>
>Isn't it the Spirit of God who brings people into the church? Many opinions
>here (Old Earth people) betray a perception that *if only all accepted the
Old
>Earth theory* would bring many scientists into the church. This is
>intellectualism not Cristianity. ONLY, ONLY the Spirit of God brings people
>into the body of Christ. An intellectual acceptance of Christ (for Old Earth/
>scientific reasons?!!??) is a counterfeit one.
>
>The spirit of this age has more to do with the destruction of beliefs than
the
>fostering of biblical ones. As someone onm this list ( I believe an
>unbeliever) said. NOBODY here was there at the beginning. Do we know what the
>fall of creation entailed? No. Is the present (Radioactive decay constants,
>sedimentation rates, etc.) the key to the past *all creation groans for the
>sons of God to be manifested. We don't know what that means. Nobody was there
>to see the pre-fall conditions. We of course must believe in the fall of man/
>creation as that is the reason for the incarnation of Christ. Please don't
>blame YEC for people not coming into the faith. That is silly.
>
>
>JM Jackson
>
Of course, it is the Spirit of God who brings people to faith. Still, the
Lord says too in Romans 13:13 (NRSV); " Let us therfore no longer pass
judgment on one another, but instead resolve never to put a stumbling block
or hindrance in the way of one another." Or, read Lev.19:14 "You shall not
put a stumbling block before the blind; you shallfear your God: I am the
LORD your God." One of the stumbling blocks may be the way one talks about
Science, or the way one talks about Gen.1 - 11. Especially, if it appears,
that one does not want to listen and answer the arguments of people
thinking differently. Let us assume that all of us want to listen to God,
who is described in the Bible, who made the creation, and who has revealed
Himself in nature as well.
Jan de Koning
Willowdale, Ont.