Nope, I asked a very clear direct question about scientific inquiry and you chose to muddy up the water with new diversionary tactic.
I am not asking "Did God created us?". I am asking "Do you think a specific interpretation of Genesis should be debated and settled prior to scientific inquiry or within science itself?"
Can you answer that directly and clearly?
I can try. But you bolded parts of my post in response and started with "so" which to me meant you had not understood the right sense of what I said, especially since you did not address what you put in bold. That is, I was asking you about what definition of the word literal in application to interpretation of the Bible you were meaning. It has been suggested that we see the accounts as literal. And I do.
But you can do science without having ever read the Bible.
Does the Bible disagree with true science? No. That which can be proved by us in science according to God's will has already been established by God. But here I may or may not be referring to the whole of His recorded word in the Bible.
However, to be direct in answering your question, there are many interpretations of the Bible, including the creation account/s, which a person may say are correct, believe to be correct, or suggest to be correct. I personally have experience with at least three to four of them, one of which I believe the Bible proves false (it is false interpretation, not an interpretation to be entertained). That interpretation is the Old Earth interpretation. What is left is a Young Earth interpretation or another interpretation. But you have to see the false ideas that come along with the Old Earth interpretation which are disproved by the Bible.
The Bible is true. But this does not mean every interpretation of man is. In fact, if only one interpretation is correct we must seek to have that interpretation while knowing it belongs to God... not us.
Should a person study the Bible before doing science? Yes. He will have salvation thereby when he or she believes God's word. The gospel will bring deliverance, salvation, and healing to the sin sick soul/person. With the promise of eternal life, science will do him no good before God lest he or she honor God in all that they do... and even then it will not bring the person salvation.
I think you are asking from a pragmatic point of view or stance. That is, should we now talk about the interpretation of the Bible or should we talk about what we find in science? The Bible is the revealed word of God. True science, even if done first, will not contradict the written word. But we need to see what that word is to know what to do with it (where to go from here).
There are all kinds of knowledge. I hope you will come close to God, a knowledge of His word, and ultimately a knowledge of Him (to include having Jesus His Son as your personal Lord and Savior). Without Him all the pursuits in life are vain.
But a person can come to the one true living God through scientific inquiry without having ever opened the Bible. That is what I believe.
Would it be useful to study the Genesis creation accounts? Yes. Would they contradict science? Not if it is true science (I take this high view of science).
