Science and Religion

Question 1

What is the literal approach to the Bible?

Answer 1

That the Bible is literally true. Literal Christians tend to believe that God directly wrote the Bible.

Question 2

What is the liberal approach to the Bible?

Answer 2

That the Bible should not be taken as literally true but interpreted in a broader sense.

Question 3

Give an example of what an atheist might say about Genesis

Answer 3

God does not exist, so the creation story in Genesis has no value at all.

Question 4

Give an example of what a literal Christian might say about Genesis

Answer 4

The Bible should be taken word for word, so the world was created in 6 24 hour periods, as recorded in Genesis 1.

Question 5

Give an example of what a liberal Christian might say about Genesis

Answer 5

The Bible is open to interpretation. The details may not be entirely true, but the deeper meaning is.

Question 6

What is theistic evolution?

Answer 6

The idea that God created the world using the Big Bang and evolution.

Question 7

Who was James Ussher and what did he say?

Answer 7

He was a 17th century Irish Bishop. He said the world was created on the 22nd October 4004 BC using dates from the Bible.

Question 8

How might Creationists explain fossils older than 6000 years old?

Answer 8

• Evidence of Noah’s flood
• Scientist dating is wrong
• Remnants of previous existence
• God put them as a test

Question 9

What is the Big Bang theory?

Answer 9

The universe was formed 13.8 billion years ago, when an incredibly dense singularity exploded. The gas from this cooled and stars and planets were formed.
Earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago.

Question 10

How is Genesis 2 different from Genesis 1?

Answer 10

Genesis 2 talks about the creation of man in more detail, whereas Genesis 1 talks about the creation of the whole of Earth and the universe. Genesis 2 talks about the Garden of Eden while Genesis 1 does not.

Question 11

When is the Holy Spirit mentioned in Genesis 1?

Answer 11

Genesis 1:2 - ‘The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’
Genesis 1:26 - ‘Let us make mankind in our image.’

Question 12

When is Jesus mentioned in Creation?

Answer 12

John 1:3 - ‘Through [The Word] all things were made.’

Question 13

What is evidence for the Big Bang theory?

Answer 13

• The red-shift of light proves the universe is expanding

- Cosmic microwave background radiation

Question 14

What is Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Answer 14

Animals evolved because of random mutations that proved advantageous that made them more likely to survive and breed more.
Mutation –> Adaptation –> Natural selection (survival of the fittest)

Question 15

What is St. Thomas Aquinas’ Teleological Argument?

Answer 15

That because everything in the world works so well, this could of not happened by itself, and it would have had to be designed. Things you see happening must have been set in motion like how an arrow is by an archer, so the universe must have been set in motion by God.

Question 16

What is Paley’s watchmaker argument?

Answer 16

If someone found a watch in a moor and looked at it they would see complex arrangements of cogs and springs working together for a purpose. The person would be a fool to assume the watch was formed by chance. Like the watch, many natural things in the world look like they have been designed. These things must have been designed, and the designer must be omnipotent, so this person must be God.

Question 17

What is Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument?

Answer 17

1. Nothing happens by itself, everything needs a cause
2. Therefore the universe must have a cause
3. Only God could have caused a universe to come about.
4. Therefore, as the universe exists, there must be a God.

Question 18

What is stewardship?

Answer 18

Humans are responsible for looking after the world and everything in it.

Question 19

What is dominion?

Answer 19

God put humans in charge of everything in the world. we have control/power over creation.