From: "Allen Roy" <allenroy@peoplepc.com>
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.
[skip much]
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.
Allen,
As it stands, this is nothing more than another free ticket for a guilt
trip. The ticket has been issued by a person--if the person actually
exists--who doesn't even display the common courtesy of identifying
himself/herself. According to this unnamed person, anyone who disputes what
she/he has decided what it means to "really believe" in Genesis is doomed to
an inferior relationship to God.
For what it's worth (and I know that will vary greatly from reader to
reader), my own experience is exactly the opposite. Discerning that Genesis
1-3 is about theology rather than chronology, discerning that the Bible is a
thoroughly human account of the authentic experience of God's presence in
the life of the ancient Hebrews and the early Christian community,
discerning that there is no good reason to participate in the biblicism
bordering on bibliolatry that characterizes a major portion of the
evangelical Christian community, discerning that God has no need for me to
prop up the biblical text with humanly crafted exaggerations regarding its
character or authority, I have no need to believe things that are countered
by empirical science performed with competence and integrity. I have no
need, for instance, to defend repeatedly discredited YEC chronology in the
name of Christianity.
Sensing God's full encouragement to use the totality of my experience and
intellect to articulate a theology that deals honestly and courageously
with the questions of this time and place, I feel closer to God now than at
any time in my life.
Howard Van Till
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