From: Dawsonzhu@aol.com
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 10:08:14 EST
Bob wrote:
> I don't think the explanation for the falsehoods that are regularly
> perpetrated by YECs is a simple as Walt puts it. I think there is a kind of
> wrong-headedness in some YEC spokesmen and debaters that has led them to
> think that since they are right, they may say anything in order to defend or
> promote their creation science and cast aspersions on good science that
> provides evidence for an ancient earth and evolution. People who will say
> anything have lost a sense of truth and falsehood, but that does not make
> them any less responsible for their falsehoods. When is a falsehood not a
> lie? Not when it is the means that the end justifies. When is perpetrating
> falsehoods to secure the ends not malice? That's a hard one for me to sort
> out.
>
In a way, it is aiding and abetting a kind of fraud. Moreover, even if
it is decidedly unintentional, the consequences are the same.
However, I would wager that "ignoring facts" is something that we all
have the capacity to do. Sometimes that's even a virtue. Like when it
comes to being faithful to a friend or loved one when others say bad
things about them. Those bad things may even appear to be pretty
much true, but it is one's faithfulness that counts here, not one's
willingness to accept these "facts".
This may even be the impetus from which creationism feeds on.
Being faithful to God is a virtue of course. It is acknowledging who
is sovereign over the universe. I think the challenge is in understanding
that this faithfulness must be directed toward appreciating God's creation,
rather than simply believing a book. We should be faithful to uphold God's
place when pundits say "where is your God?". It is easier to holler "this
book ... this book", and maybe less terrifying than to search in the darkness
for WHO this God is. But I think we should be faithful enough to trust that
God will meet us in that darkness. It is hard, but our faithful commitment
to
truth is the best example we can leave behind to the next generation on what
a Christian is supposed to be.
The main thing I wish I could understand is, (1) how to change a mind that
has
slipped into this mode for a non-virtuous reasoning, and (2) how to prevent
my
own mind from becoming this way on some issue. Although creationism is not
on my list of screw ups, other things are.
By Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Tue Oct 28 2003 - 10:11:42 EST