DMC

But, as a good number of those here are well aware of (so why is he saying it?), that's only the case because of Divine fiat. It could just as easily be valuable to require reason and evidence, and many of us have crossed that bridge and have begun experimenting with the concept of evidence before belief.
Well said.

Bobinius

This is not an arbitrary choice. In the case of the believer he considers faith a value because he has no evidence, but wants it to be true. wishfull thinking.

John A. Broussard

Though I hate to admit it, I have a certain amount of envy of the complete fedeist (I'm not sure that's the right word, but it may get my feelings across). These are the people who believe in a supernatural force with absolutely no reservations and no need to even consider rational arguments.

I've run into some of these, though only rarely. There was one JW, one Moonie, and a couple of free run theists who didn't subscribe to any particular cult.

The light in their eyes was all the same, regardless of their particular faith. They believed!!

I've never seen such complete and unquestioned admiration of anything except in my dog's eyes when she knows I have one of her special biscuits for her.

Bobinius

:rolling: Blessed is the dog who hasn't seen the biscuit, but who believes!

DMC

That's classic!

Biff the unclean

But wouldn't you think that if they considered faith to be of value that they would use it in every aspect of their lives instead of only dealing with religion. But generally they consider people who behave like that to be nuts.

ouroborous

Don't underestimate the capacity for the human mind for doublethink; it's perfectly possible to entertain two contradictory concepts at the same time.

It seems to me that belief and intellectual knowledge are two separate processes. Thus, a Christian biologist can have intellectual knowledge of evolution (through his daily work), and yet still believe that God created man fully-formed about six thousand years ago.

It's irrational, of course. But there's your point: humans are not, at the heart, rational beings. It's only through training and discipline that we can become rational. It really doesn't even have anything to do with intelligence; I remember reading something (maybe it was in Randi?) about how MENSA participants -- who are supposedly the smartest among us -- were some of the most credulous folks when asked about things like alien abductions, ESP, ghosts, and so on. Brains do not innoculate versus unreason; only discipline and education can do that.

So I think it's perfectly possible -- and completely irrational -- for a Christian to simultaneously hold deep faith in the absolute factuality of the Bible while still taking their kid in for an MMR booster. We're all potentially equally irrational.

Orthodox_Freethinker

Given that science is the study of God's Creation, it is the duty of the Christian to not hate science but embrace its discoveries of fact.

NotQuite

I'm summoning my best Dane Cook impression for a good "Ummmm, Hello?"

With regard to the OP I tend to agree, if you are going to throw out some parts of science, you should throw the rest out. After all they all use the same step by step process, you can't throw out evolution and then go reap the benefits of modern medicine. That is of course with out being a hypocrite.

John A. Broussard

If so, why do Christians resist scientific knowledge and discoveries (heliocentrism, evolution,the 14 billion year-old universe, the absurdity of miracles) with such fervor?