Don and the Gang,
I know this reply is a little late, but I thought I would comment on
it before I left for spring break. As a student I found *Fingerprint of
God* (FoG) a great resource to begin the process of reconciliation of my
faith with my academics. I have taken several mol. bio. classes and
struggled with the 6 24-hr creation days, because I found it unthinkable
that all the different dating methods were wrong or that there was a secret
society whose sole job was to lie about dating. I was strong in my own faith
and willing to accept it on that faith alone, but saw the dating (of the
earth/universe) controversy as a hindrance to my witness to my peers. =20
As for the *FoG*, it approaches creation assuming you don't know
much science and that you are not a Christian. It seems to be written as a
evangelistic tool. The book teaches basic cosmology in the first 12
chapters, showing how cosmology points towards a Creator. He does this
without mentioning the God of the Bible until the last 5 chapters. There he
shows how the God of the Bible fits with this. I would recommend it. =20
Ross (the author) approaches the topic from an angle I haven't found in any
of ICR books. By this I mean he doesn't prove his theory using negative
proofs. I have found ICR readings to sound like: The theory of evolution is
wrong because, such and such proves an aspect of their theory wrong.
Therefore, the only alternative is creation. I do not mean to put ICR down,
but the readings I have seen spend the majority of the time refuting the
theory of evolution instead of building their theory, Ross does the
opposite. He shows how the universe point towards a Creator and how this
points to the Creator of the Bible. Then he goes after the other theories.
Even when he does, I find it to be in a tactful manner often leaving room
for other viewpoint such as ICR's. =20
Back to the book. It is published by Promise Publishing Co.
Orange,California 92667. I just ordered (and received) a couple at
www.amazon.com, they said they were out of print and they couldn't
guarantee delivery. However, I got all I ordered. (By the way, they are
dependable and you will get a delivery in about 10 days. I have used them
several times). As far as Dr. Ross's other books, they are by Nav Press not
IVP. *Creator and the Cosmos* is similar in target audience as *FoG* and
*Creation and Time* is for a Christian reader.
I first heard of this *FoG* as a senior in High School when Dr. Ross
was a guest on Focus on the Family (Dr. Dobson). I finally got a copy of it
about a year ago and it has changed the way I see creation. I now see the
possibility of God being the creator using the time scale set forth both in
the Bible and the scientific date of the universe. I still can see the
possibility of God using a literal six 24 hour day creation, or another
method which I am not aware of. I just think scientific evidence point us
towards a older universe model. Being an engineer, we often try to model a
system electronically and then test the system to see how well it reacts
compared to what is expected. That is what we should be doing. Putting
forth models, testing them and seeing how well they fit the clues God has
given us. We should never say, as was pointed out earlier, this is exactly
how God created the universe. We can only put forth models. God does not
want to be put in a box by man so that we can say I now know how you did it!
God is all powerful, all knowing, and always present, by these
characteristics He sets Himself up to do things anyway He pleases, even
through appearance of age or some other method. Fortunately, as we learn,
He reveals more to us. =20
The point is, we can only choose the best model we can given the
knowledge we have at the given time. That is what science (and some types
of engineering) is about and how we should approach this topic. A Law in
science is general principle or rule that is obeyed in all cases to which it
is applicable (American Heritage Dictionary). A Christian scientists we
have several "Laws" which we adhere to :=20
1)God created the universe and everything in it.=20
2)Man has sinned and is separated from God because of this sin.
3)Jesus was both man and God and walked on the earth.
4)Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we might go to heaven.=20
5)Jesus is coming back.=20
6)The Bible is the infallible word of God given to man from God.=20
We might be able to add a few things that I left out (the above is very
similar to ASA=92s statement of faith). We must understand that in our
objectivity, everything must follow the rules. Just as in the chemistry of
life, everything follows the rules set forth in the Laws of Thermodynamics.
And because the Bible tells us God is the three omni's, nothing is going to
contradict His plan set forth in His rules. We should be striving towards
seeing how our data fits the rules. An analogy would be trying to solve the
protein folding problem, finding the lowest possible energy state, but
making your own rules up to govern Thermodynamics. That would be silly. We
must keep the Laws of God (or some other fancy title) in mind while doing=
this.
In Christ,
John Misasi
PS>So much for being afraid to post=85 I wrote a lot! :-}
____________________________________________________________________________
John Misasi
jmisasi@bu.edu
@engc.bu.edu
@darwin.bu.edu
Center for Advanced Biotechnology Home Page (Co-Designed by Me)
http://eng.bu.edu/CAB
____________________________________________________________________________