The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?
MYTH: Trees are critical to earth’s survival because they provide most of the earth’s oxygen through photosynthesis.
TRUTH: While trees are important to the earth’s ecology, up to 90% of the photosynthesis on earth is produced, not by trees, but by algae—from single celled organisms that float on the water to more complex forms like kelp.
MYTH No. 2: The Bible is primarily a historical record. Since it is inspired by God, it records accurately and factually all matters of history, science, and nature.
TRUTH: The Bible is primarily a book of faith. While Christians believe it to be inspired, and therefore Scripture, it does not make claims of accuracy in matters of science, nature, or even history. What the Bible does claim for itself is authority in matters of faith. It is concerned with matters of truth, not matters of fact. And even then it becomes a matter of correctly interpreting the meaning of the Bible passage under study.
Even though the Bible is not primarily a science, biology, or history textbook, we continue to be impressed with the agreement between the Bible and science. For example, while the story of Adam and Eve is mythic literature that explains metaphysical questions of the origin of humankind (the ontological why, the nature, and the purpose for our existence—as opposed to the how), science supports the idea that we all have the same grandmother. When scientists compare DNA sequences among different groups of humans, they find that all modern humans can trace their ancestry back to a single woman, whom they have christened “Eve†(or, to be exact, “Mitochondrial Eveâ€). They speculate that “Eve†lived in Africa about two hundred thousand years ago, and was the distant great-grandmother of us all.
You can order a copy of the book Myth: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo (ISBN 0-9715765-4-8) directly from Educational Consultants.
