Re: question

Janice said,
<<And BTW - you've misrepresented Holding's views. He is neutral and hasn't taken a position on OE/YEC.>>

I appreciated the quote from Holding on evolution, but I was using "YEC" broadly to refer to those in the creation science camp. I have a friend here in Portland who believes the Bible teaches an old earth but not old animals. In spite of his old earth belief everything else about his approach is decidedly YEC (creation science).

  <<Will do. [Read something I have written] Based upon Holding's response to what you have written, I think I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Excerpt:
Does the Bible say Earth is Flat? A Response to Paul H. Seely ETC>>

You will get a general idea of what to expect, but what Holding says misrepresents me time and again; and you will note that the websites that quote Holding do not usually (ever?) print my essay, just his.

Holding's first sentence is indicative of his bias. It begins by labeling me a "critic" which in the ExNihilo journal connotes a liberal who does not believe the Bible --so readers need not take anything I say seriously. He then says I claim "the Bible teaches" the earth is a flat disc. This is exactly wrong: I claim that God has accommodated the Bible to the prevailing scientific views of his audience. Before Moses ever said a word, the Israelites already believed the earth was flat. It was the view of the audience, not God, that the earth is flat. Hence God is not revealing science, but accommodating his revelation about himself as Creator to the already prevailing scientific views of his audience. Accordingly, he is not teaching them anything about the shape of the earth.

In the third paragraph, Holding says I gave a list of "several" scientifically naive societies that thought the earth was flat. If you read the list in my actual paper, you find not "several" but numerous examples from all over the world with no clear exceptions until the time of Plato.

I could give more examples of his misrepresentation, but you can see for yourself what I have written if you want. My papers on the firmament (but not part 2), the earth and the seas (flat earth), and the tower of Babel can be found on the Gordon Seminary website: http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/AA_GenesisGordonArticlesBib.htm<http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/AA_GenesisGordonArticlesBib.htm> Go down to "Article Collections" then "Individual Articles at the Gordon.edu site" then down to Seely. Part 2 of the firmament article explaining the waters above the firmament can be found at http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/seelypt2.pdf<http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/seelypt2.pdf>

The last section of the Tower of Babel paper shows that my view of accommodation is the same in principle as that of Calvin.

Paul

 
Received on Tue Jun 6 14:21:30 2006