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I find it interesting how some people with faith
accept the fact Jesus Christ lived 2,000 years ago, and then say the earth is
only 7,000 years old. As is summarized in Appendix III, there are undisputable archaeological and historical written records from many societies going back at least 6,000 years ago. The Creationist implication is the earth is 7,000 years older than these historical records. In other words, some of those with faith claim God's initial creative act, as recorded in Genesis, occurred about 13,000 years ago. And even this compromise doesn't come close to reconciling the sedimentation rate and the amount of recent sediment in Yellowstone Lake. When those of us with faith insist the earth is only 7,000 years old, I believe we have closed our mind. We are reacting to new information much as the church commission of 1616 reacted to Galileo's public arguments for Copernicus' view of earth's motion around the sun. Is it any wonder that thinking people and scientists, especially those with any one of thousands of similar logical "scientific proofs" of how ancient the earth is, look skeptically at those of us who believe? Especially when we express our faith with a mind closed to evaluation of scientific data, and then ask them to examine what we are saying with an open mind and a contrite heart.
These disconnects in the science-religion matrix (Figure 7) are very real and occur at many places. Does our lack of understanding of these disconnects mean those of us with a scientific bias should discount the benefit of religion and spiritual insights in our lives? After all, we recognize birth and death, and that there is a finite time between these two events for each of us. We also have access to the 6,000+ years of written history, as documented in Appendix II. If there is a lesson to learn from these six millennia of words, it is the fact those with a spiritual side to their life are typically more content and fulfilled with their lives than those missing a spiritual aspect to their lives. This fact cuts across all cultures and belief systems.
Recently two friends died. One was a prominent and financially successful geophysicist with a Ph.D. from Imperial College in London. He was an atheist, and since he was convinced there is nothing after life, he requested there be no funeral and that his remains be cremated and spread back onto the earth. Cancer had disfigured his face. He was alone. The last time I saw him he seemed very withdrawn and unhappy. My interpretation is he was scared. My other friend was in his 90's. He came to church each week his health allowed. He looked forward to joining his wife on the other side of the veil of death. He had a successful career as a nuclear power plant engineer and had a modest retirement. He was worried about wayward children in their 60's, missed his wife, and was lonely. And thanks to his faith, he had joy, satisfaction, and hope. His joy in life was contagious whenever we visited. His children flew to Houston from around the country and held a very touching service honoring their Dad. The differences in the closing days of these two lives, deaths, and memorials was dramatic. It was stark enough to awaken anyone with an inquiring and open mind to reevaluate their life and priorities. Those reading these words have seen, or certainly will experience, a similar contrast with the death of friends or family members.
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paradoxes