Allen Roy wrote:
> I got this from a YEC email list. I thought It might spark an
> interesting discussion. The person's name has be removed to protect
> his identity. If you (singular) absolutely must know who this is,
> I'll talk to the author and see if his is willing to be identified to
> you. Allen
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 9:02 PM
> Subject: Why YEC?
> Hi everyone,
> Several people have answered the basic question "Why
> did you become
> YEC?" These are interesting, and I'll add my answer.
>
> When I was in school in the 30's and early 40's, I had
> never heard of
> anyone with an interest in science who actually believed
> early Genesis. I
> was raised in church, and believed the Bible (except for
> early Genesis). But
> my church was liberal and I hadn't become a born-again
> Christian. Since I
> had an active interest in science, I believed in evolution
> and ancient
> Earth-age. That belief was reinforced when the Army put me
> in the Manhattan
> Project (first atomic bomb) and I met a number of scientists
> whose names
> you've all heard of.
>
> Later, while I was Chief Engineer of Isotopes Inc.,
> several of our top
> staff were Ph.D.'s, including one who was also Professor of
> Geochemistry at
> Columbia University. He and a few others were Wheaton
> graduates, and
> Christians who believed in Progressive Creation. We often
> had lunch
> together, and the subject of origins was one of our favorite
> "arguing
> points." By that time I had become a born again Christian,
> and studied the
> Bible. But I still never heard of any scientist who
> accepted the YEC
> viewpoint, so I didn't either.
>
> But I asked many questions, about radioactivity,
> dating methods, etc.
> This Professor was generally recognized as one of the
> world's experts on
> geochronology, gave testimony before Congress on that
> subject, and was also a
> true gentleman who tried to answer my queries honestly. He
> and another Ph.D.
> believed fervently in OEC and progressive creation over
> extreme times. My
> questions kept getting back to "Well how do you really
> know?" on various
> aspects of the foundations of radio-dating. Our lunchtime
> group wasn't just
> a bunch of dummies -- we were all quite knowledgeable about
> dating procedures
> etc -- that was one of our company's products. But I kept
> feeling subtle
> doubts about the foundational accuracy of radio-dating.
> (BTW, this was in
> the years around 1960.)
>
> I kept studying technical journals and books, and
> finally became
> convinced that circular logic and faith in prior beliefs
> played a strong part
> in radio-dating -- in other words, it wasn't a "scientific
> fact, provable by
> scientific methods." There was too much unprovable belief
> involved. By this
> time I was a dedicated Christian, who kept being bothered by
> this dichotomy
> of my own beliefs. I became open to a YEC attitude, but
> still had never
> known there was such a thing as a "scientific creationist"
> who believed in
> YEC. When I finally met one, and he gave me one of the
> early copies of a
> Bible-Science Newsletter, I found there was actually such a
> thing as a
> scientist who really believed in early Genesis. I
> subscribed, and quickly
> became an active scientific creationist -- (that was the
> common term in those
> days, and I still don't like that term).
>
> When someone asks me why I'm YEC now, one facet of my
> answer always
> includes the closer relationship to God the Creator, and the
> comfort that
> gives. No, you don't have to believe in YEC to be a
> Christian, but it
> certainly does help one's relationship with God.
>
Note the repeated use of the phrase "believed early Genesis" as
equivalent to "believed early Genesis to be an accurate historical
narrative and scientific record." The fact that this is done without
comment shows that the author is probably not aware that the two phrases
are not equivalent.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Aug 19 2001 - 20:53:19 EDT