Re: great creationists of the past

 Here's some feedback. This list is frequently published. This list stems
from Henry Morris. It is so false that I must conclude that the inventors of
it are totally thick, totally deluded or totally dishonest. As HM is
reported to have said it is OK to tell lies for the Kingdom of God I incline
to the third, as this fits it with all the misrepresentation and
misquotation which litter his books, and many other YEC publications.

See my brief comments below.

It is time that so-called Christians stopped peddling such blatant
falsehoods, especially when they have been corrected by others so many many
times.

Michael

I would like some help and feedback as I get ready to teach a section on
'Earth history and the fossil record' to my 9th grade physical science
class. The text we use is published by Abeka (A Christian publisher out
of Pensacola). So as you will guess, a chapter like this one is pretty
much entirely devoted to debunking anything smacking of evolution
including anything of old-earth timescales. (definitely a YEC text).

But anyway, there is a part of this chapter that seeks to dispel the
myth that science is not / was not an inherently 'anti-Christian' thing
and that the Biblical faith of a Christian, far from being preclusive of
scientific achievement, is in fact (and has been) an asset. No problems
here – I agree, though probably not in the same sense the publisher
desires. (The book's version of what constitutes 'real science' means
'non-evolutionary science' – in a diametrically opposed mirror image of
what, most of you, perhaps, would believe).

To this end, our text presents a list of 'fields of study established by
creationist scientists' which includes many big names of science –
granted – most of them, but not all are Pre-Darwin. The cited reference
for it is from (a creationist periodical?) 'Vision' March/April of 1982
with vol. # and p. #s etc. Here are some of the names/fields included
(there are over 40 including some repetitions of names for different
fields). I do already know of some problems here, so check my comments
below before you get too excited about some of these names.

Bacteriology -- Louis Pasteur; I personally dont know, but if he was YEC he
was unique among french scientists of his day
Calculus, dynamics, … Isaac Newton; He reckoned the first three days were >>
24hrs Also denied the Trinity
Celestial Mechanics -- Johannes Kepler prob YE but he died in 1540s!
Chemistry – Robert Boyle, adopted Chaos restitution view of Gen 1 so allowed
more time but not much. Ted will give the definitive answer
Computer Science – Charles Babbage ; very very old earth warming to
evolution.
Dimensional Analysis – Lord Rayleigh; typical late 19C old earth if not evol
Electrodynamics – James C. Maxwelltypical late 19C old earth if not evol

Electromagnetics – Michael Faraday, probably old earth
Thermodynamics – Lord Kelvin typical late 19C old earth if not evol

Entomology – Henri Fabre dont know but hardly likely to be YEC
Fluid Mechanics – George Stokes typical late 19C old earth if not evol

Galactic Astronomy – William Herschel, def old earth and universe
Genetics – Gregor Mendel dont know, But RCs liable to be Old Earth
Glacial geology & ichthyology – Louis Agassiz,,very much Old Earth,
anti-evolution
Hydraulics – Leonardo da Vinci, always painting!
Hydrostatics – Blaise Pascal dont know

Isotopic chemistry – William Ramsay typical late 19C old earth if not evol

Natural History – John Ray, probably >6000yrs and open to a greater age

Reversible thermodynamics – James Joule typical late 19C old earth if not
evol

Stratigraphy – Nicholas Steno, probably reckoning the earth was >>6000yrs
Systematic biology – Carolus Linnaeus, probably >>6000

While I have passing familiarity with some of these, and know about some
of the more prominent ones quite well, there are others I know nothing
about. The implication, of course, that the publisher of this list
intends is that this is a homogenously YEC body of people – which would
have Leonardo spinning in his grave. I also like to use Lord Kelvin to
show the more interesting depth of texture to some of these supposedly
'young-earth' people. He settled on the distressingly young age of … 24
million years, before the radioactive contributions had been discovered.
And I've discovered a wonderful work about Nicholas Steno. "The Seashell
on the Mountaintop" by Alan Cutler, 2003. It is subtitled: A story of
science, sainthood, and the humble genius who discovered a new history
of the earth. Have any of you read it? It would be a great book to
recommend to anybody who thinks only in YEC veins as well as anybody
whose thoughts are trapped in only anti-Christian ruts.
Received on Sat Apr 15 09:52:49 2006