Interpretation

The foundational belief of the Christian is that God is, and that mankind can achieve social relationship with him in natural community (temporal reality), and immortal personal relationship through the redemptive gospel of Jesus Christ (spiritual reality).  It is the story of the one (individual to immortality) and the many (masses to culmination or death).  The controlled individual must relate to heaven, the unwieldy mass to nature.  There is overlap in matters and values, but there are two contexts.  The contexts are consistently brought forward in Judeo-Christian Scripture – perceived in some adequate theory of divine inspiration.

It is widely accepted that the best route to the discovery of knowledge to truth in the natural context is through science.  The scientific method begins with a desire to learn, and that inaugurated practically with theoretical ideas.  Those ideas are tested in various ways, but the most convincing ones are those that can resort to physical evidence registering out of nature on the senses of mankind.  When enough is found to bear out the theory (stipulated in language, and proved in experiment with hard evidence), the experimenter offers conclusions that incorporate what has been found related to truth.  The method is magnificent and lends itself to replication (followed by other competent researchers to verify, or add to, or subtract from the previous steps to conclusion.  The method proceeds forward with new discoveries incorporating and adjusting.  For example Newton gave us theories and we were introduced to him in sophomore science classes.  His work was magnificent.  Einstein came along and found some problems with Newton, but built on that foundation with amendments (repairs) especially related to space and time so to give us relativity in nature – that in 1917 when he announced his work.  He was wrong about a static universe, and refused to acknowledge the emerging theory on the expansion of the universe – until 1931.  Forced by evidence that he recognized he made the adjustments and went on from that theory amendment.

Some scientists have been rabid in protest against Christianity (religion) in that it does not fit their feeling of exclusiveness in the scientific method as practiced in nature.  Some Christians have been rabid against science (secular) in that it does not recognize the exclusiveness of God that by its super-nature goes beyond science.  The approach of many well informed persons is to accept the best conclusions born from a careful application of the systems of knowledge espoused by each.  The conflict becomes a standoff between two great contexts of learning, conflicts that need not appear even if in the social relationship the one is chosen, even with contradictions, and the other is rejected or evaded.  Both contexts are marked by contradictions and unwanted results.  Space permits only limited illustration of confusing outcomes of negative conduct.

For years various studies from science have advanced theories about the age of the universe, of earth and man – and made strong negative illusion about religionists and the 6,000 years creation theory of mankind as many Christians have believed and firmly espoused.  The Christians have often made fun of scientists related to the evolution of mankind over billions of years, perhaps fourteen billions, since the whole thing started for earth.  With the very strong evidence of the long age of the earth, and the life of humanoids we continue to be faced with persons of faith so strong about the 6,000 years creation theory that they interpret denial as proof of a person’s loss of Christian faith.  They, like Einstein relative to a static universe and an expanding one, hold out for a view that seemed to them to be the interpreted truth of the biblical record.  The Bible, a book of truth based on the signification of mankind as experiencing a special event that offered a feature, known as the image of God, might have been installed in mankind as recently as 6,000 years ago – with all previous vertebrates related to the animal world.  Scripture provides the reader with a record of mankind, written in human experience, allegory/parable carrying something identified as the image of God, and that violated in character so to require repair through redemptive action that offers human nature above animal.  The person lives in a parable that reflects the possible spiritual experience available. When taken, faith verifies it.  Natural facts fit the biblical story.  All persons are to be seekers of knowledge.