Below is my slightly modified reply to Paul. I was not aware
that Paul had copied the list.
Hi Paul,
>You have called YECism cultic. Why?
Thanks for the e-mail. I'm certainly not pretending to "know more"
than you. And, I 'm certainly not pretending that I even went to
seminary. But, I have spent A TON of time researching the issues.
I will answer this specific question with, simply, my own opinion.
YEC is cultic because it causes you to do weird things with your mind.
I know! I was a YEC once. You watch TV and have to play mind-games
every time that you watch the Discovery Channel. I'll leave it at
that for now.
>Is it not cultic because it has its own
>private interpretations of public facts, interpretations which are contrary
>to the consensus of qualified scholars in the various relevant areas of
>astronomy, geology, etc?
Generally speaking, I agree. VERY generally speaking.
>It is of the essence of a cult to have a view which stands out against
>the consensus.
Now I begin to disagree. I'd like to see a poll of what the consensus is.
I'm an accountant. I know a bit about statistics. Let me "rearrange" them
for you.
First question of poll
1) Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?
THIS IS ONLY A GUESS 95% of Christians say yes.
2) Do you believe Gen 1-11 is historical?
WHO KNOWS WHAT THE ANSWER IS, HERE 50%
3) How do you reconcile science with Gen 1, in particular?
A) Science is wrong
B) Day-Age
I'll leave it here, for now.
>The day-age interpretation with its various
>"explanations" of what God did on the 6 days also has its own private
>interpretations of public facts (what it says in Gen 1), which are contrary
>to the consensus of qualified OT biblical scholars---including Evangelical
OT
>scholars. This does not mean you cannot find one or two qualified OT
scholars
>who espouse day-age interpretations. You can also find one or two qualified
>astronomers or geologists who support YECism. But, it is of the essence of
a
>cult to claim that its interpretations, deviant though they are from the
>consensus, are the "true" ones.
Wrong! Qualified OT biblical scholars know darn well that the Hebrew "yom"
can mean a long period of time, as well as 24 hours.
>It is Christ who put the teachers in the Church. They are not there by
>accident. They are there by his appointment. Unless one can make a
heavy-duty
>case for rejecting the consensus of the teachers Christ has put in the
>Church, clinging to a "minority" opinion against that consensus is a
>rejection of Christ's authority.
Now this is a puzzling argument. What happens when church leaders disagree?
Is Christ schizophrenic? Or, are some churches "dead" churches?
Jim
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