>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
>Behalf Of Dr. Blake Nelson
>Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 4:47 AM
>The problem in this regard is we do not know what the
>condition of the first moral agents were for a couple
>reasons. First, we don't know when or how moral
>agency appeared in evolutionary time. Second, even if
>we could pinpoint it, there is no obvious way to make
>a determination whether those people lived in original
>righteousness or not. What archaeological evidence
>would show this? So, I think it is a little
>presumptuous to say that not sinning was only a
>theoretical possibility, although I sympathize with
>that sentiment.
One thing we can look for in the fossil record for evidence of moral
accountability is evidence of the ability to plan for the future. Without
this ability, moral accountability is not possible. One may be able to plan
for the future but not be morally accountable, but it seems to me impossible
to be morally accountable if you can't plan ahead. After all, to understand
God's command that if you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will die, you
must know what the future means and how to plan for it. I wrote an article
for the PSCF 51:3:176-179 on this topic, which can now be found at my web
site, thanks to the ASA's gracious permission allowing me to put it there.
It can be found at:
http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/planningahead.htm
You would be amazed at how far back this ability goes, which means that man
could have become morally accountable any time after this ability was
developed.
glenn
see http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/dmd.htm
for lots of creation/evolution information
anthropology/geology/paleontology/theology\
personal stories of struggle
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