At 09:58 AM 1/20/98, Gordon Simons wrote:
>Countering my assertion that the YEC position will be largely dead in
>another generation, Glenn described a couple of recent personal anecdotes
>involving YEC's.
[snip]
>Consider, as a working hypothesis, my thesis that the YEC position is
>crumbling and will effectively be dead in a generation. Then ask yourself
>whether this example really casts doubt on it? I think not. At most it
>seems neutral. For if we are to pass from the present situation in which
>YECs wield influence in American churches to a situation in which they do
>not, we should expect some unpleasant confrontations like this. In fact,
>this particular situation will likely do more damage for the YEC cause
>than good -- no matter how it turns out. And no matter how it turns out,
>I bet this church is not a YEC church 25 years from now.
I am going to draw on history. Have you ever read Hugh Miller's Testimony
of The Rocks? It was written in 1857 and is a wonderful book dealing with
geology and the age of the earth and Noah's flood. Miller was old-earth,
local flood and was quite well known and widely published in the middle of
last century. But he had to spend a lot of time arguing against the
young-earther's and global flood people of his day. Now it is 141 years
after Miller published that book and we are still arguing the same issue.
History is on my side, my friend. And it scares me.
>
>Your example of the young YEC convert is more problematic. Right now he
>sounds cocky and self-assured. I was too shortly after I became a
>Christian thirty-some years ago. But, thankfully, the Lord did not leave
>me there. Likewise, I doubt this young Christian will be so cock-sure
>about his YEC attitudes 25 years from now. My guess is that he will have
>jettisoned it before then.
Why then do people like Gish, George Howe, Clifford Burdick, Eugene Chafin,
etc. all scientists and all having been christians for many years, still
maintain the YEC position? I would contend that it is because they place
theology above what their eyes see. Why did I maintain a YEC belief for 15
years after I knew the problems that existed in geology? Because I placed
my interpretation of the Scripture on a plane of infallibility. If you had
asked me that, I would have denied that I was doing that. But that is what
I was doing.
>
>What would help here would be some input from Christians who have studied
>the American church more closely than you or I, who could better assess
>trends and make comparisons with earlier situations in which church-member
>attitudes have changed.
>
I would welcome that.
>For example, in the last 25 years, I have seen a nearly complete
>turnaround of attitude toward contemporary Christian music. When my
>oldest daughter was an early teenager, her emerging tastes in Christian
>music were frowned upon by the Christian school she attended, and by many
>Christians. She had learned about contemporary Christian music by talking
>to a disc jockey on a secular radio station, who had an interest in it.
>Contemporary Christian music was hard to find. It was not on the radio.
>Occasionally I would take her over to Raleigh for a fledgling concert
>(nothing like what one sees today), more akin to a recital than a concert.
>Today, about 25 years later, that same Christian school is advertised on a
>local Christian radio station which specializes in contemporary Christian
>music. And the Southern Baptist church that supports the school airs it
>sermons on this station every Sunday morning.
>
>Whatever it might be, the American church 25 years from now will be quite
>a bit different from what it is today. My bet is that few Christians in
>that church will be vitally concerned about the age of the earth.
I hope we are both around and you can tell me "I told you so." This is one
bet I would like to lose.
glenn
Adam, Apes, and Anthropology: Finding the Soul of Fossil Man
and
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm