>I disagree strongly with your placement of blame. I feel that it is the
>responsibility of the Christian community to provide an apologetic which can
>withstand the onslaught of data that students are going to face in biology
>and geology classes. It is not the responsibility of those who disagree with
>Christianity to cease from advocating their views.
That may be so, but very few parents are competent to talk about these
things. Unfortunately, many just listen to non-scientific (and I include
all sciences, incl. theology) discussions. They heard something, and keep
on repeating it to their children. Those parents may indeed be "blamed"
but how are you going effectively combat these attitudes? many are indeed
really our brothers and sisters. They stop listening as soon as you
mention the word evolution. For that reason, I think that practically
speaking Christian High schools are the solution, provided that you can
find enough qualified teachers.
>What happens in those classes is that the student finds that what he was
>taubht about science and the facts is not what the facts actually are. My
>oft cited simple example of this is the claim by creationists that the
>entire geologic column does not exist anywhere on earth. This is patently
>absurd and false.
How are you going to combat this? Just stating it does not change what is
happening in families and churches.
>So what happens when a geology professor brings in the well log from the
>W.H. Hunt trust Estate, Larson No 1 oil well from McKenzie County, North
>Dakota which drills through rocks of every single geologic period? What
>happens when the professor then informs the students that the entire
>geologic column exists in 23 basin around the world? The are:
> Lat/Longitude
>1. The Ghadames Basin in Libya 30N 12E
> 2. The Beni Mellal Basin in Morrocco 33N 6W
> 3. The Tunisian Basin in Tunisia 35N 10E
> 4. The Oman Interior Basin in Oman 20N 57E
> 5. The Western Desert Basin in Egypt 28N 27E
> 6. The Adana Basin in Turkey 35N 36E
> 7. The Iskenderun Basin in Turkey 35N 35E
> 8. The Moesian Platform in Bulgaria 44N 28E
> 9. The Carpathian Basin in Poland 48N 23E
>10. The Baltic Basin in the USSR 58N 20E
>11. The Yeniseiy-Khatanga Basin in the USSR 73N 100E
>12. The Farah Basin in Afghanistan 33N 65E
>13. The Helmand Basin in Afghanistan 34N 67E
>14. The Yazd-Kerman-Tabas Basin in Iran 33N 55E
>15. The Manhai-Subei Basin in China 34N 123E
>16. The Jiuxi Basin China 45N 83E
>17. The Tung t'in - Yuan Shui Basin China 32N 114E
>18. The Tarim Basin China 39N 115E
>19. The Szechwan Basin China 29N 105E
>20. The Yukon-Porcupine Province Alaska 66N 143W
>21. The Williston Basin in North Dakota 48N 105W
>22. The Tampico Embayment Mexico 22N 98W
>23. The Bogata Basin Colombia 4N 73W
>
I am not a geologist, and do not want to debate the issue. I notice
however, that all these columns are found in the northern hemisphere. Does
that mean anything?
>It is the fault of many christian apologists and preachers who don't tell
>the students the facts and thus make the student vulnerable to the advocates
>of atheism who point out this and many more discrepancies between what many
>Christian apologists and preachers teach and what actually is.
Again, I do not deny that, but what can be done about it? Teaching science
course at all seminaries? Even that is not sufficient, I am afraid.
I appreciate what you are saying, but when can we get to the next step,
namely truly christian high schools, even if they are not supported by the
government, where problems are mentioned and discussed in a Christian way,
without becoming authoritarian, as in many christian as well as other
schools happens now. I know, that that is a matter for educators. Seeing
the level of education in many areas of N.America it looks like it may be
taking a generation to improve, after the problem is acknowledged. And it
is not generally acknowledged yet.
Jan de Koning
Willowdale, Ont.
>
>glenn
>
>Adam, Apes, and Anthropology: Finding the Soul of Fossil Man
>
>and
>
>Foundation, Fall and Flood
>http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm
>