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

"I'm starting to think that one of the Big Issues for us in communicating with people who hold strong YEC views is how we think of conversion and worldviews."

In other words, it's really hard for intellectuals to make an effective emotional pitch. But that would be true no matter what the differences in beliefs between YECs and ASA members (ASAs).

I believe the BIG issue between YECs and ASAs is attitude towards the Bible. YEC leaders (not all YECs) contend that a Bible passage that appears to be history must be a factually correct account of past events, or (unthinkably) God has made a mistake. Genesis to them appears to be history: it's got person names, person ages and place names; therefore Genesis must be literally correct. Of course there are problems harmonizing chapter 1 with chapter 2, etc., but YECs are well aware of such problems and have been waving their arms for at least a century to make them disappear. ASAs will get nowhere telling YECs they don't know how to interpret the Bible. YECs are well acquainted with the Bible's use of figures of speech in the poetic writings (e.g., Psalms and prophets) and know not to take them literally, but the writings that appear to be historical must be taken at face value.

YEC leaders for their part believe many ASAs have simply caved in to the pressures of the sinful world.

I see no chance of having a significant influence on YECs without first getting them to accept a more realistic view of the Bible. While that borders on the impossible for the leadership, the average YEC is often far more open to suggestion.

Don

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Opderbeck<mailto:dopderbeck@gmail.com>
  To: James Mahaffy<mailto:Mahaffy@dordt.edu>
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu<mailto:asa@calvin.edu>
  Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2007 3:25 PM
  Subject: Re: [asa] YEC--What can we offer them?

  This has been an excellent discussion, but I think we've been only pinching at the periphery of the Big Issues here and there. I'm starting to think that one of the Big Issues for us in communicating with people who hold strong YEC views is how we think of conversion and worldviews. "Evolution" is symbolic of the godless worldview from which we are expected to be dramatically converted. A primary attraction of the YEC view is the pristine alternative worldview it provides – by converting into a YEC view, one moves into a completely alternative community that includes a simple, clear explanation of why there is suffering in the world and of how each person's life is meaningful and not merely driven by chance.

  It's easy to criticize this as naïve, simplistic, and immature – a little bit of study shows that, while the Bible and the Christian faith do indeed offer an alternative metanarrative that provides answers to the problems of pain and purpose, they are not always easy, immediately satisfying answers. Yet, without the backbone of a well-defined "Fall," I think we have to admit that the Christian metanarrative doesn't seem as compelling and immediate as we might like. Can you imagine a street-corner evangelist thundering about Adam the Neolithic farmer who basically lived like tens of thousands of other hard scrabble new stone age people, or Adam the mytho-poetic symbol?

  The evangelical "battle for the Bible" tradition and questions of hermeneutics clearly are keys to our problem, but I think so also is the evangelical pietist-revivalist tradition. We do believe in the reality of sin and the necessity of conversion, but our way of explaining the faith necessarily has to be more complex and nuanced than a YEC view allows. Somehow, I think we need to provide more compelling conversion narratives – like C.S. Lewis did, or Alister McGrath, or Francis Collins – that also demonstrate intellectual and even scientific depth.

  And of course there is this: what "they" need from us and we need from "them" maybe most of all is love, patience, and grace. I even wonder if some of these problems are something God uses to make us learn how to love and accept each other unconditionally. I know I find that hard.

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Thu Jul 5 01:52:02 2007