Re: [asa] Best Way to Approach YECs?

--- Mountainwoman <hrc54@alltel.net> wrote:

> I am a member of ASA and of a Baptist church which offers elective classes on
> Wednesday nights. One class early last year consisted of a six-week
> presentation of a DVD of Ken Ham's Creationism seminar as presented at the
> Thomas Road Baptist Church in 2002, followed by a brief Q&A each evening (at
> which I was the only dissenting voice out of around 25 attendees). It was a
> very slick presentation of YEC, at the end of which our senior pastor said:
> "We're going to offer this again. Tell everyone how good it was. I want more
> of our church family exposed to it." He was not at any of the Q&A sessions.
>
>
>
> Immediately thereafter I began working on a syllabus for a six-week course on
> alternatives to YEC. Until a week ago, it was basically an overview of the
> entire field. Then I had a thought: Since YECs believe that God's Word
> trumps God's works every time, the only approach that would have a chance of
> succeeding in getting YECs to consider the possibility of OEC would be to
> demonstrate that the Bible can be interpreted to support OEC, and that I
> should focus on this approach for the syllabus. For example, Genesis 1:1
> interpreted as ". . . had created . . .", the possibility of an undetermined
> period of time between the days of creation, the use of "let" in Genesis 1:9
> and 1:11 implying the use of natural processes, references to an old earth in
> Habakkuk 3:6b and in 2 Peter 3:5a, etc.
>
>
>
> I would use as sources C. John Collins's Genesis 1-4, Henri Blocher's In the
> Beginning, John Walton's NIV Application Commentary on Genesis, Hugh Ross's
> Creation and Time, Rodney Whitefield's Reading Genesis One (on order), David
> Snoke's A Biblical Case for an Old Earth (on order) and a whole bunch of PSCF
> and other papers on the Flood.
>
>
>
> I think I have enough credibility with the ministerial staff (having taught
> adult Sunday School classes, etc.) that I might be allowed to give a six-week
> course, though that remains to be seen. I have not yet shared my syllabus
> with any of the staff.
>
>
>
> I have the following questions for the list:
>
> 1. Does this seem like a reasonable approach? If not, why not?

Whether it's reasonable depends on the open-mindeness of your congregation and
staff. I haven't tried such a thing with my congregation, but a while ago we
had a Wednesday night series on "How now shall we live" by Charles Colson. In
some of the units he takes potshots at evolution -- not necessarily at Old
Earch. I facilitated a breakout group and tried to point out that there are
Christian practicing scientists who accept evolution. My breakout group dropped
down to just a couple of members. Our pastor accepts an old earth but is
absolutely adamant that evolution could not have occurred because the genetic
code wouldn't permit it. I've had civil discussions with him about evolution,
but I don't think it changed anything. In sum: you have a much better chance
with OE than with evolution.
>
> 2. Has anyone tried it, and if so, how did it go?

See above.
>
> 3. Are there additional resources I should investigate for "Biblical Support
> for Old Earth Creationism"?

You seem to have a pretty good lineup. You might take a look at Howard Van
Till's "When Faith and Reason Meet" in "Man and Creation" published by the
Hillsdale College Press ~1995. Van Till discusses the views of St. Augustine
and St. Basil on creation, mainly to support an evolutionary creation view, but
even if you don't want to go into evolution, the views of St. Augustine and St.
Basil would give food for thought. You might want to look at "On the literal
meaning of Genesis" by St. Augustine and "The Hexaemeron" by St. Basil. The
Hexaemeron is available for download from the Christian Classics Electronic
Library. On the Literal Measning of Genesis goes in and out of print. Maybe
you could find it in the library of a local Catholic College or even a Catholic
Church library. Possibly another useful book would be Howard Van Till"s "The
Fourth Day: What the Bible and the heavens are telling us about creation".
Howard accepts evolution, but "The fourth day ..." gives a great deal of
evidence for an ancient universe, in a quite readable fashion.
>
>
>
> Paul Bruggink
>
> Clarington, PA
>
>
>

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
248.652.4148 (home) 248.821.8156 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

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Received on Wed Jul 19 20:50:48 2006