Re: [asa] Glenn's views

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:37:17 GMT "burgytwo@juno.com" <burgytwo@juno.com>
writes:
> Michael observed: "I think people who misuse Job like that make
> mockery of the bible and ifind it offensive as well as risible.
> however it is because of the literalist mindset many evangelicals
> have and if I can say it gently both Glenn and Dick hold on to it."
>
> I can't speak for either of these gentlemen, but I have interacted
> with Glenn over many years and edited one of his books. I think you
> misunderstand his position.
>
> Burgy
>
Sorry, Burgy, but I have to echo Michael's analysis. Glenn has come a
long way from his YEC beginnings in terms of time, science and the things
that go along with these changes. But the underlying commitment to total
inerrancy continues. Where YECs insist on the interpretation that yields
a quasi-Biblical chronology (it sprang from the notion of a creation day
per earthly millennium and the correction of a 4-year error in dating the
birth of Christ), Glenn insists on an interpretation that provides for a
miraculous creation of Adam and a Flood ~5 My that killed all of
humankind except Noah's family. Both want a literalist interpretation of
scripture within their parameters.

Dick gives a different twist to scripture, with "men" ancient and Adam
created only a few thousand years ago. As a consequence, Adam's Fall had
to be passed without descent to all the rest of the "human" race so that
they could become truly human. He won't agree, but to me it plays hob
with redemption.

I will grant that they follow a strange kind of literalism, neglecting
the explicit language of the original, which has an "expanse" onto which
the heavenly bodies are placed. There is water above the expanse with
sluice gates to release it, and birds fly in front of (below) the
expanse. This biblical picture cannot be fit onto a contemporary factual
description. This came as a shock to me, for I began where Glenn began, a
commitment to YEC. I swallowed hard and accepted the Hebrew text, where
Glenn looked for an event he could fit into his version, with stretching
of the text to fit his needs.

I like both Glenn and Dick, but I have to disagree with them and, on this
point, agree with Michael, who has extra letters that he has to dispose
of.
Dave

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Received on Thu Jan 11 23:27:13 2007