Re: Sarfati's verbal behavior and the Bible's

From: bivalve <bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com>
Date: Tue Oct 05 2004 - 12:01:30 EDT

Sarfati's "I have a PhD and you don't" attacks are especially ill-founded given that his batchelor's and PhD are in chemistry. He has no more official qualification to talk about evolutionary biology than any layman. Of course, people without degrees in a field can be quite knowledgeable; it is the citation of a chemistry PhD as proof of authority on evolution that is problematic.

> Sarfati responded: "How exactly are they are un-christlike? It seems
> 'un-Christ-like' not to believe what He [Christ] did about Genesis!"

As He didn't say anything about the age of the earth, this claim is questionable. Perhaps more fundamentally, Genesis never says you should lie about whale anatomy. Belief in a young earth does not require belief in the false claims of creation science. It's a popular creation science tactic to label any questioning of their claims as an attack on the Bible.
  
> So, the problem may lie not only with Sarfati, but perhaps with "Biblical
> language" itself. I could of course give examples of some serious
> rhetoric from the Bible, far more serious and sarcastic than Sarfati's.

Plenty of examples from church history, too...

Different situations may call for harsher rhetorical styles. E.g., some of the Biblical examples were elicited by harsh comments (e.g., Amos vs. Amaziah).

The fundamental discrepancy between Sarfati's language and Biblical examples is that he is using it to defend his own deviations from Biblical standards of truth and quality.

    Dr. David Campbell
    Old Seashells
    University of Alabama
    Biodiversity & Systematics
    Dept. Biological Sciences
    Box 870345
    Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
    bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com

That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
Received on Tue Oct 5 12:22:35 2004

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