{"id":1597,"date":"2022-06-03T01:26:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T01:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalview.info\/?p=1597"},"modified":"2022-06-03T01:44:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T01:44:14","slug":"truth-claims-of-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalview.info\/?p=1597","title":{"rendered":"Truth Claims of Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a simple prayer for salvation and it goes something like this:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and in need of salvation. I believe that You came to earth to seek and to save people who are lost in their sins, and I believe that you died on the cross as the substitute for my sins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Millions of people have prayed this simple prayer or one like it and have been led to Christ and I was one of them.\u00a0 Having been raised in a Christian tradition, it seemed a natural way to affirm my childhood faith. It was a decision that felt right for me at the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But as I started attending church again, I would learn that a significant number of Christians adhere to assumptions that gave me pause. I would find core doctrines very difficult if not nearly impossible for me to believe. I began to think that I might be in a cult. Some might call it \u201cbuyers remorse\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gallup polls have been asking the following question since the early \u201980s:<\/span><\/p>\n

Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Human beings have evolved over millions of years from other forms of life and God guided this process. (37% take this first option which could cover beliefs in intelligent design, various forms of old-earth creationists, or theistic evolution),\n

    <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n

  2. Human beings have evolved over millions of years from other forms of life, but God had no part in this process. (12% back this nontheistic evolutionary account)<\/span><\/span> <\/li>\n
  3. God created human beings in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. (44% endorse this option)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This breakdown has been remarkably consistent over the decades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In 2009,George\u00a0 Bishop ran a survey that clarifies how many people really think the earth is only 10,000 years old. In survey results published by Reports of NCSE, Bishop found that 18% agreed that \u201cthe earth is less than 10,000 years old.\u201d But he also found that 39% agreed \u201cGod created the universe, the earth, the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and the first two people within the past 10,000 years.\u201d Again, question wording and context clearly both matter a lot.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In summary, between 18% and 44% of the adult population say they believe in a literal creation story. Maybe this shouldn\u2019t have surprised me, but it did. The stories of the \u201cfall of man and salvation\u201d are not just metaphors or allegories but are very real for a large minority of the American population.\u00a0 They are key components of their belief mosaics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    It made me wonder how that could be in a modern world. It had been over 130 years since Charles Darwin published \u201cOn the Origin of Species\u201d in 1859\u00a0 which proposed evolution by natural selection. \u2018The Descent of Man\u201d would follow in 1871.\u00a0 Evolution had been overwhelmingly accepted by mainstream scientists.\u00a0 When Mary and Louis Leakey discovered remains of an early protohuman at Olduvai Gorge in Africa in 1959, I thought the issue of human evolution had been put to bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

    I would come to understand that many evangelicals misunderstood evolution. They would view it as a \u201ctheory\u201d not realizing that the scientific definition of the word\u00a0 was very different. They would ask questions like \u201c if man evolved from monkeys..why are monkeys still around?\u201d Some would make the distinctions between \u201cmacro evolution\u201d and \u201cmicro evolution\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Were there dinosaurs on Noah\u2019s Ark? Remember that we didn\u2019t even know what a dinosaur was until 1843?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    I would read Richard Dawkins \u201cBlind Watch Maker\u201d and was blown away by how elegant it was in explaining the diversity of life on our planet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    To add perspective, It is important to understand that Christian fundamentalism came about as a backlash to modernism. Fundamentalists doubled down on core supernatural beliefs. In 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church identified what became known as the five fundamentals:<\/span><\/p>\n