Last time we talked about how conservative Christianity views epistemology. In short,
any scientific data that is not in line with the message is twisted and distorted to fit, if possible, or rejected outright.

The biblical message they hold to be true would include life on this earth being created a few thousand years ago, species being created almost as is, and an historical global flood. This is a fact claim and fact claims can be falsified. The message of salvation is that of a restoration. Long ages and common decent would completely invalidate this due to man not being created in God’s image and sinless perfection not being the default original state.

The claim that the Earth is a mere 6,000 – 10,000 years old has been falsified by archeology, biology, geology, and physics. Human archaeological sites show the earth to be at least 50,000 years old. Ice layers in Greenland show the Earth to be at least 100,000 years old. Fossils show the Earth to be hundreds of millions of years old. Dating rocks shows the Earth to be billions of years old. To claim that the earth is a few thousand years old is not just wrong, it is to be off by a magnitude of 100,000!

The claim that all life on this earth was created more or less in tact a short time ago has been falsified by both the fossil record and genetics. Species found in certain strata of the geological column are not found in other strata. There are no rabbits in the Cambrian, for example. Few species extant today were alive a mere 50 million years ago, and all species share common ancestry (including humans). This is predicted by the fossil record and proven by genetics. The rate of variation in genes (including changes with no functional impact), fused chromosomes, ERV insertions, and everything else in the genes of any two given species are just as would be expected by evolutionary theory.

The claim that there was a massive global flood a few thousand years ago is not supported by any evidence. Evidence for localized flooding and glacial activity from the last ice age is often twisted to look like evidence, but it’s not evidence for a worldwide flood.

The recent and perfect start of the Earth is false. The divine creation of humanity is false. The fall of humans from a perfect moral character is false.

The Bible paints the picture of perfect world and perfectly created human beings who were perfect moral agents. Then they screw up and the whole world, their own characters, and even their physical bodies begin to crumble. After several millennial of decline and degradation God comes in the flesh to save people from their fallen nature inherited from the first humans and to one day restore the Earth and all on it to it’s original perfection.

This all sounds quite nice, but the perfect start is clearly false. We don’t need saved from an original sin that never happened. Human nature is not a poor reflection of what once was, since it never was perfect. What is it that Christ came to save us from?

This results in the utmost epistemological failure where facts are ignored, twisted, and fabricated when ever they don’t fit with flawed and clearly falsified presuppositions based on ancient literature.