I know that's how it must seem to many. I have yet to meet a Christian who is prepared to accept what I basically believe, but I don't think it's trying to make things fit. I think it's a great broadening out of the concept of Christianity and religion in general.
What in this world today can be outside of Christianity if it a benefit to humanity? I really want you to think about this and answer me honestly. Again, what can benefit humankind and yet be outside of Christianity in this age?
Christianity does not speak about heart and lung transplants, blood transfusions, air travel, the printing press, the wonders of medicine, walking on the moon, science in general, evolution, earth revolving around the sun, the size and birth of the universe, billions of years of life on earth, glasses for damaged sight, hearing aids, inoculation and so on and so on. So what is the Bible-reading Christian meant to make of this?
We are able to draw three major conclusions. Jesus had no insight into these things, or, Christianity would not be the religion to deal with these things, or, the Christian was meant to evolve in understanding commensurate with the age they live in and turn that understanding back onto scripture to gain deeper understandings by adding new knowledge, not remaining in one place.
I'm not trying to make God fit into anything. Is God as real today as in the day of Christ? If your answer is, yes, then everything in this world today that is good and positive for humanity is of God and must be added to the Christian canon.
In this scientific age we know that evolution is a proven fact, therefore evolution must be from God. We perform heart transplants, therefore this must have always been in our cards.
So one can be a Christian, subject to the writing and intellect and understanding of an Iron age religion. Or one can be a Christian subject to an ageless religion so long as the new understandings of this age in which one lives are allowed to shed new light on the deeper meanings embedded symbolically and metaphorically in the Bible and teachings of Christ and the OT. Surely this is reasonable, not only reasonable but obligatory. It is expected of us to use every gift that comes our way to better understand, not dig our heels in and remain bogged in a 2000/3000/4000 year old mind-set.
So I put it to you that religion and science are not the exact opposite. This is a grievous error. Science is knowledge and knowledge is not the antithesis of religious belief.
The two pillars that support humanity are science and religion. An open-hearted, honest appraisal of science will show you in a heart-beat that it has transformed our world and improved the quality of life a 1000 fold, and then you want to tell me this is not from God. That just doesn't add up.
Expand
