disadvantages

Paul Arveson (arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil)
Wed, 26 Feb 97 11:31:25 EST

Gladwin Joseph wrote:
I find that the debate between ID and EC proponents within
ASA as one that is healthy and appropriate. It seems that a
YEC position mutually excludes other views, but i do not see
(may be naively!) that ID and EC are necessarily mutually
exclusive. IMO such diversity is a strength rather than a
weakness.
{
Um, I wish that we would not use so many specialized acronyms such
as PC, EC, and ID. There are some newcomers lurking out there.
}
Are we as Christians in Science at a stage where we can
honestly pursue TRUTH without the driving need for
credibility in the eyes of man? We who are liberated by the
TRUTH and are children of TRUTH should not we be
leading the way in the pursuit of TRUTH. Isn't
credibility a fruit of an honest endeavour, honest
before GOD and before man? What really is at stake in our
dialogue, is it TRUTH, you must be joking!! Just our
perceptions....

Shalom
--------

There are many DISADVANTAGES to the 'honest search for TRUTH'.
For instance:

1. You can't get famous proclaiming the Whole Truth if you haven't yet
decided what it is.

2. You won't have much influence in the popular media unless you
have formulated clear and distinct ideas and reduced them to bumper-sticker
size sound bites. Otherwise people won't understand you and will label you
'obscurantist'.

3. You will be thought ignorant if you don't have a strong viewpoint
on all the issues, no matter how complex they are.

4. If you see some aspects of truth in different perspectives, you will
be thought inconsistent and indecisive.

5. These days, radical new scientific discoveries are being made
every week. If you don't have an opinion (and a Bible verse) on every new
discovery within days after it arrives, you will be considered irrelevant.

6. Lewis Thomas' proposal in The Lives of a Cell: you can't determine
the Final Truth until someone explains how the spirochetes are attached to the
protozoan. You are stuck in ultimate frustration until then, at least.

7. So much is at stake! If we don't come together and give a unified
proclaimation, the world will be lost to the 'evil empire'. (This creates
great stress and guilt, the world on your shoulders and all).

Paul Arveson, Research Physicist Code 724, Signatures Directorate, NSWC
9500 MacArthur Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20817-5700
arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil bridges@his.com
(301) 227-3831 (W) (301) 227-4511 (FAX) (301) 816-9459 (H)