Friday, January 06, 2006

Catching Up

In the pages of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, several interesting articles have appeared in recent years dealing with Genesis, evolution and design.

Dick Fischer, in his article Young-earth creationism: a literal mistake, argues that it is the misinterpretation of the scriptures that creates the current controversy regarding creation. His complaint, obviously, is not with creationism in general, but with the 6-day version of events. In some ways, this is a standard treatise on the mistranslation of words such as "day," "morning," "evening," and "year." He also touches on the universal flood, making an observation that I have not seen anywhere else:

Whatever remnants of the rivers Euphrates and Hidekkel (Tigris) mentioned in Genesis 2:14 that might exist would be buried beneath layers of flood-laid sedimentary rock. The flood would have scrubbed the earth's landscape. Yet we find the Euphrates thirteen chapters later. When Abraham receives his covenant from God, the Lord himself cites the "great river, the river Euphrates" (Gen. 15:18)

Another problem mentioned is the references to the Nephilim, in both Genesis and Numbers before and after the flood.

The problems with accepting a worldwide flood are best described by Mark Isaak here.

His best point, however, is his relation of YEC belief to theology as a whole. He notes:

Why have so many conservative Christians adopted young-earth creationism? The answer lies in this: while YECs can be criticized for using flawed logic in this particular area, in other areas of Christian doctrine, in general, their theology is quite sound.

Indeed, this is readily observable in many scripturally-grounded churches, home school curricula, magazines such as Christianity Today (I cancelled my subscription after one such terribly-written article) and ICR publications such as Days of Praise. Read the whole thing.

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