Reply etc.

John W. Burgeson (burgy@compuserve.com)
Tue, 11 Mar 1997 12:48:52 -0500

Fred writes, in part: " Ah. from a human perspective it sounds
irrational to me."

Fair enough. It sounds a-rational to me. We must agree to disagree then,
mostly on what we perceive as a reasonable definition of "irrationality"
and whether we accept such a word as "a-rationality."

If the scriptures insisted, in some place, that I must believe that 2 + 2 =
5, that I would call irrational. Likewise, if they insisted, clearly and
without any possibility of doubt, as my good friend Duane Gish insists,
that the earth is only 6000 (or so) years old, that I would call
irrational, with the only loophole available to call it otherwise Gosse's
theory (last Tuesdayism).

I will admit the term "a-rational" is not particularly widely used. It does
not appear in my 1993 Mirriem-Webster unabridged -- so my argument is not
too strong here.

Peace

Burgy