Continuing the discussion from Looking for a Software Programmer That Cares About Faith/Science Dialogue:
Welcome to the forum!
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Nice to meet you @jeffb. What do you mean by ābiblical creationistā?
Iāll add you to the private thread on thisā¦
Thank you @swamidass.
āBiblical Creationistā - Phrases certainly carry meaning, donāt they? Iām a creationists who adheres to a young-earth (YEC). As a few others have, I started preferring ābiblical creationistsā because itās about more than the earthās age (young vs. old). It communicates placing a high priority on scripture (hence the ābiblicalā prefix), when exploring creationist narratives. I suppose thatās my best explanation.
But if you want to translate that as YECā¦or any other phrase, positive or negative for that matter, I certainly donāt mind.
I read over the thread briefly, thank you. Interesting topic! Iāll research it a bit more as I have timeā¦
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If that is what you mean (placing a high priority on Scripture), Iām an example of a biblical creationists that affirmed evolution, and rejects YEC on both biblical and scientific grounds. 
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Well it sounds like you have confidence in what you believe in, and thatās key! Itās hard to argue with a personās confidence in their world-view. I think thatās more important than terms and phrases.
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I have reasonable confidence in what Iāve seen for myself in science and in Scripture. That is not so much a worldview. Here, our goal isnāt arguing for the sake of winning. We want to understand and to be understood.
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Yes, a very good concept. I appreciate that you have that goal here. Iām not one who tries to win arguments, nor do I have any need to defend myself. But I do like good feedback; in fact I thrive on criticism. Along those lines, I do have a few questions Iād like to post here eventually.
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Welcome, @jeffb
Did I understand correctly that youāre interested in doing the coding role @swamidass was advertising for?
I guess, even if your participation in the forum strongly advocates one position, I imagine your code wouldnāt. 
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The floor is yours.
Welcome to PS, Jeff.
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Couldnāt agree more. Putting the words of the Bible first, (and admitting what they clearly teach), is of paramount importance.
You just gotta be creative in how you code.
Every line a special creation
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But it was, right? 
Correct, code remains opinion-neutral.
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Question: Which field in our profile is displayed as our title, such as Swamidassās āConfessing Scientistā?
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I posted a question on his blog. He suggested I post my question here. I will eventually, but being new here, it would be best if I took time to learn the community first. Lots of existing posts to read through!
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Welcome to Peaceful Science, @jeffb
I think the Discourse Software labels that fieldāwhich usually contains a memberās ātitleāāthe NAME field.
You can choose your name and username. We choose titles, but you can make suggestions.
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(I think Iāll post this here)
Soā¦Iāve had a few questions about me, (and others may later), so I Iāll take some time to post an (all too long) āAbout meā page of sorts all at once. Which BTW is something I prefer not to do: talk about myself. And BTW-2, not that Iām feeling the need to, but Iām not one to defend myself. That Mohawk in my profile aughtāa to tell you that.
Funny story there: After two months of COVID-work-from-home earlier this year, I let my hair grow out. Just before going back to work, for fun I shaved a Mohawk. My wife liked it. I showed my kids, and none of them liked it, so then I thought āOk Iām definitely keeping it!āā¦ Then I went and got earingās and tattoo! My mom certainly doesnāt like any of it, but since Iām over 50 now, thereās not much she can say!
Ok I digressā¦
So in the 1st month here Iāve occasionally made comments about how my ālove for scienceā is one reason I enjoy being a biblical creationists, to include a young earth (which is admittedly harder to defend). A few have asked for more details. As for belief in a young-earth, that took many years to study, and has so many āpartsā to it. Although I found my answer to be intellectually satisfying, itās not so easy to explain briefly to others because of all the āpiecesā involved. At some point Iāll post about it. But by my estimate it will probably be best done in three threads (unless I can figure out a way to make it shorter).
Brief testimony (Feel free to skip!)
I got a ālove for scienceā from my father who taught science when I was young. However my true acceptance of creation is rooted in having an incredible relationship with God which began in college in the 90s.
Soon after, I started researching creation/evolution. But back in the 90sā¦it was tough being a creationist. After a while I just lost interest and completely stopped.
Fast forward over a decade, I decided to take up research again on creation/evolutionā¦and was surprised at what had transpired. There were now creation websites! I started reading everything I could! It was exciting. But then at one point I actually stopped researching. I thought, āHas creation really gotten that much better??ā I didnāt like the thought of living in an echo-chamber. I didnāt like the thought of believing stuff that in reality is not very solid. So I started researching as many arguments against creation I could find. I also researched arguments for evolution. It was intimidating at first, and challenging to my knowledge level at the time, but I kept at it. And in the end, that research was very satisfying. It really boosted my confidence in creation. Later I decided I wanted to share some of this with others, perhaps teach on it. But that only drove me to do something I have great conviction over: Spend a LOT of time praying over this. And I mean āGod, I insist you tell me what is right here. I insist you change my mind if I am wrong. If evolution is true, I insist you tell me!ā That was also satisfying. I still pray that prayer!
Soā¦@John_Harshman, sorry for the āshort story longā. Now to your question:
Ok, yes, I was kidding. I thought it was funny.
So my real answer: I do read a lot of creation/ID literature. But in addition, I continually do the following:
- Research arguments for evolution
- Research arguments against creation
- Pray āGod change me if Iām wrong!ā
And those three are some of my favorite things to do! I love studying evolution! Really, itās fun! And I always take time to try and read arguments against creation (except for the super long ones). Iāve read things like Coyneās āWhy evolution is trueā, and Burkeley Universityās āEvolution 101ā website. I always jump on any āTop evidences for evolutionā (those are great to read!). When I watch creation/evolution debates, I skip the creation part and head straight to the evolution part. All this I find very satisfying.
Having said all that, I ponder your question to me. Iāve heard a number of other evolutionists allude to these āecho-chamber creationistsā who āonly read from creationist websites.ā And Iām thinking āwho are these people??ā If they really do exist (which I donāt doubt some do) Iām wondering āWHAT ARE THEY THINKING???ā Seriously, donāt they know how fun it is as a creationist to study evolution? Donāt they know how satisfying it is to ensure you take the time to study arguments against your own beliefs? Donāt be afraid to folks!
So John, thatās my answerā¦that and of course my daily lunches with Hovind and Ham. 
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