>Things are so quiet around here I suspect Clark is starting to
>think he's the only one subscribed to this list :-).
They have been too quiet on this list because no one has said anything
controversial in a while. I think it is time that I volunteered for that task.
Last Sunday at church the preacher was covering 2 Tim 3:10-4:3. He pointed
out that this passage was directed to the christians. Something really
struck me about this passage that I had always seen as a warning to
nonchristians, but is really a warning to Christians. The passage says,
"All Scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching. rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work" 2 Tim 3:16 NIV.
Obviously that is for the Christian. But then Paul goes on in 4:2-3 to say,
"I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of
season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful
instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a
great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." NIV
What struck me forcefully is that this is directed at the Christians not the
unbelievers. It is the Christians who have those itching ears and want to
hear only what agrees with them! For years I have heard this verse used
against non-christians and evolutionists but since a non-christian cannot be
encouraged by the Wrod of God and they hold NO doctrine the passage can't
apply to them.
Here is the controversial part. It has been my experience that vast numbers
of young-earth creationists will not read anything that disagrees with their
own opinion. This also applies to many of the old-earth anti-evolutionists.
Is this unwillingness to read that which disagrees with an accepted opinion
an example of gathering "around them a great number of teachers to say what
their itching ears want to hear."?
Maybe this will get this board going again.
glenn
Adam, Apes, and Anthropology: Finding the Soul of Fossil Man
and
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm