Re: Living and Worshipping in the Real World

About twenty years ago a student who was heavily into YEC arranged for an
ICR film series to be shown in my church. Fortunately, I was able to get
the church to bring in a speaker to present a different view. His
evangelical credentials were impeccable, and he was able to point out the
scriptural problems with the ICR teachings, as well as the fact that many
prominent believers from the early church fathers to present church
leaders including the professors of Old Testament at my denomination's
seminary were opposed to YEC.

More recently when someone from ICR was scheduled to speak at my church, I
and several others in the congregation wrote letters expressing our
concern, and the invitation was canceled. I think the important point to
be made is how harmful it is for people to get the idea that the Bible
requires acceptance of ICR theories.

One advantage that I have is that I reside in a university town and that
many of the other employers are involved in scientific research or closely
related activities, and so the scientific knowledge of my congregation is
better than that of many.

Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006, David Opderbeck wrote:

> I'm wondering if there are others on the list who go to "typical"
> evangelical-type churches, and how you handle the dissonance between what
> you see and hear at church concerning faith-science issues and what you
> think about such issues. I noticed some brochures for an AIG seminar on my
> church's bulletin board today and it made me feel ill. In the past, Ken
> Hamm did a seminar at my church, and the Senior Pastor is a fan. I've
> spoken with him about this and there's a big enough tent to allow me to be
> involved in leadership and such despite my "old earth" views. Yet, most
> of the leadership (at least those few who think about this stuff) accepts
> YEC, and I'm sure the K-12 school we have at the church promotes YEC (I send
> my kids to the public school). I love my church and have a long history of
> many years of service there. I wouldn't say that the church as a whole is
> militantly YEC or something like that; it's not something you would even
> ordinarily hear about in the course of a typical Sunday, though occasionally
> someone offers a Sunday School classes that eaches YEC. Yet, as is the case
> in evangelical churches and in the evangelical subculture all around the U.S.,
> YEC is always there beneath the surface. I just wonder if others have
> stories of how they've navigated these waters.
>
Received on Mon Jan 23 10:49:41 2006