On Fri, 15 Mar 1996 10:11:03 -0600 you wrote:
>DB>I have deleted the original message but I recall that Arthur went
>on to say something to the effect that there is much evidence against
>the resurrection just as there is much evidence against a young earth
>(if my recollection is incorrect, my apologies).
>
>This response confuses me on two fronts.
>First, I am not aware of any physical evidence against the resurrection.
>All we have is the word of those that were there at the time. Of course we,
>who are Christians, also have the knowledge that Christ lives in us and so
>He must be alive. In contrast, there is certainly much physical evidence
>that opposes a young earth. We can choose to accept it as convincing, or
>not, but the evidence does exist.
Agreed. There is no comparison between the two. There is little
Biblical evidence for and much scientific evidence against a young
Earth. OTOH there is much Biblical evidence for and no scientific
evidence against the resurrection of Christ.
DB>Secondly, a comparison of a belief in a young earth with a belief
>in the resurrection seems to miss the fact that the resurrection is
>central to the nature of Christianity while the age of the earth is
>not. Without the resurrection, there is no uniqueness to
>Christianity. It is like other religions that revere a great teacher
>or philosopher. Further, without the resurrection then the central
>Christian concept of accepting Christ into our hearts and lives is
>faulty. In contrast, evidence for an ancient earth does not
>contradict our belief in a risen Saviour.
Again agreed. If the resurrection of Christ did not really happen then
Christianity is "empty", ie. it has no meaningful content:
"If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ
has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our
preaching is useless [Gk. kenos = "empty") and so is your
faith." (1Cor 15:13-14).
Yet Christianity had no problem coming to grips with the evidence for
an old Earth, in fact it was *Christian* geologists like Hutton,
Buckland and Sedgwick, who discovered it! In fact, Creation-
Scientists like Gish admit that belief in a young Earth is not even
mandatory for Creation-Science, let alone Christianity:
"While it is true that evolution demands an immensity of time, and
thus any evidence for a young age for the earth or the cosmos would be
fatal to evolution theory, evidence that the earth is old would
neither prove evolution nor threaten creation. A vast age of the
earth is a necessary - but not sufficient - evidence for evolution;
and the fact that such a supposition is no threat to creation is
self-evident from the fact that many special creationists do believe
that the earth is old." (Gish D.T., in Burke D.C. Ed., "Creation and
Evolution: When Christians Disagree", Inter-Varsity Press:
Leicester, 1985, p193-194)
and
"The subject of the age of the earth and the cosmos is
certainly a very important subject and is frequently discussed in
books and articles by creation scientists. There are two reasons why
that subject will not be dealt with here. The first, and primary
reason, is that the scope of this book is limited to the how of
origins. This focuses attention on the core of the creation/evolution
question. Secondly, significant numbers of both conservative
theologians and creation scientists hold to an old age of the earth
and long time intervals between the many acts of creation. Thus
creationists take both sides of the controversy over the age of the
earth and the universe while asserting that there is a mass of
powerful, positive convincing evidence for special creation." (Gish
D.T., "Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics", Institute for
Creation Research: El Cajon Ca, 1993, p260)
God bless.
Steve
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