We received the following e-mail from Hans who has criticized my presentation on Dinosaurs and the Bible.  I put his message in purple text with my response in black.

In part 1, we covered the biblical basis for the scientific method.  It is based on God’s faithfulness and is necessary due to man’s fallibility.  The procedures of science are intended to reduce the most common errors in reasoning, particularly the confirmation bias.  The main point of a Ph.D. program is to train students to properly interpret data by following proper protocol.  This can lead to new discoveries.  However, there is a right way and a wrong way to report such discoveries.

Scientists use a particular method to make new discoveries about how the universe works.  They also have a specific process of informing the world of their discoveries.  All ethical scientists follow these procedures whether they are Christians or non-Christians.  However, the protocols by which scientists conduct and publish research are rooted in the biblical worldview and cannot be justified apart from it.  This demonstrates the truth of the Bible.  And it also allows us to distinguish genuine scientific research from fraud.

In part one of this series on cults, we discussed how a Christian cult is any religious movement that claims to follow the Bible but distorts one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity.  We considered the heretical views of early movements in Christianity that had distorted the nature of God and the divinity of Jesus Christ. We also drew parallels to cults today, particularly Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, who deny the full deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity. 

A Christian cult, or theological cult, is any religious movement that claims to belong to Christianity but distorts one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity taught in the Bible.  Since the time of Christ, heretical groups such as these have attacked various aspects of the nature of God and the soteriology of Christ.

Many people have heard of the patience of Job.  He was a righteous man who endured great hardship and yet maintained his faith in God.  But what is often overlooked is the rich theology contained in the book of Job.  Does Job’s theology match that of the modern Christian?