Re: The wrong horse in evolution education

I think that our understanding of the beginning is related
to our understanding of the end.

Without getting into a lot of detail, I personally hold a
preterist view of eschatology. I am not expecting a
literal new heaven and earth. The old heaven and earth
was the law, the old covenant. The new heaven and earth
is the new covenant.

So, not only does that interpretation change ones
understanding of what a new heaven and earth means, but it
also changes the time of its fulfillment. In the
preterist view, the new heaven and earth is here now, it
is not something to be expected.

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 10:47:13 -0400
  "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com> wrote:
> There's a broader theological question that's been
>nagging me regarding some
> of this discussion: how do our views of Adam through
>Babel relate to
> eschatology? By eschatology I don't mean to open up
>cans of worms
> concerning views of the millenium and such -- I mean the
>very basic concept
> that our future in Christ involves a new heaven and new
>earth, where
> "[t]here will be no more death or mourning or crying or
>pain, for the old
> order of things has passed away." (Rev. 21:4). If we
>demythologize, so to
> speak, Adam through Babel, what does that say about our
>mythos concerning
> the new heaven and new earth? I think this broad
>question is more critical
> at a gut level for many folks than the specifics of how
>we translate certain
> words or understand certain names in Genesis.
>
> On 4/17/06, Philtill@aol.com <Philtill@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> In a message dated 4/17/2006 5:08:43 PM Eastern
>>Daylight Time,
>> williamehamiltonjr@yahoo.com writes:
>>
>> Phil wrote
>>
>> >The momentousness of the occaision makes sense only if
>>there was a long
>> period
>> of time had elapsed >when men **weren't** calling on the
>>name of the Lord.
>>
>> This means there must have been a very long >gap between
>>Adam and Enosh,
>> perhaps between Adam and Seth.
>>
>> Suppose by "men" the Scriptures mean pre-Adamites? IOW
>>the covenant
>> family's
>> mission finally begins to bear fruit.
>>
>> Hi, Bill!
>>
>> That's a very interesting idea, and I hadn't thought of
>>it before.
>>
>> Actually, as I think this through, I feel there is
>>another reasonable
>> explanation for this verse, one which doesn't
>>necessarily imply a gap
>> (although I still believe there was a gap). I think the
>>statement is part
>> of the stream toward fulfillment of God's promises to
>>Eve to bring the Seed
>> of the woman, the one who will crush the serpent's head.
>> After A&E were
>> kicked out of the garden, at least Abel was calling on
>>Yahweh's name. But
>> when Eve sees that Abel is dead and Cain has gone bad,
>>then there seems to
>> be no hope of fulfillment. But then God opens her womb
>>and brings another
>> child, which represents renewed hope that the promise
>>will be fulfilled. So
>> the birth of Seth and Enosh represents the renewal of
>>hope that a savior
>> will come through Eve. Hence her statement how God has
>>replace Abel, and
>> hence also the comment that then men began [again] to
>>call on the name of
>> the Lord. This statement "men began to call on the name
>>of the Lord" would
>> thus mean that there was a renewed path of descendency
>>toward the Messiah,
>> not just the evil ways of the world represented by the
>>line of Cain.
>>
>> By the way, it's an interesting study to write down the
>>meanings of the
>> names in Seth's line and the parallel names in Cain's
>>line, to see how the
>> latter are twisted versions of the former, giving them a
>>sinister meaning.
>> The overall picture of the names in Seth's line is that
>>they are waiting on
>> God, hoping in God, trusting and praising him. The
>>overall picture of names
>> in Cain's line is that they are building cities,
>>fighting among the cities,
>> living under judgement. This is brought to fulfillment
>>in the parallel
>> statements of Lamech in each line, where Seth's Lamech
>>talks of how Noah
>> will bring the promised rest, and Cain's Lamech talks
>>how the effects of the
>> curse have become worse and worse, 70 times 7.
>>
>> So after the Bible goes all through Cain's line with the
>>increasing curse
>> as humans build cities and develop civilization, then it
>>tells how Eve bore
>> another child and praised God that the hope has been
>>restored. It could be
>> that there was no gap and it was just presented in this
>>order to emphasize
>> the point, or it could be that there was really a gap
>>and Seth came late
>> after men had developed all this civilization. The idea
>>is that Adam came
>> before all this civilization development, though.
>>
>> God bless!
>> Phil
>>
>>
Received on Tue Apr 18 11:37:19 2006