Recovering YECs

Discussion from a private group of nearly 3,000 members. Names changed to preserve privacy.


General question for prior YECs in the group:

How many of you started to turn away from YEC as a result of a debate where you were shown “the light”?

I’m just curious. My path was an internal struggle between what I’d always been taught and my love for science. But it was only after I allowed myself to question my worldview that literature challenging YEC became influential.

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Comments

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  Kojak: I was never YEC per se - i did not think evolution was true (though i also did not know much about it) in my kid days but I never thought the world was just a few thousand years old. What convinced me of evolution were discussions i saw or engaged in with Xian scientists (asd some none Xians) via the internet. Read books, articles and simply accepted the truth.
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  Nellie: I grew up as a YEC. My journey really began in high school where I was taught actual science. I opened my mind and accepted the unavoidable truth. Ironically, YEC is what drove me to atheism

  
  
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    Kojak sounds familiar
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    Nellie: Kojak Yep. I know I’m one of many

    
    
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    Nelson: Nellie, It didn't have to go that way. I blame the "YEC or atheism" false dichotomy.
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    Nellie:  Nelson, For me it went a bit deeper. I really began to think what worldview do these facts best make sense in
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  Gibbon:  I was told by a trusted friend while sitting in a sermon about the statistical impossibility of evolution that what the pastor was saying was incorrect and that a simple Google search could explain how he was wrong. While I had been told evolution was wrong, it was not super important to my faith. But it introduced me to the idea that I might be being mislead. It would take maybe 4 to 6 years for me to get clear of it. But my faith was gone too, by the end. I became extremely cynical towards apologetics.

   
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    Tone: I became a Christian in a non YEC Church during my PhD in physics. So my faith was never connected to any science controversy.
    I agree with you that most of the “scientific” apologetic I see is, like a friend of mine says, “apologetic for the inside”. Mainly consisting in telling gullible Christians what they want to hear, but making those who should be the target of apologetics, run away😢

     
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  Nelson: I was an ardent YEC as an undergraduate student in geology. I saw problems with YEC geology, but figured that those would be solved over time. I even pictured myself as one who would help solve those mysteries.
  
  I was bumped out of YEC not my scientific arguments, but when I came across a biblical case for an old Earth coming from theologically-conservative scholars such as Bernard Ramm, Francis Schaeffer, Pattle Pun, and Arthur Constance. Once I was freed from the "YEC or atheism" false dichotomy, I was free to follow the geologic evidence where it led, and that led me to acceptance of an ancient Earth. I never went through a crisis of faith, because I came to realize that nothing in Christianity hinges on the young-Earth interpretation being correct.

  
  
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  Pierre: I had never had a conflict between my faith (raised Southern Baptist) and science. Even at age 11, I was appalled by the pseudoscience promoted by Christians. I advocated for rational faith, unthreatened by evidence, all my life. Facebook groups raised the intensity of my advocacy. In a few years of dealing with the poorest examples of Christians that I had ever associated with, I was forced to think about certain things that, otherwise, I would have been comfortable regarding as having little significance for me and my faith. Within 5 minutes, things that creationists had made me ponder carefully snapped into a clear understanding. That understanding did not allow for belief in anything superrnatural. That 5 minutes was in the middle of our drive to Sunday service at church. My experience that day in the service was unlike any before.

  
  
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  Marlon: This is an interesting question for me as someone who spent years on the other side of this. I thought the issue was a misunderstanding, and once the facts were all laid out, YECs would realize what a farce it all was.
  
  I ran into psychological barrier after psychological barrier. Despite putting my entire self into it, I couldn't break their belief. Any alternate perspective I introduced was ignored or misconstrued.
  
  I underestimated how dishonest with themselves people could be, I guess. I was dismayed, again and again, how entrenched they were.

  
  
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    Kojak  Yup. I too thought "It is just a matter of getting the data and facts out there." nope.

    
    
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    Harvey: Marlon,  The term "religious cult" springs to mind. Members of a cult don't see that it is a cult.
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  Manu: Thanks for sharing. It’s become evident to me that you can pretty much tell in the first three minutes of any “debate” whether it will be worth it not. I think the best we can do is nudge and remain cordial, something that is not often reciprocated.
  
  I think proverbs 26 said it best:
  
  “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.
  
  Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.”
  
  It pains me to see how hurtful their entrenchment can be. It’s really a lot more than just a debate of ideas. Although I still consider myself a Christian I have been forced to deconstruct much of my theology and I can complete understand how some may feel compelled to look at other worldviews.
  
  I wish everyone a good journey wherever your path leads you.

  
  
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  Fox: Mine was a creationist book that was given to me by it's author years ago
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  Cod: I lost my faith in YEC during a hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with my science class in high school