Re: Actively Guided Evolution?
George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Tue, 04 Aug 1998 07:48:16 -0400
Dick Fischer wrote:
>
> George Murphy wrote:
>
> >The phrase "actively guided" is a little like "inerrant" in connection
> >with Scripture. There is a sense in which I could affirm the latter but
> >I'd rather not because most people who use it mean not just "without error"
> >but "accurate historical narrative." Similarly, there is a careful sense in
> >which I could speak of God"actively guiding" evolution but I'd rather not
> >because Johnson & others want it to mean that some natural phenomena
> >bear an unmistakeable _deus me fecit_ stamp on them.
>
> George, I declare, with you and Phil Johnson as "defenders" of the faith
> who needs adversaries?
>
> I hesitate to ask you how Scripture could be "without error" (which you
> say you could affirm) but historically inaccurate (which you imply),
> because I reckon you would tell us.
Many inerrantists fall into a category error: They read things as modern
historical narrative when they shouldn't. If an account isn't historical narrative,
then applying standards of historical accuracy is a mistake. The assumption that if
Gen.1-3 are _true_ they must be an accurate record of events which really happened in
the history of the world is responsible for vast amounts of wasted time, controversy,
misunderstanding, and turning people away from the gospel.
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com