Jan,
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I was not intending to imply that God's Word makes for easy reading, and in
writing as I did it was never my intention to exascerbate division among
Christian believers. But, as an advocate of plain speaking, I did think it
appropriate to point out that the Bible has certain fundamental things to say
about the nature of man and about the reality of the supernatural - matters
that lie outside the gift of science - and hardly referred to in this forum. In
my view these have a direct bearing upon our behaviour and claims as scientists
- and as assessors of the behaviour and claims of others.
Sincerely,
Vernon
Jan de Koning wrote:
> At 11:48 PM 02/05/02 +0100, Vernon Jenkins wrote:
> >Like your YEC friends, I am unashamedly a 'Category A' man who
> >regards the 'scoring of points' in this life as having little eternal
> >merit. More reasonable, and far safer in my view, to accept God's
> >Word as it has come down to us; certainly more assuring, and far less
> >complicated!
> >
> >Sincerely, and with regards,
>
> So am I. However, the trouble is that "accept the Word of God" is still
> complicated. I have never known any one, who is not influenced by a
> certain theory. The trouble is not only, the fact that "truth",
> "faithfulness' does not mean the same for everyone. All of us are born in
> sin, and all of us learned to look at life, at truth, at faithfulness in a
> certain way. All of us are imperfect. Still, we all want to learn to
> understand the Bible, the Word of God, properly. The discussions now show,
> that not all read Gen.1 - 11 in the same way, since we have not started our
> discussions at the proper point: "How do we look at God's word and
> world." All of us are struggling with it. Some want to do away with what
> thorough studies in nature have taught us, others keep on struggling with
> what God wanted to tell us in the beginning chapters of the Bible. Some
> scientists, not studying geology, physics etc., but computer-science, and
> other similar sciences, seem sometimes easily shoving aside natural
> sciences and just saying "I believe God's Word." Others say: "I believe
> God as he showed Himself in the Bible and in the world He created." God
> did not contradict Himself, so we must have made mistakes either in reading
> the Bible or in reading God's Creation.
>
> To say one side is more faithfully christian than the other does not get
> any discussion anywhere. I have seen too often that questioning the
> faithfulness of other people who struggle with these questions may push
> them out of the community of saints, the church. Please, do not question
> the motives and faithfulness of others, by making statements like "more
> assuring", since what assures you, may be the cause of pushing others out,
> since they cannot fit it in with the God who shows Himself in nature
> (biology, physics, etc.).
>
> The only thing that all of us must accept the Christ of the Scriptures, who
> died for our sins, is our Saviour.
>
> And, a discussion on the internet cannot take the place of studying the
> original sources.
>
> Jan de Koning
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