Date: Mon May 09 2005 - 16:51:43 EDT
Gordon,
(Umm, just noticed you share the name with the UK's Chancellor to the
Treasury, widely tipped to be the next UK Prime Minister...)
Here is a predictable negative review by J Sarfati. Do you want to
comment on his review?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0520083938/ref=cm_rev_
next/104-8419911-6208763?%5Fencoding=UTF8
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0520083938/ref=cm_rev
_next/104-8419911-6208763?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-S
ubmissionDate&n=283155&customer-reviews.start=11&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER>
&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155&customer-reviews.st
art=11&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER
<http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews
/stars-2-0.gif> A biased distortion of creationist history, March 31,
2000
Reviewer:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-glance/-/A1XLEBP9QSTJCP/
1/ref=cm_cr_auth/104-8419911-6208763?%5Fencoding=UTF8> Dr. J. Sarfati
(Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1XLEBP9QSTJCP/ref=cm_cr_au
th/104-8419911-6208763?%5Fencoding=UTF8> all my reviews
<file:///exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/13158871/pop-up/ref=cm_rn_bdg_help/104-
8419911-6208763#RN> (REAL NAME)
It is simply a fact to point out that Numbers is an 'apostate' -- the
word means someone who has fallen away from his professed faith. Numbers
made it clear that used the Yellowstone petrified 'forests' as an excuse
to abandon creationism and his professed faith in biblical Christianity.
His bias should be noted when reading his book.
One irony is that many uniformitarian scientists now believe that the
Yellowstone were not a succession of forests which were buried in situ,
but were catastrophically uprooted and transported as a floating log
mat, and later the logs sank root-end first into the lake bottom. See
the Answers in Genesis site.
Numbers' book majors heavily on personalities, with subtle (and some
not-so-subtle) character assassinations, while the high scientific
qualifications of many creationists are downplayed. He invariably gives
the last word to the evolutionist, which often leaves an impression
contrary to the facts as can be seen upon checking the original sources.
See also review by Prof. Edgar Andrews, _Origins_ (Journal of the
Biblical Creation Society) 8(20):21-23, 1995.
Many atheists and their compromising evangelical lackeys have followed
Numbers' ploy of attributing biblical creationism and flood geology to
'the visions of an Adventist prophetess [Ellen White]' via George
McCready Price. A number of papers by Dr Terry Mortenson in the
_Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal_ show that the early 19th century
Scriptural Geologists presented such ideas well before Price. And the
founder of Answers in Genesis (USA), Ken Ham, pointed out that he had
never even heard of Price at the time he founded CSF/AiG, and that he
adopted creationism because of the biblical teaching.
Even Henry Morris's naive off-the-cuff "endorsement" of this book can't
change the incontrovertable FACTS of history: that YEC was the historic
view of the Christian Church from LONG before Ellen White -- Basil the
Great, Martin Luther and John Calvin all believed in 6 literal days, and
even allegorisers like Origen and Augustine furiously denounced pagan
ideas that claimed the earth was older than 6-10 thousand year.
Note that even if Numbers were right about Price, he and all those whon
gleefully parrot him are wrong to think that discrediting Price is
enough to refute creationism -- this is a classic case of the genetic
fallacy.
One useful thing in his book is that he exposes the 'strained efforts'
of re-interpreting Scripture to fit evolution, and the deceit of some
theistic evolutionary college professors '[s]tretching the truth to the
breaking point' (p. 182) when trying to hide what they really believed
from conservative parents and donors.
-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of gordon brown
Sent: 08 May 2005 00:07
To: Hon Wai Lai
Cc: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: RE: Non-truths that do not transform
The history is meticulously documented in "The Creationists: The
Evolution of Scientific Creationism" by Ronald Numbers (published by
Knopf).
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
