Re: Oldest Plant species?

Gordon Tisher (tisher@uniserve.com)
Tue, 7 Oct 1997 14:06:31 -0700 (PDT)

One of the fundamental principles of current descriptive linguistic
theories is that words are defined by their usage. If a number of people
use the word 'creationist' to describe one who believes that God created
the universe, regardless of the particular physical events involved, then
that's what the term means. Words use their utility when small groups
define them differently than others, and then use them as swear-words to
denigrate other groups who define them differently.

It is my sense that a large number of people use the term 'creationist' as
I have described above, and add descriptive adjectives to indicate the
physical nature of God's creation. Thus we have:

young-earth creationist : God created the world in 6 24-hr days several
thousand years ago

old-earth creationist : God created the world anywhere from several
thousand to several billion years ago, NOT using biological evolution

evolutionary creationist : God created the world several billion years
ago, and created all living things by a process of biological evolution,
just as He creates individual human beings by a process of biological
development (there, I've shown my bias)

This list is by no means complete or accurate, it is simple an example of
a broader terminology, able to communicate subtle technical distinctions
among large groups of people; as opposed to single terms defined
differently by different groups, and used more for emotional effect than
communication.

Regards,

Gordon

On Tue, 7 Oct 1997, Arthur V. Chadwick wrote:

> At 02:58 PM 10/7/97 +0000, Sam wrote:
> >Art,
> >
> >We who interpret the data as suggesting that God used the processes
> >described by the theory of evolution to bring about life are also
> >creationists.
> >
> Besides being nonsensical your assertion is a non-sequiter. You can call
> yourself anything you wish. Those who believe in evolution are
> evolutionists, whether God was involved or not. You are only fooling
> yourself and others when you call yourself a creationist. Whatever a
> young earth creationist is, I don't know, but I think you are perverting
> good linguistics with your redefinition of creation. I think that is self
> serving.
> Art
> http://chadwicka.swau.edu
>

Gordon Tisher Programmer/Computational Linguist, TCC Communications Corp.
gtisher@tcc.bc.ca http://www.teletranslator.com Mire la TV en espanol!