I thank Larry Woolf for pointing out the link to Stephen Jay Gould's
"Nonoverlapping Magisteria." I have read a lot of Gould, but not that
particular work. It's a good read.
Aaron Titus said, "Christian faith (whether fundamentalist or not) is
based on the deity of Christ. If someone believes otherwise, whether
they call themselves Christian or not, is not by definition of Christian
faith." After this was challenged by Wes Davis, Aaron wrote about the
historical Jesus whom the disciples believed was the Christ, and Aaron
also cautioned us about everyday definitions versus operational
definitions. I don't know who is the final authority on this, but most
dictionaries give some variant of the following... "Professing belief in
Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and
teachings of Jesus." Thus, the dictionary definition would allow those
who follow the teachings of Jesus to call themselves Christian.
I am absolutely sure there are Christian seminaries, training future
Christian pastors, that do not teach literal virgin birth, do not teach
literal resurrection, and do not teach the deity of Jesus. The faculty
and graduates of these institutions will be very shocked to learn they
are not Christians.
I think Aaron's main point, about eyewitness testimony, also has
problems. What eyewitness accounts do we have of the virgin birth other
than Mary herself? No one directly witnessed the resurrection.
Although there are eyewitness accounts of meeting with Jesus after his
death, these were only a handful of believers and some scholars believe
they construed these accounts to keep the faith alive. Although many
apparently witnessed Jesus talk of his heavenly father, Jesus used a lot
of figurative speech in his ministry. It is not difficult to dismiss
eyewitness accounts of supernatural aspects of Jesus life the same as we
dismiss a handful of people who are sure they were eyewitnesses to a UFO
event.
I agree with Aaron that it is not blind faith to believe that Jesus
existed and that we have reasonable evidence of his message. But I do
think it is closer to blind faith to believe in the virgin birth, the
resurrection, and the deity of Jesus.
In the end, eyewitness accounts that conflict with established science
are extremely suspect and accepting them as truth is indeed an act of
faith.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
_______________________________________________
Phys-L mailing list
Phys-L@electron.physics.buffalo.edu https://www.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l