You wrote to Glenn
>What I find
>somewhat more disturbing this time is the idea that God is obligated to
respond to our
>demand for revelation as "Just the facts, ma'am". I think that God is far
freer than
>that & far more willing to both to adapt revelation to our needs AND to
challenge us
>with forms of revelation we don't like. You may have the last word this
time around.
>
This aspect bothered me as well. Evangelicals are quick to chide skeptics
for setting standards of proof that they want God to meet, but this is a
case of evangelicals doing it. I am very skeptical of Glenn's long-term
prospects for getting YEC's out of the intellectual rut they are in,
because I would think his stretching of the genealogies out to cover
several million years would stink mightily in their view. But still I'm
not willing to write off his approach, because it may be effective for some
people. I tend to think of the Bible as historical, but much more
important than the history is revelation. Evangelicals seem to think that
deemphasizing history takes something away from Scripture. I think
Scripture is much more than history, and because I am a finite human who is
limited in how many issues my mind can grasp at once, I'm more likely to
concentrate on the revelation than the history whenever it taxes me to
concentrate on both. Sometimes I worry that YEC's take the opposite tack.
Anyway, I'm glad you are willing to be so patient with Glenn. YEC's will
listen to him -- at least to some extent -- and perhaps insights he gains
from these discussions will eventually show up in arguments he will somehow
convey to them.
Spent a pleasant Saturday afternoon with Chuck and Joni Stevenson and their
kids at their cottage on Lake Huron a couple weeks ago. I gave him you
email addr, so you'll be hearing from him sooner or later.
Best regards
Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
Staff Research Engineer
Electrical and Controls Integration MC 480-106-390
GM R&D Center
30500 Mound Road
Warren, MI
hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com / whamilto@mich.com (home)