Re: [asa] Van Till

I agree with Iain, I cannot find anything one way or the
other about Howard's position as a Christian.

Like others have expressed, I think Howard was helpful in
pulling me out of the need to hang on to a concordist view.

On the process theology, I can definitely understand why
he would find it attractive, though I certainly see there
are serious problems reconciling that with Calvinist
traditions. Those of us who walk the way of physicists
suffer these issues exactly because we question. So my
sympathies are deeply with his difficult journey.

What surprised me most in his essay was the resistance he
receive over his publishing the fourth day. I have heard
before from somewhere about the full page diatribe against
him.

Whatever one's view of Howard's place, we as the church are
to take our example for scripture. On that model we should be
waiting and hoping for our brother's return, not folding our
arms in contempt for his choices and carrying out the decisions
of salvation in our own abysmal state. If the world inflicts
harm on us, then we come to the church for healing and a will to
always do good. We should welcome the sinners because each
of us has been bought for a very high price that we can never
fully compute till the day we stand in the heavenly court.

by Grace we proceed,
Wayne

> There have been posts to the Christians In Science newsgroup to suggest
> that Howard Van Till is no longer a Christian, based on the talk referenced on
> Dembski's weblog here:
>
> http://www.uncommondescent.com/archives/1358
>
> However, on reading Van Till's article, albeit given to a "freethought"
> conference, I was unable to say whether he was or was not a Christian - it is
> clear that his views have altered recently, but I'm not sure how radical the
> change is. I consider it extremely bad form to question someone else's faith
> unless they have explicitly denied they have that faith. Can anyone else
> comment on how radical a change this is. If he has indeed rejected
> Christianity, from having been a leading spokesman for Theistic Evolution, then it is
> going to give the ID people quite a bit of propaganda among Christian circles,
> sadly.
>
> What is also clear from the article is the abysmally shoddy way Van Till was
> treated by his Christian associates, who tended to respond with "knee-jerk"
> reactions.
>
>

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Received on Wed Jan 31 04:19:41 2007