Are your studies secular or religious?

“Are your studies secular or religious?” We hear this one a lot. It is a really great question, and totally appropriate to ask when you are thinking about jumping in on a geology study.

When you study geology or earth science, you are likely not studying just the science of geology, like rock composition, testing of hardness in minerals, sedimentation, hydrology, weather, there is just so much! And these topics don’t even crack the surface of the possibilities for study!

Let’s look at some great questions!

But when you study geology, you are also likely to enter in on things related to questions like, “How long ago…” or “When did (fill in the blank) happen?” Questions dealing with origins. Science does not answer these questions, as science deals with what can be observed, tested, and repeated. When you start asking questions that begin with “How long ago…” or “When..”, you are likely dealing with questions that only history can answer. History deals with what we know about the past, based on written records. History is not something that has anything to do with the scientific process.

But even history cannot always answer those questions. Sometimes the records do not exist. That is where philosophy or religion comes in. This is what you believe about something. This is how you interpret what is known. So for instance, we can look at a fossil and examine what kind of fossil it is, and what kind of minerals are in its makeup. But if I ask how old it is, this is a question that science cannot answer. I have to rely on history and my worldview.

And if my outlook is secular…

If I have a secular outlook, I will likely conclude that the fossil is millions of years old because of where I found it in the layers of the earth. And I date the layers of the earth according to what fits a worldview that embraces long ages for earth history. Neither of these things is based on science, but on a philosophy that embraces long ages for Earth’s history. But you will note that there is no history for Earth that would allow that conclusion. So you must rely on your interpretation of what you see.

If my outlook is religious…

If your outlook is religious, or Biblical, then I will look at the fossil and seek to fit it into my historical narrative, which is the Bible. It is a trusted and reliable narrative. And I will see that the fossil was probably produced as a result of the Flood of Genesis. So my historical guess would be that the fossil was created around 4500 years ago.

So when someone asks whether our studies are secular or religious, we would answer that they are religious. But that only applies to that which is not science. The science does not change depending on your outlook.

You can watch a short video about this here.

You can also learn more about how to understand science and issues of origins with our book. Four Powerful Words in Apologetics.

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