When you were growing up, learning to drive, did you ever hear it was against the law to drive without wearing shoes? I did. Then recently I learned it was not true, it was simply something repeated so often by so many people, I believed it to be true.
There are so many things continuously presented to individuals which are accepted as being true with no real validation. Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny are two examples of stories presented as true with the expectation children will one day learn these are folklore, yet will maintain fond memories of family traditions around the holidays surrounding these stories.
As we age, we begin to believe we are not so gullible. We are taught many stories in history: in school, on the job, at church, on the news, and by government authorities. As these stories are repeated, with consistent details, by so many seemingly disconnected parts of society, we accept these stories as true. Some of these stories are significant markers in our lives, like 9/11, the assassination of JFK, and the moon landing, just to name a few.
In the area of science there is much information presented about solar systems, the tiniest of particles being atoms, then protons, electrons, and neutrons. Explanations are given for theories like evolution, gravity, the speed of light, and on and on. Studies are presented to provide the logic to accept these teachings as truth.
God created us to be continual learners. Recently I have been learning (perhaps with a fresh awareness) the power of persuasion through peer pressure and repetition. Some refer to the topic as mind control, because it is so effective. As I have a fresh awareness of this topic, I am reminded Satan is the father of lies. Lies have some truth built in to make it easy for the masses to accept the lie as truth.
Our moral compass determines how willing we are to “bend the truth,” which is really our comfort to tell lies.
Many of Satan’s lies permeate our society without being recognized by the masses. An example for me revolves around the topic of evolution. “How old is the earth?” Throughout grade school and high school I was taught the theory of evolution. I learned about Darwin, his studies with birds, his explanations of how birds changed over time to match their environment to survive. Further evidence was presented about bones discovered “proving” man “evolved” from apes.
For me to accept this information as truth, I accepted the term “Theistic Evolution” to explain God being the creator guiding this evolutionary process taking millions and millions of years. This allowed me to reconcile an evolutionary process to fit with the teachings of my theology, of God being the creator of the earth and all life therein.
By the time I was thirty, I was exposed to additional information about Darwin, the Scopes Trials, additional geological evidence being ignored, and much more. This additional information left me very convinced we live in a very young earth (less than 10,000 years), which God created in a very short time. I now have very logical reasons of why even Theistic Evolution does not make sense. And not only is the theory of evolution now UNBELIEVABLE for me, it undermines the story of how sin entered this world we live in and because of sin, there is death.
Many today contend the Bible creation story is unbelievable, because the theory of evolution has been repeated so often, they accept this theory as truth. They also contend this is not an important topic.
This puzzles me because it is such a strong example of how one of the lies of Satan is accepted as truth by the masses, to the point they eagerly propagate this lie.
For me, believing the earth is millions and millions of years old, is UNBELIEVABLE. Yet for the majority of people, it is unbelievable anyone would even seriously reevaluate the theory of evolution to determine if it is indeed truth or a lie.
I am curious, what do you think about this topic?