From: Josh Bembenek (jbembe@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Oct 09 2003 - 11:21:09 EDT
>This suggests a question: Is it considered good Christian practice among
>YEC's to demonize the opposition?
As a Mormon, this was a very common practice for me. All other Xtian groups
besides Mormonism are prey to Satan's lies because they do not affirm the
fullness of truth that is restored in the Book of Mormon and they rely
solely upon the Bible with its errors and fallibility. I get pretty wary of
anyone who accuses others of being prey to Satan for having a view different
than theirs. This accomplishes two things: it says those who disagree are
tricked by Satan, while simultaneously it places that person within some
imaginary circle of holy folks who are "Satan-free." If I read Paul
correctly, he referred to himself as "The Chief of All Sinners" right up
until his death. Who among us would claim to be a better Saint than Paul?
Yet he appears to never have reached a place where he was "Satan-Free." I
have never seen any human that was "satan-free" and for me it is a constant
struggle to battle the enemy and not fall into his tricks on a daily basis.
And for someone to make such claims on such a controversial and UNRESOLVED
issue such as the origins of the universe is quite bold IMO. However, I've
heard about ONE Satan-Free human, and that is where I place my ultimate
hope.
That is, is it acceptable Christian
>practice to ascribe the well-informed scientific judgments of professional
>scientists (including the majority of the Christians who are professional
>scientists) to the work of Satan?
Well, Christ went around calling Pharisees a "brood of vipers." If Ken Ham
is right, and has the same license as Christ to defend the issue of origins,
then yes, we are all a brood of vipers dispelling error and confusion when
the bible is crystal clear about both the age and nature of our origins. I
personally think he's a little carried away, because I don't believe he has
that license, nor is his position on the bible so completely proven and
clear to give him complete authority to command YEC. But he does anyway, he
believes his position and defends it adamantly. And he's successful at it.
Did Mr. Ham offer any scriptural support
>for this practice of Christian demonizing?
Just the fact that his view of scripture is the equivalent of "The Word Of
God." I even spoke to his aide after one session with him, who was telling
me that Satan can lie to all of us. I asked him what happens if Satan has
lied to him to believe in a young earth? He replied "you mean the bible is
wrong?" We kept going back and forth, I said "no the bible is not wrong,
but you have interpreted the bible wrong to say that the earth is young,"
and he would simply reply "I stick with what the bible says." There is no
answer to the possibility of their deception. Ken spoke at length about the
importance of presuppositions and how they influence our view, which I found
very accurate. One of Ken's presuppositions is that the only legitimate and
accurate interpretation of Genesis happens to be what he believes in.
I also asked Ken Ham during Q&A the question of what happens if the earth is
actually old despite his reading of Genesis. I asked him how he would come
to understand an old earth. He said that such a hypothetical was impossible
and denied the question because what Genesis says. I replied that I didn't
believe in his ability to be an infallible interpreter of Genesis, at which
point my pastor stepped in. To be fair, Ken did back off after that and
reiterated through some of his answers that he is not infallible. My
impression is that he is so familiar with debating and verbal sparring that
he may not completely comprehend the implications of his position or how he
defends it.
Josh
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