On Sat, 9 Dec 1995 00:34:05 -0700 (MST) you wrote:
[...]
>LAMOUREUX does not describe people like YECs and PCs as deceitful. But
>he forcefully makes the case that our preconceptions OF THE EXEGESIS OF
>GEN 1-11 can have a powerful influence on colouring our perception of THE
>ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE AND BIOLOGICAL LIFE. And when the facts OF
>SCIENCE didn't fit THEIR EXEGESIS OF GEN 1-11 YECs and PCs simply closed
>their minds. YECs and PCs refused to accept the now established fact that the
>testimony of the fossils told a very different history of life then the
>history they expected.
While this may be true of YEC's, what evidence do you have for your
assertion that "PCs refused to accept the now established fact that
the testimony of the fossils told a very different history of life
then the history they expected"?
In 1948 and 1955, long before it was formally admitted by
Neo-Darwinism, PC's like Carnell and Ramm pointed out that the fossil
record was discontinous and that those gaps fitted their theory of
progressive creation very well:
"But let us challenge the validity of the 'total' evolution scheme.
Paleontology reveals that there are actual gaps in our knowledge of
the relation between the 'kinds,' a datum which 'threshold' evolution
can account for more smoothly than can 'total' evolution. "There are
no fossil animals to connect the order of insectivores (containing
moles and shrews) and the order of rodents (mice, beaver). Not a
single order of mammals (hairy animals) has transitional forms between
it and any other order." When science is faced with these gaps, it
resorts to such hypotheses as 'missing links' (which are still
missing!) and 'mutations,' while the Christian needs only to point to
the fact that God, in the original creation, decreed that gaps should
exist to mark off the original 'kinds'-herbs yielding seed, creeping
things, beasts, etc...Let us not fail to grasp the logic of the
argument. Both the scientist and the Christian admit there are gaps
between the orders or 'kinds' of plants and animals. But, while the
scientist, on his scheme of 'total' evolution, must resort to the
tenuous fabrications of 'missing links' and 'mutations,' the
Christian, with his 'threshold' evolution, can accommodate both the
gaps which paleontology reveals to exist between the orders, and the
development of the multitudinous `species' within these orders."
(Carnell E.J., "An Introduction to Christian Apologetics", Eerdmans:
Grand Rapids, 1948, p239)
and
"In progressive creationism there may be much horizontal radiation.
The amount is to be determined by the geological record and biological
experimentation. But there is no vertical radiation. Vertical
radiation is only by fiat creation. A root-species may give rise to
several species by horizontal radiation, through the process of the
unraveling of gene potentialities or recombination. Horizontal
radiation could account for much which now passes as evidence for the
theory of evolution. The gaps in the geological record are gaps
because vertical progress takes place only by creation." (Ramm B. "The
Christian View of Science and Scripture", Paternoster:
London, 1955, p191)
This whole-hearted embracing of gaps in the fossil record by PC's from
at least the 1940's is in stark contrast to evolution's virtual
ignoring those gaps until the 1970's, when Gould finally admitted:
"The history of most fossil species includes two features particularly
inconsistent with gradualism:
1. Stasis. Most species exhibit no directional change during their
tenure on earth. They appear in the fossil record looking much the
same as when they disappear; morphological change is usually limited
and directionless.
2. Sudden appearance. In any local area, a species does not arise
gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears
all at once and `fully formed.' "
(Gould S.J, "Evolution's Erratic Pace, Natural History, May 1977,
p13-14)
As for myself, I am a PC and I am absolutely committed to accepting
the testimony of the fossils, and to date they tell a history of life
that is broadly in accord with what I expected.
[...]
DL>"In all debates, let truth be thy aim, and endeavor to gain
>rather than expose thy opponent."
If you continue to misrepresent PC by equating it with YEC, then
maybe you should get another tag-line Denis? :-)
God bless.
Stephen
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