What my decade long foray into the creation-evolution debate taught me about the human condition (and how it applies today) – Part 4: Authority

This is the fourth post in the What my decade long foray into the creation-evolution debate taught me about the human condition (and how it applies today) series.  

The topic of authority and expertise is certainly not exclusive to the creation/evolution debate.  When a serious issue arises, and good information is needed, most people look to experts who can speak authoritatively on the issue.  Consider the circumstances involving the COVID-19 pandemic.  The unknowns and uncertainties we faced pointed us to the professional opinions of infectious disease experts.  Who else would have sufficient knowledge to give us some sense on how to proceed?  Yet, consultation of experts doesn’t always lead to definitive answers and guidance, does it?  With COVID-19, it got pretty complex, as expert opinions varied, and got entangled with politics, power plays and conspiratorial thinking.  In the end, many people rejected the authority of experts (at least some of them) and headed down paths which seemed a good fit with their own beliefs.  This really isn’t all that surprising.

Studying the creation/evolution debate led me to several conclusions regarding expertise and the use of authority to understand an issue:

• Many people claim to be authorities/experts when they really are not.

• Many people seek authorities/experts who endorse positions which align with their own pre-established positions on the issue.
• Many people reject authorities/experts who endorse positions which conflict with their own pre-established positions on the issue.

• Many people care more about reinforcing their cherished positions than in actually seeking knowledge and truth.

• The misuse of authority sustains many people at Perry’s 1^st stage of intellectual development (dualism).
• Appealing to authority is among the most common logical fallacies used to argue in favor of a particular position on an issue.
• For the young earth creationist, the authority of the Bible reigns supreme over all other sources of knowledge and knowing.
• Misplaced dependency on authority can result in crises of faith.
• True experts communicate in a manner which acknowledges the complexity, uncertainties and multiple perspectives on an issue.
• 1^st Corinthians chapter 8 provides helpful guidance to the Christian attempting to be knowledgeable on an issue, while at the same time, participating in a diverse body of Christian believers.

There is a whole lot I could say about each of these observations – I could easily write a long blog post for each of them.  I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’ll offer a few comments around a couple of themes.

God as the ultimate authority

Regardless of who actually is an expert and can speak authoritatively on the topic, the trump card of many creationists is to assert God as the authority.  The manner in which this is done is a declaration of the Bible as authoritative, as being the infallible and inerrant word of God.  There are plenty of Christians who will assert the Bible is absolutely authoritative in every way. There’s a phrase I’ve heard and seen in writing, which is used when a person has had enough debate on a matter and says,

“God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” 

End of conversation.  It’s nearly impossible to maintain a dialogue with a person who thinks in this manner, or to explore questions in the search for knowledge and understanding.  There’s a very long history of thought when it comes to the message of the Bible, and how we ought to view and understand Bible passages, especially in the light of knowledge we’ve discovered about the natural world, and even our own history, through scientific investigation.  It seems that many Christians don’t have much patience or interest in considering the intersection of Christian belief and scientific knowledge (a field of study commonly known as faith and science), nor for that matter, the history of the Bible (discussions among early church leaders concerning what to include and exclude from the Bible).  Augustine of Hippo (350-430 A.D.), also known as Saint Augustine wrote about interpretation in City of God and The Literal Interpretation of Genesis.  I’m not suggesting Saint Augustine as a Biblical authority, but to demonstrate that serious Christians have been wrestling with and thinking about approaches to understanding the Bible, as well as the natural world, for a very long time.  Consider this well-worn passage from The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Book 1, Chapter 19, Paragraph 39:

Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although “they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.” (1 Tim. 1:7)

To this day, many Christians insist that the Bible not only declares the truth of God the creator, and God’s plan to redeem His creation through Jesus Christ, but also declares absolute and inerrant details about earth history.  Many American churches are very open in declaring among their beliefs and positions, that the Bible is absolutely true in every statement contained therein.  It’s no wonder that so many American Christians reject the findings of science, even rejecting recommendations from the medical community on how to best manage the rate of viral infection during a worldwide pandemic.  Why trust the experts, when you can trust the Bible?

I’ll conclude this section by stating that many Christians are able to successfully bridge their Christian faith with science by simply asserting the Bible as authoritative in the arena of spiritual matters, and not fully accurate in its recording of events in human and earth history.  Young Earth creationists find this approach completely untenable (their rationale for the gospel message is dependent on the literal truth of the Book of Genesis).

Authority and crises of faith

For Christians, the real issue ultimately resides in what one perceives as necessary to be a “true” believer (a “real” Christian).  What if a person believes the “wrong” thing?  Does that relegate a person to eternal damnation?  If one’s eternal outcome hinges on one’s position concerning creation and evolution, then clearly one ought to approach the issue very, very seriously and carefully.  The good news is that one’s eternal destination definitely does NOT depend on one’s opinion on the original of the Earth, the age of the Earth, and the history of life on Earth.  There is no Bible passage one can find to impose these items as conditions for eternal life.  The necessary and sufficient Bible passage is also the most commonly known one, John 3:16,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But what about those Christians who have been conditioned to believe it takes more than simple belief in Jesus as the son of God to have eternal life?  Christians who have placed their trust in the authority of their well-intentioned pastor, who unfortunately added “extra” requirements to the message of salvation?  Or those who grew up in a very Christian household, whose parents exposed them to their very specific customized version of Christianity, and instilled in them a fear of secular science, evolution, and anything that contradicted their view of the Bible?

This is where I feel that 1 Corinthians chapter 8 can be helpful.  This section is given the title “Freedom with responsibility”.  It’s really worth a read, and I suggest reading it in multiple translations.  Sometimes the Message paraphrase can be helpful, and for this passage, I feel it is particularly helpful.  The community of Christian believers is very diverse.  People who fellowship together in Christian community come from all sorts of backgrounds, some who have been taught foundational truths about Christian belief which are not actually foundational.  I do not envy any pastor needing to navigate complex circumstances like what Paul describes in 1^st Corinthians chapter 8.  People get very passionate about their beliefs, and if they believe it for themselves, they feel it also applies to all other Christians around them.  If it’s important enough for them to know and believe – it’s also important for others to believe likewise.

Yet in this passage, Paul clearly acknowledges there will be differences in how members of a Christian community will view an issue.  Some will see the issue as inconsequential, and others will see it as very consequential.  On top of that, those who feel very strongly – those with knowledge – may lord it over other members of the community.  Paul instructs that is not how we are to behave. 

Here’s the thing, there’s no single road all persons travel to belief in Jesus, or the converse.  Listen to enough testimonies and stories and you’ll discover that the same path (for example, young Earth Creationism) has led some people to Jesus, and other people away from Christian belief.  I do have great concern when I see any church leader capitalize on their authority to declare a specific truth concerning the creation/evolution issue, and in doing so establishes a new foundational requirement for Christian faith and practice.  One never knows how that plays out further down the road for those who heard that message.  One might think they are helping listeners to become strengthened in their Christian beliefs, when they might actually have just contributed another reason to leave Christianity behind.  This clearly was a concern in 400 A.D., and it remains a concern today.