Re: high school level books

Rob Wahl (rwahl@kermode.net)
Wed, 25 Dec 1996 21:37:21 +0000

I agree with Glenn Morton, I too faced a crisis of faith after believing
that several YEC books given to me in high school refuted the evolutionist
challange to my faith and then recognizing (at a Christian college no less)
that they did not. Fortunately I was somewhat older than 16 at the time. The
first book that made any sense to me was Donald MacKay's little book, _The
Clockwork Image_. I know this book is far from perfect, I seem to recall
that some of the arguments fail, but its a start. I also know that it might
be difficult for a 16 year old, but since it's so short it's somewhat more
readable. I would also like to encourage that young man to defer judgement.
The best answers demand a lifetime of searching.

Rob Wahl, Sr. High biology teacher


At 05:23 PM 12/25/96, you wrote:
>
>>Hello. I was talking with a high school boy who is 16 years old. He has
>>decided that God cannot exist because of the conflicts between his high
>>school biology class and his extremely young earth church (first assembly of
>>God). Does anyone know of any books that would be good reading for such a
>>young man? I'd like to purchase one as a gift for him, but am afraid of
>>providing more conflict pushing him farther away from God.
>
>I have seen some of the offerings for this young man that have been suggested.
>I would strongly advise that these are unlikely to work for this young man. I
>came from a YEC background and went through a similar crisis 3-4 years ago.
>There are aspects of his epistemology and theology which those of you who
>never were into that viewpoint don't know.
>
>He comes from a young-earth church which teaches that the Bible must be
>historical or it is false. That is the biggest underpinning of his belief
>system.His problem now is that he is finding out that what his church has been
>teaching about science is false. And he has become worried that evolution is
>true. If you give him a book, like McDowells' which perpetuates the tension
>between evolution (biology) and his view of Scripture, it will appear as more
>of the same to him and those are the answers he finds unsatisfactory. If you
>offer him a book that does not teach that the Biblical events are historical,
>but are merely allegorical or metaphysical, then he will likely still hold on
>to the idea that the Bible must be historical to be believed. If the events
>are non-historical, then why believe the Bible. Unless you can offer some way
>for the biblical events to be actual history that match in some way the
>Biblical account, and does not violate scientific data, soon, I would lay odds
>that this young man will reject his faith.
>And this offering MUST be able to handle ALL the data of science, because he
>is going to be very skeptical of anything that comes his way at this point. I
>would bet that he feels that Christians are not really trustworthy at this
>point in his life. He is going to do a thorough job of checking things out.
>Any flaws will bring rejection.
>
>
>glenn
>
>Foundation,Fall and Flood
>http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm
>
>