Dear all,
My Anglican diocese in Wales has just started a list-serve and one vicar
asked jokingly on how to answer "did Adam have a navel?" So I replied and
one vicar thought it wasnt funny.
Here is my reply, I will give a further reply in two days
"What is the definitive answer to those who ask 'did Adam have a navel'
...." (always asked by wallies who've read the question in some mag or
other, Bless them)....
I've only been in this job since 1986, and I still have difficulty
answering this one.
Generally I reply "Go and ask the Bishop".( what would Spong say?)
As John asks this extremely important question I shall attempt to give an
answer. The Victorian naturalist Phillip Gosse, who left the Brethren as
they were too liberal, dealt with this question at length in his 1857 work
OMPHALOS (gk for navel). In this book he lays out the arguments for Adam
have a navel at great length and his answer s are totally irrefutable
asthey are beyond either historical or logical challenge. Sadly very few
have readthis book.
Gosse argues thus. For all creatures there is a cycle of life ; a baby
grows up, he/she finds a partner they copulate (or fornicate if they are
normal humans), produce a baby who then grows up to copulate. This is the
same for all forms of life except that iti is simpler and less fun for
creatures who reproduce asexually.
Thus when God created, which he did in the week beginning 22 Oct 4004 BC
(for times and dates read Ussher "Annales Veteris" -I have a copy in
latin), he created all living things in some stage in that cycle. Thus as
Adam was created at 9.30 am 45 th Meridian time on 27 (whoops I got it
wrong it was 28th) Oct 4004 BC and was created a fully formed adult (ready
to have a rib removed to produce Eve) he had a navel in place. Now if a
palaeoanthropologist found frozen Adam alongside a mamoth he would note the
navel which would point to a mummy and daddy and by implication grands and
grandads right back to the primeval slime which geologists date at about
3.8 billion years ago.
But note Adam's navel only points to an apparent history as he was in fact
created de novo complete with a navel and partly full bladder and bowels on
28 October 4004. The same applies to everything else except that many
creatures whose remains were found as fossils dating before 4004 BC were in
fact created as fossils, and even if like trilobites can be dated by 6
different radiometric methods (e.g.U/Pb, K/Ar, Rb/Sr etc etc ) to have
lived between 550 and 285 million years ago, a few days before when God
created the world. I tseems likely that the recent T Rexes found in Montana
were created as fossils on 23/24 Oct 4004 BC, as they only appear to be 100
million years old.
Now I hope you follow my argument and that you can see it is totally
irrefutable. Further as God is Creator there is no reason why He could not
have created exactly like this. There is no deception on his part as people
like Charles Kingsley accused Gosse of making God a liar., as God is
entitled to creat the way He wants.
Finally God made it quite clear how he created in Genesis Chapter One.
Here you, a total answer and a total put down of Charles Darwin and all his
works. In fact it is even better than a putdown as you can still accept all
the findings of science and take the Bible literally.
Michael
Michael Roberts,
Chirk Vicarage,
Trevor Road
Chirk, Wrexham
LL14 5HD
Wales
United Kingdom
Phone 01691-778519
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