"Todd S. Greene" wrote:
> Hi, George.
>
> I'm simply referring to the fact that we can be critical of atheistic
> scientists who make theologically relevant statements about evolution
> being incompatible with Christianity. My point is that the criticism is
> misdirected. Such criticism should be directed toward those theologians
> who make the same statements that these atheistic scientists have made.
>
> John Whitcomb (co-author of *The Genesis Flood*)
> Rev. Walter Lang
> Norman Geisler
> Francis Schaeffer (evangelical writer who frequently
> wrote about theology and against evolution)
> James I. Packer (co-author of *Darwinism Defeated?*)
> Paul A. Bartz
> J. P. Moreland (co-editor of *Three Views on Creation
> and Evolution*)
>
> And here's a nice summary statement from
> http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c009.html :
>
> There are many inconsistencies in the theory of Progressive
> Creation. According to many conservative theologians, the
> most dangerous of its teachings is the proposal that Adam and
> Eve were created after the majority of earth's history had
> already taken place, including eons of death among the
> animals. Their timeline includes millions of years of major
> disasters befalling the animals before Adam or sin, including
> disease, famines, volcanic destruction, hurricanes,
> tornadoes, asteroid impacts, supernovas etc. As a result,
> animals frequently became extinct, never to be seen by man.
> The belief that death existed prior to the fall undermines
> the Bible's clear teaching that death is a result of sin (I
> Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 5:12). Any theory which places
> man or animal death prior to the fall of Adam must be
> rejected.
>
> You state that "the question is whether Christianity is really tied to
> such interpretations." Yes, and that is a vexed question.
I agree that Christians with some theological credentials are more
deserving of criticism for making such statements than are scientists who
are atheists: The former are supposed to know what they're talking about.
As to the above quotation: It has not even been held universally
among orthodox Christians that the first humans would not have suffered
biological death if they had not sinned. Athanasius, e.g., seems to have
thought differently. This is true _a fortiori_ for non-human animals. I'm
not arguing this point here & one may (as most of the western tradition has
done) think differently. But to be unaware of the range of views which the
Christian tradition offers calls into question one's expertise as a
theologian.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Mar 28 2001 - 09:08:51 EST