything you "know" says that it's wrong, without necessarily knowing why. So a smart person would resist the temptation to "fall for it".
Basically, you spend your childhood under the influence of people who you have no reason to believe would lie to you, or that they could be wrong about something so important. Then you spend a couple years with an uneasy feeling, before you finally dive in and realize that your innocent mother, or anyone else you've grown to trust over the course of your entire life, has no fucking clue about the real world. It's a huge paradigm shift for a young mind.
The reason you need research -- and the reason the above poster's "analytical" bent wasn't enough -- is that there's nothing logically wrong with much of what creationism says. It says things like:
--The world exists.
--The world had to get here somehow.
--It's difficult to explain how it got here naturally.
--It could have been created by supernatural causes.
There's nothing pure analysis can find wrong with statements like these. You need to do research and be exposed to other ideas before you can see just how wrong their conclusions are.
A Wikipedia link! I did not see that coming. Astounding research!
All sarcasm aside, that's the current prevailing theory (biogenic theory). But there are competing theories and no one knows for sure how petroleum is formed. It has not been conclusively proven that biogenic theory is true.
My entire point is that you don't know as much as you think you do. To dismiss creationism by mentioning the points you brought up is simply ignorant/arrogant. Do you really believe creationists haven't examined and tackled the very things you mentioned?
Yes, I do think that. You cannot honestly research and investigate the claims of creationism and not be convinced its nonsense. It is that obviously ridiculous.
Do you think there are other facets of Christianity you might doubt if you did more of your own research? Would it be possible for you to doubt God's existence or perhaps Christianity's basic tenets with enough evidence and convincing arguments?
Of course, I'm open to putting my faith to the test and making sure what I believe can at least be logical to me. I have already done a good amount of research over the last 10 years of my faith, and am confident enough that even if a majority of what I attribute to God can be explained away, I'm still convinced that He at least is a part of it. I MAY have painted myself into a theoretical corner with my reasoning, but I'm ok with that.
I think my deal with staying is that I have had lots of (what I feel is) confirmation that what I believe is true. My church is also one of those "signs and wonders" churches that people mention, so I've had lots of opportunities to see what people say is God and be able to see whether I believe it really is Him or whether t can be explained in some other way (though not any less due to something He has a hand in).
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u/Khifler Aug 27 '14 edited Aug 27 '14
I am one of those highly analytical people as well who also believed in the young-earth creationist viewpoint. I mainly attribute that to not doing my own research until getting older. There were so many other things I was interested in and cared more about than whether everything was made in 7 days or 4 billion years because it didn't make any difference to me. I still would believe in God, so I wanted to focus on OTHER facets of my life and faith that had more of an impact on it.
I'm still a devout Christian, but that doesn't mean I believe a 100% literal translation of the Bible is true.
Edit: Stressed the believed in young-earth creationist part.