Of Facts and Faith II

Recently, an ABR website visitor (nicknamed 'a' for privacy reasons), emailed ABR with the following note:

I really liked your statement bout the movie bloodline. I watched it myself, found it very exciting and well made. Other than that I am not sure what to make of it, you are right when you say that a few things are a little bit too convenient.

BLOODLINE: Serious Documentary or Hollywood Hoax?

But what I actually have to mention is, that the movie itself OR your statement against its theories shouldn`t have any statements of faith or religion. For me, personally, that makes the whole thing a farce, because sience and / or discoveries have nothing to do with one`s believe. If something " cannot be true because it must not" according to the Catholic Church - it makes me tending to give it just the oher five minutes of attention. Facts are facts. And faith is faith. We shouldn`t mix them together.

Best,
a.

ABR Executive Director, Scott Lanser, responds:

Greetings "A",

Thank you for your recent comments concerning the movie, Bloodline. We are glad you stopped by our website and took the time to read the article by Gordon Franz. We hope some of his rationale and commentary was helpful to you.

I did feel compelled to make a further comment after reading your thoughts. I want you to know that my opinion is shared with kindness and respect for you. I want to challenge you however…that is, challenging the fundamental assumption that was underlying your comment concerning the separation of science and faith. If, as a Christian, I felt obligated to honor the idea that, “If something cannot be true because it must not be true” because it runs counter to my religious beliefs, I would have to commit intellectual suicide. When I came to Christ and to the Bible, I came believing that what it said was both factual AND true. There was no dichotomy. The Bible is far more a history text than it is a science text, but I have never doubted that where it touched on science that is was factual…and again, true. And where it dealt with history, I understood that history to be factual…and thereby truthful. What use is it to put your faith in something that is a myth anyway? If that’s what it means to be religious, I want nothing to do with it.

The fact is that the science of archaeology (ABR’s scholarly area of specialization) profoundly affirms the historical narratives of the Bible. The reason we challenged the Bloodline movie had more to do with solid evidential analysis, based on the historical texts we have….texts that give eyewitness accounts that are more trustworthy than the rather dubious conclusions put forth in the film. Serious scholars do not take films like Bloodline seriously because of the poor scholarship and because it has become all too clear that such sensationalized claims are more for their money-making appeal than for serious scholarship.

The bottom line is this: I challenge you to take the Scriptures at face value and consider them as reports of history. One thing is for sure, if my faith in Christ is not based on the actual resurrection of Jesus Christ in space and time, than I am truly lost, as are all those who believe the resurrection accounts to be true. As the Apostle Paul said, we are to be pitied above all people, because if the resurrection did not happen, we are still dead in our sins and have not been forgiven. The greatest miracle in the Bible is the resurrection… and if that is true then all the other miracles should be seen as true as well. The miracles have meaning, not because of my faith, but because they actually happened!

I believe we can fully trust the Bible as the word of God...as factual…as history…as truth. Thank you for considering my words. Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

Scott Lanser, Executive Director

P.S. My older brother Rick, who led me to Christ, wrote an article touching on this matter not too long ago. Please check out the link here: Of Facts and Faith …He goes into more detail about this matter of faith and science and I think you will find the article very interesting.