RE: RATE Vol. II

Hi George, you wrote:
 
1) The distinction that some have made between an organizational
position &
a membership requirement is important. I don't think we should limit
membership to those who accept an old earth. There is precedent for
this -
I'm know that there are members of the American Physical Society who
don't
accept the organization's official statement on the teaching of
evolution.
 
A position statement will serve as a damper to those who don't accept it
anyway. You certainly don't need to cloud the issue with a membership
requirement. I'm with Randy and Keith on that.
 
2) I think Dick's statement is a good start. But we need to think
carefully about how such a position statement should be phrased, & not
rush
into it.
 
Agreed.
 
3) One question is whether we should refer just to an old _earth_ or an
old
_universe_.
 
The voluminous amount of data we can bring to bear on the age of the
earth makes it the best candidate. We can't sample anything beyond our
own solar system. We can infer the age of the universe, but we can know
the approximate age of the earth with certainty.
 
4) There is little point in making such a statement unless the
organization
is willing to promote it strongly among conservative Christians.
 
I suggest we devote one issue of PSCF to old earth evidence submitted by
all the members with the best articles selected by Roman Miller. Make
it a special issue where we can order hundreds of copies each and hand
them out to whoever we think can best benefit from them. The numbers of
new members we can recruit from that alone would more than make up for
any lost from taking a stance in the first place.
 
5) To be fair, there's a possibility that such a statement could have a

backlash from non-Christians in the media: "See how enlightened these
Christian scientists are - they've just caught on to something that
everyone
else has known for a couple of centuries!"
 
Media attention is a good thing! Besides, I would rather they say that
then to say we haven't figured it out yet.
 
Dick Fischer
Dick Fischer, Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org/>
Received on Mon May 22 00:37:39 2006