Silence, absolutely perfect silence!!!!
There is no response from the anti-evolutionists to anything that they can not
find an answer for. Thus the answer of choice becomes an collective ignoring
of the data. We look the other way because if we do, we can justify holding
onto our cherished beliefs rather than actually dealing with the data.
I want to ask the anti-evolutionists here on the reflector if this is how God
really wants Christians to behave in the face of difficulty? To bury our
heads in the sand and hope that the nasty, bothersome piece of information
will go away. Art work created by anatomically ancient hominids demands some
type of response from the Christian community and yet silence is our response.
Absolute silence. This is not the high road. It is the low road. I do not
believe this is the way Christ wants us to face the world. He dealt with the
way the Roman world actually was, not with how he hoped it could be.
What is the response to the Australian monolith? Does the art work imply that
they are human? Are they covered by the blood of Christ? What is our
response to be if the 176,000 year for the occupation of Australia holds up?
It means that anatomically non-modern humans had boats that far back and boat
building is a HUMAN activity.
If a believer wants to dismiss the Australian art work based upon the dating
processes, then he should have the guts to say that he thinks the dating
processes are flawed. Unfortunately, no one has that type of courage. All
there is, is silence. Is it because we secretly know in our hearts that this
is an indefensible position? Or is this because we haven't read enough of the
primary literature to know anything about the dating processes? If one gets
his information from the Christian press, he is very likely to get a very
distorted view of what the data actually is. This is why so many former young
earth creationists are now atheists.
Dennis, I am afraid that in some sense I must agree with Denis (one n), not
necessarily in the specifics but in general: Christians are NOT engaging in
the high road in the area of creation/evolution. We selectively choose what
we will read, we selectively choose what we will believe. Evidence and data
have nothing to do with our belief. We christians are timid rabbits who
prefer to live in a world in which the facts are those we imagine them to be,
rather than in a world with the facts as the ARE! This may be good policy to
retain an unvarying theological viewpoint, but it is a massive self-delusion
in which we parade around like the emporer with no clothes. The louder we
proclaim that our science is good, the more we can delude ourselves that we
are clothed. In point of fact, we are naked.
If we ignore the australian finds, then we don't have to change our viewpoint.
If we ignore the primary scientific literature, we don't have to deal with
the difficult issues that the scientists deal with on a daily basis. What
changed me from a YEC to a TE was that daily I had to deal with the geologic
data which literally screamed "OLD EARTH". A person's honesty will allow the
intentional ignoring of evidence for only so long. Eventually one must say,
"We Christians are wrong in the way we harmonize science and the Scripture."
To close, Dennis (two n's) the high road DEMANDS an honesty with what the
facts are. And to achieve that, the high road DEMANDS that one read the
primary literature (not Christian apologetical stuff), to know what the facts
actually are! The high road DEMANDS that one protect himself from fraudulent
claims by Christian apologists of all stripes. An example: Hugh Ross in the
latest Facts & Faith says that modern anthropology teaches that modern man
spread from Mesopotamia to Africa, Asia and Europe, starting about 33,000
years ago. If you hadn't read the primary literature you would have no way of
knowing that what Ross is saying is pure, unadulterated buffalo chips. And
because of what he writes, lots of Christians will now repeat these false
things and look really stupid to those who know anthropology.
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm