Re: [asa] Fw: (aliens) November Newsletter from Reasonable Faith

Gordon,

I had one of those Scofield Reference Bibles when I was a young Christian in the 80's and I remember finding and reading that note, and learned later that was what was to become known as the Gap Theory. 

What I wasn't aware of though was that that was an attempt to accomodate OEC. On the contrary I thought it was simply a theodical attempt to uphold the "no death before the fall" corrollary of YECism. From what I recall, the footnote referenced a verse in 1 Peter where Peter writes about "a world that then was" implying some form of pre-Adamic world.  Again, maybe it was just me but I never inferred that this substantially changed the intepretation of the age of the earth, but just that is was to excuse the primordial death of dinosaurs etc.

It could be that OEC then as now was a closely guarded secret and Scofield was implying this but if so, it was wasted on me. But I never heard any pastor or teacher ever suggest that either. I just assumed that it was an attempt to accomodate the physical evidence of dinosaur skeletons, but not willing to accomodate the dating mechanisms. It wasn't the only example of selective scientific evidence choosing so it wasn't that inconsistent to me at the time.

Thanks

John

----- Original Message ----
From: gordon brown <Gordon.Brown@Colorado.EDU>
To: asa@calvin.edu
Sent: Wed, November 18, 2009 2:31:07 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Fw: (aliens) November Newsletter from Reasonable Faith

On Wed, 18 Nov 2009, John Walley wrote:

> Finally, from another thread it is humorous to hear Cameron finally
> understanding what many have told him along. YEC is the default Christian
> belief in the US. Many if not most on this list came from that although only
> a few will admit it. He acts surprised when he finds a former one. He should
> be surprised instead to find someone who grew up in a church in the US that
> was not YEC,. To my knowledge, I don't even know of any one like that. Most
> non-YEC testimonies are from people who grew up in secular non-religious
> homes like Hugh Ross for instance. To be totally honest I don't know of any
> church anywhere that openly teaches the universe was created at the Big Bang
> 14BYA still today. The best you can find is one that is open to it but they
> still keep it secret like talking about politics.

In the middle of the twentieth century the Scofield Reference Edition was the preferred Bible edition for U.S. evangelicals. Its notes endorsed the gap theory as did a number of popular Christian authors and radio preachers such as M.R. DeHaan on the Radio Bible Class. Although this theory does not specifically deny a young earth, it is compatible with an old earth, which was not fatal for it in evangelical circles. However the supposed Biblical basis for it is unconvincing, and there are other difficulties in reconciling it with scientific discoveries.

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Wed Nov 18 15:52:04 2009