text: I have ordained ministers on both sides of my family. I was a confirmed Lutheran, and then spent a lot of time in charismatic Pentecostal churches growing up until my early twenties. 
  
  I went through a very "anti religion" phase but I've since calmed down. I just want to see people learn. If you believe God is the source of creation then why not spend a lifetime discovering creation as it really is? The Bible is full of allegory and symbolism and if you want to derive meaning from it because you think it brings you closer to God - by all means do. Just don't ever assume you know or even can know all there is about the cosmos. It's always surprising and inspiring in ways we can't even fathom.
  
  When I was a kid I was certain the earth was only 6,000 years old and "science" was fooling itself (what all the adults in my life told me). How absurdly wrong and closed-minded I was. The universe is much more amazing than that - God or not.