Re: RATE Vol. II

What Wise & the other "neo-YECs" described below are arguing for is a kind of collective solipsism: The real world is what exists in the minds of fundamentalists, regardless of what the scientific evidence is. If it could once get through to them that there are other possible ways of reading Genesis than as precisely accurate scientific & historical narratives - without jeapordizing any belief affirmed in the creed - then the dam would break & that kind of stuff would be washed away.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Janice Matchett
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 11:40 AM
  Subject: Re: RATE Vol. II

  At 08:53 AM 5/22/2006, George Murphy wrote:

    Various views on the age of the earth, including objections to an old earth based on radioactive dating, have long since been given a fair hearing. Just because some diehards can get enough money to publish & promote material promoting YEC doesn't mean that it should be given _another_ fair hearing. If we take that route then it never ends.

  @ Kurt Wise knows that those are true statements.

  So, in addition to various other ideas suggested for publication in the PSCF on this topic, I think publishing all the comments in the links noted below would make the point quite powerfully.

  Imitating the "infallible" mortals in the RCC back in the days of Galileo, Kurt Wise, et. al., are deliberately rejecting one scientific (so-called) stance in favor of another scientific stance, strictly on the basis of how they "interpret" the Scriptures.

  Kurt Wise: "Given what we currently think we understand about the world, the majority of the scientific evidence favors an old earth and universe, not a young one. I would therefore say that anyone who claims that the earth is young for scientific evidence alone is scientifically ignorant. "

  Towers Online - The News Service of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary http://www.towersonline.net/story.php?grp=news&id=344
  April 13, 2006 By Jeff Robinson

  Excerpts:

  "Trustees at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on April 11 unanimously approved the creation of two new theological study centers­the Center for Theology and the Arts, and the Center for Theology and Law, during the board's annual spring meeting.

  Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said the new study centers aim at equipping pastors and church leaders to think biblically about pivotal issues which dominate contemporary culture.

  "One of the ways we want to lead Southern Baptists is through helping evangelicals and Southern Baptists in particular to engage some of the most critical issues of our day," Mohler said.-

  "This is not a time for Christians to be out-thought by the world, but in general that is what happens. We find the church behind the times in thinking about some of the most crucial issues of our day."

  Mohler also announced the appointment of two new faculty members to lead the centers. [snip] ...

  ...Mohler also named Kurt Wise as the new director for Southern's Center for Theology and Science, and professor of theology and science. Wise currently serves on the faculty of Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., where he is also director of the Center for Origins Research.

  Wise earned both a doctor of philosophy and master of arts in paleontology from Harvard University. He and his wife Marie have two daughters.

  Wise replaces William Dembski, who is leaving Southern Seminary to join the faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary so he can be closer to his family.

  "With the addition of Kurt Wise, we are recognizing that creation is a ground zero theological crisis point right now in American culture and even in our churches," Moore said. [snip] ..

  *

  A couple of interesting items on the web regarding Kurt Wise:

  [1] 7/3/2003 http://www.christianforums.com/t43741&page=12 "Ok, I just got a email from Dr. Wise. This is what he said:

  "I am a young-age creationist because the Bible indicates the universe is young. Given what we currently think we understand about the world, the majority of the scientific evidence favors an old earth and universe, not a young one. I would therefore say that anyone who claims that the earth is young for scientific evidence alone is scientifically ignorant. Thus I would suggest that the challenge you are trying to meet is unmeetable." ~ Kurt Wise

  [2] December 19th 2004 http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=44017 Theologyweb.com

  Post # 7:

  "...there is new breed of YEC out there, of which Kurt Wise is an example, who recognize that there are scientific problems with their Weltanschauung. I knew Kurt was exceptional, but there are more of his stripe. Affectionately, I'd like to refer to them as neo-YECs, as opposed to the Wieland-Ham-Morris-Safarti-Jorge YECs for which I would propose the oxymoronic moniker paleo-YECs."

  *

  Of course, that sort of stance rightly invites articles such as this from snickering, rabid atheists like Richard Dawkins:

  Sadly, an Honest Creationist - by Richard Dawkins http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=dawkins_21_4

  More:

  [1] What were Galileo's scientific and biblical conflicts with the Church?
  http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/galileo.html

  [2] "..In many ways, the historic controversy of creation vs. evolution has been similar to Galileo's conflict, only with a reversal of roles..."
    http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c007.html

  Quote: "Conflicts between Science and the Bible arise from either a lack of scientific knowledge or a defective understanding of the Bible." ~ Moses Maimonides

  ~ Janice
Received on Mon May 22 11:54:47 2006