What are the odds?....Or, a great and Mighty God

From: Don Perrett (don.perrett@verizon.net)
Date: Thu Mar 21 2002 - 20:36:17 EST

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    First of all, I did not mention science, you did. Not my error. If no one
    can speak to the question as to what extent God conveyed the truth then just
    don't respond. I never said that the Bible is science. I have said that
    science should not contradict the Bible. If one does not understand this
    then I apologize for the lack of language skills. If God's text is not
    factual, and is only a parable to express the ideas he wants us to learn,
    then how can anyone say for certain by what process God created the
    universe. Therefore, the belief in a Young Earth has no more foundation,
    than does an Old Earth. That is my point. Since no one but God knows by what
    process he created, then how can anyone say that OECs are wrong and taking
    things to factual. I would conclude that YECs take it to literal by claiming
    that Gen is word for word true.
    Don P

    -----Original Message-----
    From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
    Behalf Of SteamDoc@aol.com
    Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 6:07 PM
    To: asa@calvin.edu
    Subject: RE: What are the odds?....Or, a great and Mighty God

    Don, I think you are constructing a false either/or here (and didn't we have
    this discussion here about a week ago?).

    THERE ARE MORE OPTIONS than "factual" or "something God had no hand in."
    God has more ways of communicating truth than factual scientific accounts
    (look at how Jesus taught in parables). As usual, the underlying problem is
    the assumption that portions of the Word of God have to be scientifically
    factual in order to be "true." This isn't an issue of God "staying out" of
    the process, it's a matter of God (through the inspired author) deciding
    what form works best to communicate the truth God wants communicated. It
    only gets confusing if the form God used doesn't match the way some fallen
    humans think He should have written it -- and that isn't God's fault.

    Allan

    In a message dated Thu, 21 Mar 2002 6:43:27 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Don
    Perrett" <don.perrett@verizon.net> writes:

    > Thanks for your quick response. While I do believe in creation through
    > evolution, I was not speaking to that issue. Regardless of what we may
    find
    > or believe to be the process of creation, my question is whether Genesis
    is
    > correct/factual or is it just something God had no hand in, as you stated,
    > and if so then WHY? I have still yet to receive an answer for this from
    > anyone. If you hold to the idea that God chose not to influence the Bible,
    > then again WHY? What evidence, Biblical or historical, is there that God
    > intentionally made the decision to stay out of such an important document?
    > How would this serve God? If the texts are solely written by God fearing
    > individuals, who I'm sure attempted to maintain truth using their own
    > knowledge and literary skills, then could it not be said that anyone who
    > writes with the intent of praising God has written something worth being
    in
    > the Bible? Many texts concerning God, both recent and ancient, have been
    > written. Correct me if I'm wrong but, is that not the purpose for the
    Canon?
    > Texts found or believed to be the word of God are included, while others
    are
    > not. Or is this a stretch on my part?
    > Insight please.



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