Re: Ken Ham endorsed by my Christi

Ken W Smith (ken.w.smith@cmich.edu)
Sun, 18 Feb 1996 15:56:48 -0500

Hi Roger and fellow ASAers,
I certainly agree with Roger's concerns about Christian unity. In a
way, that was my major point to the radio station manager.
I listened to five of Ken Ham's 90 second short programs several
weeks ago. One of the spots advertised Ham's new book for children, _A is
for Adam_. The other four radio spots attacked "compromisers" in the
churches and called for a "renewal" in the churches and for evangelical
churches to "return to to the Bible". All of these talks were aimed at
Christians and called for Christian churches to clean up! All of this
sounded very good until I realized that I had already been classified with
the "compromisers" and others "who deny Scripture"!
The problem here is the level of significance attributed to this
belief. I believe that the age of the earth is a *minor* issue in the
church. Ham believes that it is a *major* issue. He will (repeatedly)
stress that unless one interprets Genesis 1-11 correctly one cannot get the
rest of the Bible right. Genesis 1-11 is "foundational" he says.

Several asides:
It is difficult to argue appropriately about a topic when there is a
difference in opinion about the *value* placed on the topic.
I frankly don't think too much about the age of the earth. But I
believe that the STARS are OLD. I believe in an "old" universe. So I guess
I am an OUCS. (I've been trying to find a word that begins with an H that
would replace Scientist so I could claim to be an OUCH, which is how the
station manager classified me, I think...)

In Christ,
Ken

At 02:41 PM 2/18/96, Roger wrote:
<some other good points snipped>
>I guess the point I'm trying to make is that it goes both ways. It might be
>that both YECs and OECs are equally remiss in 'overstepping' the bounds of
>'gentlemanly' debate and may, perhaps inadvertently, come across as
>attacking people holding the opposite viewpoint. I wrote a couple/three
>months ago how this is evidence of the success of the Enemy's strategy in
>dividing evangelical Christians and the Church at large.
>
>If Ken Ham, or anyone for that matter, whether YECs or OECs, is seen
>attacking the =person= of someone holding a viewpoint opposite to theirs,
>then someone in the audience, or the person debating them, should rebuke
>them in public! If it occurs in a discussion group such as this one or one
>similar, the same should take place. "Our battle is not with flesh and
>blood but with principalities and powers..."
>
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Ken W. Smith, Professor of Mathematics
Interim Director, Office of Institutional Research "65 percent of
Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 all statistics
Work phone: 517-774-7222, fax: 517-774-4250 are made up"
Home phone & FAX: 517-772-5042 -- Anonymous