Christian reconstructionism (was Ken Ham...)
R. Joel Duff (duff@siu.edu)
Sat, 17 Aug 1996 07:43:12 -0500Fri. Aug. 16 Steve Schimmrich wrote:
> I received the August "Answers in Genesis" newsletter today (I'm on their
>mailing list). They're a young-earth creationist organization run by Ken
>Ham (for those who may not know, I'm not a young-earth creationist although
>I am a Christian).
>
> Ham wrote an interesting essay for the newsletter on "What is 'Evolution?'"
>In it, he made the surprising claim that:
>
> "Ultimately, THIS IS WHAT EVOLUTION IS ALL ABOUT: Man setting
> himself up as the authority and being the judge of God's Word.
> Thus, *any* view that ultimately starts independently of the
> revealed Word of God is really "evolutionary thinking." What
> I'm saying is this: evolution is not just molecules to life, or
> ape-like creatures to man. "Evolution," when it comes down to it,
> is really a whole philosophy of life that teaches that man by
> himself can determine "truth."
>
> I just wanted to make three comments about this...
>
> First, I found the statement a bit bizarre. I can't help wondering about
>knowledge of things which aren't found in Scripture. Is all calculus, a
>man-made system of knowledge not found (as far as I know!) in Scripture,
>"evolutionary thinking" and thus evil? There is an awful lot of science
>which isn't even hinted at in Scripture -- is it all "evolutionary thinking"
>and thus evil?
Steve,
No defense of his comments here, I just wanted to say this sounds very
much like what I here from my Theonomy/CR friends. Although they often use
YEC arguments they won't stand by them long because they don't feel they
need to "prove" their beliefs.
An interesting article about science from a Christian Reconstructionist
viewpoint can be found at:
http://www.mother.com/~dlh/chalcedon/article_fe_1.html
(also see Bahnsen's stuff on presuppositionalism:
http://www.mother.com/~dlh/chalcedon/
This is really the only outline of a view on science from this perspective.
If anyone knows of anywhere theonomic/Christian reconstructionism views on
science and C/E are expounded I would be very interested.
Joel
PS: I also recommend Ratzsch's book "The Battle of Beginnings: Why Neither
Side is Winning the Creation/Evolution Debate" (1996, InterVarsity)
Joel Duff
Dpt. Plant Biology
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-6509