RE: have we forgotten who the enemy is?

Feb 18, 2005

Jack wrote:

> These comments are an example of why I started this thread in
> the first
> place. YEC is a problem, but a problem greater than atheistic
> materialism? I hardly think so. What philosophy is rampant
> in our culture?
> It certainly isnt YEC it is materialism.

Jack, what you miss is that I know many atheists who actively fight
Christianity are former young-earth creationists. YEC actually drives
people to that atheistic materialistic world view you think is such a
problem. In fact, I think one of the fastest ways to atheism is to teach
a person YEC (which tells its adherents that if evolution is true then
the Bible is false) and send that person into the study of science.
When they come to believe that evolution is true (which most of them
will do) they then do what they have been programmed to do--reject the
Bible as false. And thus another atheist has arisen.

Indeed in my own life I have struggled against becoming an atheist. I
see YEC nonsense and wonder if god is real because it seems that one
must deny all reality to believe in him. And on the other hand, those
who say it figurative cause me problems as well because I think it
reduces any divine communication (see my posts here on the noisy channel
theorem).

At least
> creationists get part of
> it right, the most important part too. Glenn and George pointed out
> examples where YEC silliness is a barrier to bringing the
> Gospel to people,
> generally people that are already caught in the trap of atheistic
> materialism.

Wrong. Go read Ed Babinski's book Leaving the Fold or even peruse some
of the stories I have collected at
http://home.entouch.net/dmd/person.htm
YEC drives people into atheism because the YECs teach that if evolution
is true, then the Bible is false. Well, evolution is true--what does
that imply if you believe the YEC teaching.

Don't believe that this is what they are teaching? Try these

        "To believe in evolution is to deny a universal paradise before
Adam, because evolution necessarily implies that before Adam there was
struggle, cruelty and brutality, animals eating animals, and death. Is
the world going to be restored to that? If you believe in evolution,
you must deny a universal paradise before Adam (because you believe that
there was death and struggle millions of years before Adam), and also at
the end of time (because the Bible teaches the world will be restored to
what it used to be). Thus, evolution not only strikes at the heart and
the foundation but at the hope of Christianity as well." ~ Ken Ham, The
Lie, (San Diego: Master Books, 1987), p. 77

"Do we believe the Bible or do we believe the speculations of
scientists? Scientists believe death began millions of years before man
evolved onto the scene. The Bible records that death began with Adam."
~ Jobe Martin The Evolution of a Creationist, (Rockwall, Texas: Biblical
Discipleship Publishers, 1994), p. 45.

"The God of the Bible is a God of wisdom and power and love, and such a
God could never be guilty of such an incredibly inefficient and cruel
scheme of development as evolution." ~ Henry M. Morris, A History of
Modern Creationism, (San Diego: Master Book Publishers, 1984), p. 328

"Thus the Biblical cosmologist finally must recognize that the
geological ages can have had no true objective existence at all, if the
Bible is true. There must, therefore, be some better explanation for
the geological strata and the fossils which they contain." ~ Henry M.
Morris, Biblical Cosmology and Modern Science, (Nutley, New Jersey:
Craig Press, 1970), p. 24

"Can that texts be trusted to tell Christians the essential truth? If
it is clearly wrong in its science and history, areas where moderns have
the sharpest insight, should the Bible be trusted in the much murkier
areas of faith and ethics?" ~ John Mark Reynolds, "The Bible and
Science: Toward a Rational Harmonization," in Robert T. Walsh, editor,
The Third International Conference on Creationism, (Pittsburgh: Creation
Science Fellowship, 1994), p. 454.

"Evolution is the most wasteful, inefficient, and heartless process that
could ever be devised by which to produce man. If evolution is true,
then billions upon billions of animals, have suffered and died in a
cruel struggle for existence for a billion years, and many entire kinds
(e.g. dinosaurs) have appeared and then died out long before man
evolved. The God of the Bible could never be guilty of such a cruel and
pointless charade as this." ~ Henry M. Morris, Biblical Basis for Modern
Science, (Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse, 1984), p. 114

"What all of this means is that, as evolutionism is the foundation of
all that is false and harmful, so creationsim must be the foundation of
everything true and good." ~ Henry M. Morris, The Long War Against God,
(Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse, 1989), p. 304

"The entire scientific community has accepted the great age of the
universe; indeed, it has built all its science upon that supposition.
They will not give it up without a fight. In fact, they will never give
it up, even if it means compromising their reason or even their
professional integrity, for to admit creation is to admit the existence
of the God of the Bible." Paul M. Steidl, _The Earth, The Stars, and The
Bible_ (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed , 1979) p. 94.

"But of course, 'none dare call it compromise!' No evangelical would
ever admit to compromising with evolutionary humansim. They simply call
it 'interpretation.' From our point of view, standard system of
evolutionary geological ages is a clear-cut compromise with atheistic
evolutionism, and it is very sad that Christians who profess to believe
the Bible as the Word of God will not acknowledge this. Not only is
theistic evolution such a compromise, but so is progressive creation,
the day/age theory, the gap theory, the poetical theory, the local-flood
theory, and the tranquil flood theory." ~ Henry M. Morris, A History of
Modern Creationism, (San Diego: Master Book Publishers, 1984), p. 329

I could go on and on with this. They set people up for moving to
atheism.

Within the Church YEC can certainly be
> responsible for making
> someone question their faith, but it ultimately is atheistic
> materialism
> that captures them if they give in to skepticism. The
> ultimate enemy is
> materialism, not YEC.

Not with statements like those above.

>
> And I see ID treated with virtually the same disdain on this
> list as YEC. I
> hardly think you can accuse ID of being the same barrier to
> spreading the
> gospel as YEC.

Anything that teaches that what we see with our eyes can't be true
because it makes the bible false is the same sort of barrier.
Received on Fri Feb 18 07:07:24 2005