> Russell Maatman wrote:
>
> > By the way: I've written in my 1993 book that there's only one
> > nonnegotiable matter re evolution and origins: the origin of mankind.
>
> Can you elaborate on this here?
> George Murphy
I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, George. If you are asking about
the book, it's _The Impact of Evolutionary Theory: A Christian View_.
But perhaps you are asking about the idea itself. I think the question of
evolution needs to be divided into two parts: the origin of humankind and
the origin of everything else. I am sure that the Bible teaches that Adam
and Eve are the parents of us all and that they were not descended from
animals. I am sure of that because the Bible says so--not just in Genesis
but in the NT as well. The Bible links that idea to our salvation itself.
It's not a peripheral matter--even if there are peripheral matters in the
Bible.
For the other kinds of evolutionary claims, there seems to be no scientific
problem with microevoluton. There seem to be many scientific problems with
macroevolution. I am not _sure_ the Bible speaks to these questions. It
might. But my opposition to macroevolution is based on scientific evidence.
So my antievolutionary stance is based on two qualitatively different
sources of knowledge--the Bible and natural scientific conclusions. Yes, I
realize that both kinds of conclusions are subject to human error. But we
are talking about faith on the one hand and empirical knowledge on the
other hand. So that is where I stand; that's why I used the word
"nonnegotiable."
Some of the places in the book where I discuss these things are Chapter 10,
"Genesis," especially pp. 184-85, and Chapter 11, "Human Origin and the
Evolutionary Paradigm," especially pp. 200-02.
In the Lord,
Russ
e-mail: rmaat@mtcnet.net