Re: extent of YEC thought

Joel Duff wrote:

> If [Walter Brown] is right [about being able to reconstruct the events of
> the bibilcal flood independent of scripture], why aren't there some atheistic,
> but ambitious, scientists out there trying to make a name for themselves by
> trying to overthrow the great distortion of modern geology?
>

I think this hits quite close to my impression. If this was
just a matter of some "old guard" with a huge vested interest,
you would have a minority view that would be able to demonstrate,
on scientific terms alone, that their interpretation is consistent
with the evidence. Not only that, they could show that they can
do better than the old guard (or at least as well) and they would
continue to find real holes and genuine inconsistencies in the old
guard's reasoning. They might be ridiculed, maligned and have
a horrendously hard life, but in the end, if their approach finds
the oil, some people would finally get wise to this "great distortion
of modern geology" eventually.

And there is the issue of scientific integrity. If this were a distortion,
there would be people who would see through it and would not allow
their integrity to be compromised.

I think it fair to reflect that YECs are far from underfunded too:
unlike the case for a typical minority view (regardless of whether
it is ultimately correct or not). So even against a tide of severe
opposition, a minority view seems to win (when it is right), for the
simple fact that it is basically right.

YECs seem to be "creative" at inventing reasons for various
observations in geology and biology. However, I reckon,
it seems pretty hard to imagine successful prospecting on a
YEC model, though a good geologist may still do well to pray
for God's wisdom to help stumble on a good find. They have
not been very helpful with the issue of viral infectivity either.
Their hand waiving dismissal does nothing to inform us about
the likelihood of transferability. And they claim evolution doesn't
predict anything, but bioinformatics uses homology all the time
to try to glean out structure in proteins and RNA.

Though maybe I have missed something, I can't think there is
anything one can gain from holding a YEC position scientifically.
The only thing it offers is that it allows one to read scripture in a
very narrow way.

By Grace we proceed,
Wayne
Received on Fri May 26 20:10:24 2006