Vernon Jenkins wrote:
> Dear All,
> Let me begin by thanking those who responded to my recent posting -
> particularly to Christopher Sharp and Glenn Morton for filling in the
You are welcome!
> details of the claims re SN1987A. Before making further comment,
> however, I would like to expand a little on my reasons for challenging
> the far-reaching conclusions which have been drawn.
> The Bible's last Book begins "This is a Revelation from Jesus Christ
> ...". Its contents, therefore, need to be taken very seriously by all
> who take to themselves the title 'Christian'. Let us observe a number of
> interesting things about this Book which make it rather special:
[Text deleted]
What on earth has all this to do with SN 1987A, or anything else like that?
> Now Glenn's response to such remarkable factual evidence is to ask
> "Evidence for what?". According to the Scripture, it is evidence that
> has the power to make one wise. You will ask, In what sense? Well, once
> one sees that such coincidences (and there are a multitude more) can
> have arisen neither by chance nor by human device, then it has to be
> acknowledged that they have been engineered and brought to our attention
> at this point in time by the Lord. I suggest that, were such evidences
> available to SETI, the 'Extraterrestial Life Discovered!' bells would be
> tolling loud and long in every corner of the globe. But the reality here
> is rather different. As enemies of God (even after we become Christian,
> or so it seems) we regard this as 'bad news' because it highlights the
> extent to which many of us have wilfully manipulated God's Word in the
> name of the god 'Science'. A case in point concerns the Flood. How
"good" science or "god" science?
> anyone, having read the narrative of Gen.6-8 and our Lord's
> corroboration of the matter (Mt.24:36-39), can reasonably conclude -
> and attempt to convince others - that this was a purely 'local' matter -
> selectively destroying some men and some species of animals - is surely
> breathtakingly arrogant.
Well in fact the Bible doesn't say the flood was global, it says it was
worldwide, which meant at best the KNOWN world to the author(s) or the
people Genesis was originally written for. Ice core samples from Greenland
and Antarctica clearly show that there was no global flood in the last few
1000 years. This is on top of other evidence.
> Christians are, by definition, people who love truth (see Jn.18:37).
> They believe that the events described as taking place in the 'courts of
> heaven' (see Job 1,2 and 1Kings 22) are real; that there, Satan is a
> frequent petitioner, and that, sometimes, his requests are granted. They
> are also familiar with the words of Romans 1 where Paul informs us that
> God may actually add fuel to the unbelief of those who deny him. Such
> potential supernatural activity is, of course, beyond the ken of most
> scientists. But, I suggest, those who are Christian have little excuse
> for dismissing such possibilities. Clearly, a little tweak here or there
> in what we deem to be 'inviolably constant' would be enough to set the
> pulses of the unbelieving scientist racing. In the light of such
> possibilities, I have serious concerns re the claims arising from
> SN1987A.
All YECs I've argued with on the light of SN 1987A, and other distant
objects, have so far proposed no alternative explanations as to how
you can see such objects in a 6000 year old "biblical" universe, other
than waving their arms in the air and invoking changes in the speed of
light, the appearance of age and other similar arguments for which no
shred of evidence is provided.
> It appears to me that rather than the Christian looking to score points
> in this life - following the pretence that the supernatural (if it
> exists) has no business poking its nose into the procedures of science -
> by far the safer option is to believe the Scriptures and ensure the safe
> delivery of one's soul to its Maker! (see Luke 16:19-31)
> Sincerely,
> Vernon
Sincerely,
Christopher M. Sharp
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