At 12:28 PM 4/15/98 -0500, J.D. Guzman wrote:
>
>Well you seem to be absolutely positive that your interpretation of the
>facts it the correct one. I care to believe otherwise. I would be hard
>pressed to grant you that much authority. Trust me it has nothing to do
>with you personally, but rather the fact that we as humans don't have all
>the facts, and until we do, which IMHO won't happen, no one can claim to
>know the truth.
I want to correct a mis-conception. I am convinced that what I offer works
better and explains more data within a coherent view than what the YECs or
Mesopotamian flood advocates offer. I am also convinced that YEC is 100%
wrong. That is not the same as saying that my interpretation of the facts
are the correct one. There is a big difference between the two assertions.
My view very well might be absolutely wrong also. In that case, I have no
explanation or scenario for what is in Genesis.
>
>Philosophically speaking I do believe in objective truth, however, I don't
>think that humans are capable of understanding or acquiring it.
Then I would assert that you don't really believe it exists.
>
>Now you seem to base you premise on the "fact" that Christians can't handle
>observational data. Let me ask you, are Christians the only ones that can't
>handle observational data? I would venture to say that even among the most
>scientific of people there will always be a reluctance to avoid or disregard
>evidence that is contrary to ones opinions.
Granted. But this is the argument my children used to give me when they
wanted to go to a party that I didn't want them going to. "Johnny's dad
lets him go!" They used to say. So instead of dealing with the way you and
other anti-evolutionists OUGHT to behave, you merely point to the
misbehavior of others. Well, those others are not Christians, are not held
to a christian standard and are not supposed to be serving the Lord of
Lords. Under this condition, who do you think OUGHT to behave better--the
atheist or the Christian? What you are offering is like saying Johnny is
dumb so I want to be dumb also. It is a self defeating position.
>Now I would like to ask you something Glenn. You have given me the
>impression that you are a pretty devoted Christian, however, there is
>something that strikes me inconsistent. You argue that we can't take the
>Bible literally all the time, and that there are some things in the Bible
>that are inaccurate.
Can you refresh my memory on this. In general I tend to hold that the
Genesis account is entirely historical. Is there a mis-spelling or two?
yes. But that is well documented. So please remind me of specifically what
you think I don't believe happened in the Scripture.
Now let me ask you this, if there is one thing that is
>inaccurate in the Bible, then how can we be sure that any of the Bible is
>right? How do we know what parts of the Bible are correct and which ones
>are not? Personally I think that either we accept the whole of the Bible as
>true and admit that there are things that we can't understand, or we
>attribute the whole text to the imagination of man in an attempt to find
>purpose to his life. To argue for a middle ground is like walking on
>quicksand.
To tell a young christian who is going into geology that the entire geologic
column doesn't exist, or that overthrusts don't exist is to condemn that
person to have a crisis of faith when he finds that what the Christians told
is is false. Similarly to tell him that all the rocks can be explained by a
global flood will also condemn him to that crisis when he learns that
burrows and footprints (which can not be transported by the waters of the
global flood) are plentiful throughout the geologic column.
And he will eventually ask the same question I just asked. If Christians
are not trustworthy in getting their facts correct, and the earlier
Christians weren't trustworthy either, how can one know that there was a
resurrection when it was reported by the original christians whose veracity
we can't check.
Think about it.
glenn
Adam, Apes, and Anthropology: Finding the Soul of Fossil Man
and
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm