On Fri, 31 Jul 1998 16:45:31 -0700, Dario A Giraldo wrote:
[...]
>SJ>This isn't true either. Ross points out that Augustine(as well as other Church
>>fathers) in the 4th century AD, well before the rise of "modern science" believed
>>the days of Genesis 1 were non-literal:
[...]
DG>Just thought I throw in my thoughts in this area.
Thanks for your thoughts.
DG>Moses wasn't present at the point of creation. So most likely was God
>(or one of his heavenly messengers)the one who dictated the account in
>Genesis.
This of course is possible, but Scripture does not say so. But how Genesis
1 came into being was not what I was adressing, which was apamphlet that
Joel read which claimed that "it wasn't until modern science came along no
one ever thought of the days as being anything other than 24 hours." I
pointed out that St Augustine in the 4th Century did not believe they were
24-hours.
DG>So one day from the point of view of the Creator has a different
>perspective than one day from our point of view. Just like one day in
>Jupiter isn't the same amount of time (earthly clock) as one day on
>Earth.
Agreed. That's what Ps 90:4 and 2Pet 3:8 say.
DG>A thousand years to us maybe well appear as one second to God, for He
>isn't contrained by our limits of space/time. If one reads closely the
>reason why the moon, stars and the sun were created, the text says to
>'mark the seasons'. And this didn't happen until after the initial
>creation.
Indeed it didn't happen until the *fourth* day, ie. more than halfway
through the Creation Week. That's one of the reasons why OECs don't
believe that Scripture teaches the days of Genesis 1 were to be understood
as literal 24-hour days.
DG>So we see that God 'created the heavens' but it wasn't until much later
>than the sun began to shine over the earth. We see God letting nature
>(or the universe) alone to follow its' natural course without
>intervention at times.
I have no major problem with the notion that God lets nature take its
course, if it is understood that God is still working through His creation,
just as much as if He intervenes. As Wright points out, the Hebrews did not
think of "nature" as being something that oiperated independently of God:
"The word "nature" does not appear in the Old Testament. The Hebrew
writers did not have a word that would translate into what we commonly
understand as nature (the material world as an independent reality); it was a
concept foreign to their way of thinking." (Wright R.T., "Biology Through
the Eyes of Faith," 1991, p15)
DG>The Bible doesn't say that evloution happened or not. Men are the ones
>saying that.
Agreed! As Carl F.H. Henry points out, the concept of "evolution" is in
fact Greek (ie. pagan), and is in contrast with the Hebrew (ie. theistic)
worldview of the Bible:
"The fundamental contrast between the Hebrew-Christian doctrine of
creation and the Greek-modern doctrine of evolution is therefore crystal-
clear. The Genesis creation account depicts a personal supernatural agent
calling into existence graded levels of life by transcendent power. The
Greek-modern theory depicts a simple primitive reality temporally
differentiated by immanent activity into increasingly complex entities that
retain this capacity for future development." (Henry C.F.H., "Science and
Religion," in Henry C.F.H., ed., "Contemporary Evangelical Thought: A
Survey," 1968, p252)
DG>What we have are scientists lacking Biblical understanding (it doesn't
>come by a quick read of the material but rather by a deep study of it)
>and theologians lacking scientific understanding (it doesn't come by a
>quick browsing of monthly journals but by long periods of indepth study
>of data) trying to issue statements and opinions about things that they
>don't know.
Agreed again!
DG>They need to come together and learn from each other before going on the
>attack. Maybe some day we may learn from each other enough to really
>understand how it all came to be.
Maybe!
Thanks for your input.
Steve
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Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net
3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ senojes@hotmail.com
Warwick 6024 ->*_,--\_/ Phone +61 8 9448 7439
Perth, West Australia v "Test everything." (1Thess 5:21)
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