Astronomy and Politics Through the Lens of Epistemology
How do We Know What We Know?
What is Our Method of Evaluating Truth?

Ralph:

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I have noticed that whenever you introduce me to others, you do so with the qualifier that I am someone in astronomy who has acquired a life of faith from that vantage point. That is good, because that is my Christian testimony and story.  However, herein there are both hazards and advantages you need to be aware of, depending on whom you are talking to.

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For example, if you share my testimony with someone who is an evangelical Christian, you might end up causing them to stumble spiritually because my Christian testimony is very controversial in popular evangelical circles. On the other hand, if you share my experience with someone in the sciences, their faith is more likely to be stimulated. Few of my friends buy this theological interpretation, so whether you are personally persuaded is not my concern.  “I just want you to know it up front so you will not be unpleasantly surprised if or when you might share it.”  

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Important: I accept a tenet called Biblical Inerrancy, which is central to the first article below

 

Reconciling  A Theology of Inerrancy With the Scientific Method

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Many Christians today are threatened by the criticisms of atheists or agnostic scientists supposedly using scientific criticisms to disprove either Christianity or its basis in the Jewish “TORAH”.  However, few Christians today realize or understand that Roger Bacon, a Christian theologian and academic, first advanced the scientific method in 1267.  For that reason, he never intended the method to challenge Christianity in any way, but to defend it.  While he encouraged his fellow theologians to stay focused on the Bible, his broader thematic focus was on the study of nature.  He reasoned that since God is a God of order, that order should be reflected in the study and laws of nature. As the Wikipedia article states, Bacon called for theological reform by avoiding debatable philosophical distinctions and focusing more on the Bible, God’s role as creator, and the nature that He brought into existence during creation.  Since then, both Jewish and Christian scientists have cited Bacon’s “method” as a starting point for their work.

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Today, many English-speaking sects of both Christianity and Judaism are, in varying degrees, preoccupied with debate over the six days of creation in Genesis 1.  As in the days of Roger Bacon, theological reform is desperately needed, given that these accounts were originally recorded in Hebrew.  This is wonderfully articulated in a two-minute video by another theological academic, Dr John Lennox. Lennox is also at Oxford University (UK), like Roger Bacon.  I would prefer the reader hear his words first, which I will summarize in text afterward.

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B_vHUUETUpg

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Citing the first verse in the Bible, Lennox loosely references Genesis1:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.

That’s how Genesis starts.

You then get a sequence of days.

The six days of creation and God rest [sic] Sabbath.”

In this description, the Lennox video points out the uniqueness of the Hebrew word for “the beginning,” which is an indefinite period of time before the second group of six days.  Note that most people bypass the first time period (the beginning) in a rush to get to the second set of enumerated days. That distorts the interpretation by isolating it to the second set of times. Proper interpretation demands a consecutive, sequential approach in the order written.  That clarifies the two separate time periods of Genesis 1:1.

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​For more related articles on Astronomy, and the beginning of creation, check the articles below.