Re: [asa]: YEC--What can we offer them?

The principle that "scripture is its own interpreter" is a sound theological claim but can be pushed to the point that it becomes absurd. No one would give a Hebrew Bible to an intelligent 10 year old who knew nothing of the language and expect him/her to get anything out of it without any external aids. You can't learn the biblical langauges or the geography of the middle east if you are not allowed any access to extra-biblical sources. Many of the places & people in the OT were just names until archaeological work in the middle east got started a couple of hundred years ago & there was little historical context in which to place the OT narratives.

I am, as is well known, wary of the concept of "general revelation" & don't think it's needed here. "Revelation" has to do with the character, purpose & will of God. What we're concerned with here is facts about the physical world, not about God. (Which of course is not to deny that God is seen by faith to be the ultimate source of those facts.) One of the big mistakes of YECs is to think that supposed biblical statements about the age of the earth &c are "revelation" in the same sense that saving work of Christ is.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: drsyme@cablespeed.com
  To: 'Christine Smith' ; asa@calvin.edu ; 'George Murphy'
  Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 8:51 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa]: YEC--What can we offer them?

  The argument that I hear most consistently from YECers is that the Bible comes first, and that one cannot change ones interpretation of the bible based on what science tells us. I think this is only in part a distrust of science, and a concern that all scientists are deluded by scientific materialism, but also in part, a good faith decision to make the Bible the only source of truth. This in itself is an position that may or may not be true, but to get at the YEC, we would have to find biblical passeges that point to general revelation as a source of truth that complements special revelation. That should be the first goal.

  But even after that I dont think that scientific knowledge will be persuasive to them, and then we need to present non-literal hermaneutics that do not appear, to them at least, to be a means of re-interpreting the bible in light of scientific evidence.

    The quick & inadequate answer to Christine's question is to point to the
    many good books, articles, videos &c over the past ~30 years that have dealt
    with science-theology issues, & questions about age & evolution in
    particular, by Christians. I, & I know others on the list, could give
    extensive lists. But these will not get through to a YEC if he/she is not
    willing to read them &, more than that, read them with some openness to the
    possibility that some of his/her ideas might change. One big obstacle to
    having the latter frame of mind is the large amount of disinformation with
    which YEC promoters have instilled people. E.g.,

    Biblical texts don't tell us anything real if they're not accurate
    historical accounts.
    God couldn't have allowed "death before the fall."
    If there was no historical fall, as recounted in Gen.3, then there's no
    need for a savior.
    We can't "see the past" so scientific cosmology & evolution are just
    speculation.

    & there are others. So while we would like to present an essentially
    positive understanding of how real science is compatible with Christian
    faith, some amount of deconstruction of such false notions may need to be
    done before there can be any openness to a positive argument.

    In addition, we need to take seriously the serious commitment to the real
    essentials of the historic Christian faith, as summarized in the creeds. It
    will not do to present them with some type of generic deity who acts through
    the evolutionary process. (I assume, of course, that I'm talking to people
    who want to avoid throwing out the baby with the bath.) Though I realize
    that this is not the only possible approach, this is one reason why I think
    it's important to give Christ a central role in the discussion. IMO the
    mistake that a lot of TE presentations make is the assumption that
    religion-science matters are just First Article concerns.

    Shalom
    George
    http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

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Received on Mon Jul 2 09:48:01 2007