FW: [asa] Review of Beyond the Firmament

The book doesn't go into much depth on theological issues, except to show
why we shouldn't expect a scientific message from scripture. The author is
a conservative Christian (Reformed Presbyterian background) speaking
primarily to other conservative Christians, so the basis of common beliefs
is implied or stated at various places throughout. However, I've included a
few quotes below.

(p. 3) "Our faith rests on certain material facts, like the incarnation,
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh."

(p. 8) "Over time, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the Creationist
claim that any attack on the scientific integrity of Genesis is also an
attack on the Gospel of Jesus Christ...When the claims of Creation Science
inevitably find themselves at odds with the claims of secular science,
Christian evangelism is reduced to highly technical discussions of
astronomy, cosmology, geology, biology, paleontology and anthropology. To
me, all of this seems like nothing but a giant evangelical distraction,
clouding the simple good-news message of Jesus."

(p. 69) "This dogmatic approach to the natural sciences unfortunately plays
right into the hands of the enemies of orthodox Christianity, who
entusiastically agree that the Scriptures are intended to teach creation
science. But for atheists, deists, agnostics, and "liberal" Christians, the
apparent scientific "errors" contained in the Scriptures only demonstrate
their unreliability in matters of both science and doctrine. One of the
many tragic consequences of the creation science movement is that it
unintentionally undermines the essential Christian doctrines about God, man,
sin, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by casting doubt on the
literal meaning of the entire Bible."

Jon Tandy

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of Michael Roberts
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 5:47 AM
To: Jon Tandy; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] Review of Beyond the Firmament

What does the book say about Jesus the centre of our faith.

We can spend so much time fiddling with details eg dating the flood in
2993BC or %my ago that we forget the message of redemption

Michael

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Received on Sun Jan 6 22:09:26 2008