HI Glenn, you wrote:
Sender: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu
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>Dick wrote: Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 2:38 PM
>
>>Glenn, you had suggested that those living before Adam would be
>>dispatched to hell. I replied that not even cats or dogs go to hell.
>>I did not say your ancestors were like cats and dogs. To be
>>specific, unaccountable human beings, such as your great ... great
>>granddad, would neither be rewarded for righteousness or condemned
>>for unrighteousness.
>
>Then they were human, right?
I don't think there is any question about that.
>They had a conscience, they worshipped idols,
>built temples etc., right?
A few did. Most were probably concerned about the same things we are
today, food, shelter, warm clothing, procreation, etc.
>So what exactly do these pre-enlightenment (in
>the sense allowed by your theology) people do differently from us which
>shows you that they do not have souls?
Ah, the art of the loaded question. I addressed this in the book.
Just getting a soul from Adam and Eve to Seth is problematical.
Which of those billions of sperm cells come with souls? Which of the
mother's eggs have souls attached? If at conception the beginning
embryo doesn't have its soul yet, when does it get one? I don't
presume to know the answer, but trying to identify a specific time in
history, or a specific line of ancestry is overly simplistic in my
estimation.
>>>In your discourse, it seems to me that there is room for God to insert a
>>>soul in a cat or dog.
>
>>To what purpose?
>
>To what purpose were we given souls? Same thing.
Adam's introduction and Christ's sacrifice was not for the lesser animals.
>>>Are any animals possessed of this soul?
>>
>>I have no clue.
>>
>>> What evidence would make them show that they have a soul?
>>
>>See my previous answer.
>
>I didn't see a previous answer. What is the behavioural evidence for the
>soul?
How many ways can I say, "I don't know"?
>>> What activity do they lack which tells you they absolutely
>>don't have a soul?
>>
>>I don't even understand this question.
>
>What behaviours do animals lack which convince you they don't have a soul?
I don't think there is a biological answer. You and Hugh Ross have
pinned the evidence of soul on certain behavior patterns such as
building alters. By your own standards of evidence animals don't do
that. On the other hand, I don't pretend to know, and I don't offer
any litmus test. It is known only to God. I leave it to Him. And I
will leave it at that.
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orislol.com
ěThe Answer we should have known about 150 years agoî
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