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

On Wed, 4 Jul 2007, Don Winterstein wrote:

> 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.
>
> 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.

B.B. Warfield, the great champion of inerrancy, believed in an old earth.
James Orr, who wrote the article on science and faith for The
Fundamentals, believed in an old earth. The notes in the Scofield
Reference Bible allowed for an old earth. The lead paper on Scripture and
natural science presented to the International Coucil on Biblical
Inerrancy argued for an old earth. Does the average YEC in the pew, while
not accepting this interpretation, really think that these people had
a radically different attitude toward the Bible from his own?

I think that the growth of YECism in the last several decades is due to
its aggressive promotion through books, films, home school curricula,
lectures, etc. and the fact that most clergy don't know enough science to
be able to evaluate the credibility of "scientists" who want to be heard
on subjects related to the age of the earth.

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Thu Jul 5 14:39:12 2007