I read the site you sent me too. It may sound silly to you , but to base your whole thesis on a conjuctive "And" seems very very slim.
The word and is not used in the Hebrew.
Please read the following with the same open eyes you wanted me to read your site..Thank you
That's all you have to say? No interaction with the material?
I'll do better than that for the material you have below.
A young Earth—it's not the issue!
By Ken Ham
First published in:
January 1998 AiG-USA Newsletter
Thanks for the source citation. It may seem petty, but its very important to reveal sources.
Time and time again I have found that in both Christian and secular worlds, those of us who are involved in the creation movement are characterized as 'young Earthers.' The supposed battle-line is thus drawn between the 'old Earthers' (this group consists of anti-God evolutionists as well as many 'conservative' Christians) who appeal to what they call 'science,' versus the 'young Earthers,' who are said to be ignoring the overwhelming supposed 'scientific' evidence for an old Earth.
Much of this is a straw-man argument and one which seeks to frame the question by creating an association between his opposition, in this case Old Earth Creationists with "anti-God evolutionists" and then marginalizing those who disagree with him as not as "Christian" as he is. Old Earth Creationism has been around as long as Young Earth Creationism has. Both were around before the advent of modern Science. Neither one of the popular positions today were framed then as they are now, including Young Earth Creationism. Old Earth Creationism does not necessarily accept Evolution.
I want to make it VERY clear that we don't want to be known primarily as 'young-Earth creationists.' AiG's main thrust is NOT 'young Earth' as such; our emphasis is on Biblical authority. Believing in a relatively 'young Earth' (i.e., only a few thousands of years old, which we accept) is a consequence of accepting the authority of the Word of God as an infallible revelation from our omniscient Creator.
Again, another straw-man argument. Ham seeks to frame the argument as one of defense of the infallible Word of God. In doing so, he in effect equates his interpretation of Genesis and related passages as parallel with the Scriptures themselves. Ham and other YEC proponents may not like or agree with an OEC interpretation of Scripture. He goes beyond dealing with this issue however and seeks to paint his opponents as somehow attacking or diminishing the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture. This not only a Straw-man argument, it is ad-hominem in that it attacks the integrity of his detractors rather than dealing with the issue.
Recently, one of our associates sat down with a highly respected world-class Hebrew scholar and asked him this question: 'If you started with the Bible alone, without considering any outside influences whatsoever, could you ever come up with millions or billions of years of history for the Earth and universe?' The answer from this scholar? 'Absolutely not!'
Really? Who was this world-class Hebrew Scholar? Which associate sat down with him? Why not name both the parties involved? Could it be that Ham prefers to infer from this un-named paragon of Scholarly virtue that anyone who disagrees with this interpretation is not "world-class?"
This is another shallow argument and very poorly documented.
Here's a link to some prominent Old Earth proponents and their credentials.
http://www.reasons.org/resources/apolog ... ndex.shtml
Let's be honest.
Great. That would be a wonderful thing to start doing. (Cheap shot .... sorry, I couldn't resist)
Take out your Bible and look through it. You can't find any hint at all for millions or billions of years.
You certainly don't find the words there. Old Earth Creationists from Augustine on certainly found the concept of old there. This is another vapid and shallow argument. Scripture was never intended to be a 21st century science book and use its terminology.
For those of you who have kept up with our lectures and our articles in Creation magazine, you will have heard or read quotes from many well-known and respected Christian leaders admitting that if you take Genesis in a straight-forward way, it clearly teaches six ordinary days of Creation. However, the reason they don't believe God created in six literal days is because they are convinced from so-called 'science' that the world is billions of years old. In other words, they are admitting that they start outside the Bible to (re)interpret the Words of Scripture.
Another straw man. In fact, the field is starting to get a little crowded with them.
There no doubt are Old Earth creationists who have started with the question of how to reconcile scientific understanding in this arena with what is found in Scripture. This infers that this in the only way that someone could come to this position. That is categorically not true. Long before modern science contributed its understanding in terms of measurement that were previously lacking, there were many who reject 6 literal days as untenable based solely on the Scriptures. Ham is seeking here to build a framework that does not represent reality and again he does so in general terms without naming the individuals or stating why we should accept any such names as representative of the whole.
When someone says to me, 'Oh, so you're one of those fundamentalist, young-Earth creationists,' I reply, 'Actually, I'm a revelationist, no-death-before-Adam redemptionist!' (which means I'm a young-Earth creationist!).
Apparently he doesn't like being stereotyped by others. It's a shame he's begun this article by doing the same thing to those who hold to scriptural infallibility and inerrancy.
Here's what I mean by this: I understand that the Bible is a revelation from our infinite Creator
So do I.
and it is self-authenticating and self-attesting.
Agreed.
I must interpret Scripture with Scripture, not impose ideas from the outside!
True, as far as it goes. There are certainly many instances where productive illustration and further understanding can come from sources outside of Scripture. Scripture was never intended to stand alone as the only source of Knowledge in every field of knowledge except that of salvation and the nature of God, though perhaps others could be named.
I certainly hope he isn't going to do impose his own ideas from the outside onto Scripture, since he obviously sees this as a wrong approach.
When I take the plain words of the Bible, it is obvious there was no death, bloodshed, disease or suffering of humans or animals before sin. God instituted death and bloodshed because of sin—this is foundational to the Gospel.
Oopsy! I was so hoping he wasn't going to do that .....
Here's an article addressing this type of thinking, which is decidedly influenced and derived from thinking imposed upon the Scriptures, not taken from them.
Physical death in the creation itself is not referenced in this manner in the Gospel. There certainly is the introduction of spiritual death and death to humanity there however.
http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth ... years.html
Therefore, one cannot allow a fossil record of millions of years of death, bloodshed, disease and suffering before sin (which is why the fossil record makes much more sense as the graveyard of the flood of Noah's day).
It makes no sense at all. Most of the fossil record is marine animals. Does he think they drowned? Stratification is differentiated. Does he believe this happened in a matter of months? Why would he even offer a scientific explanation as support for his interpretation of Scripture? I thought he just finished saying only Scripture should interpret Scripture?
Scripture is specific revelation given first and foremost for the purpose of revealing God to man and pointing the way to Christ and salvation.
All Scripture is true, but not all Truth is exclusive to Scripture. Within Scripture itself, it is proclaimed that God reveals Himself through nature as well. Certainly not as clearly or directly, but it is there none-the-less.
Truth found in nature is no less from God than Scripture. The Bible and Nature are in perfect agreement as both find their source in God.
So why do we have an argument? Because Man sees the Bible through his own lens of interpretation (theology) and Man sees Nature through a similar lens (Science).
Can science and theology be wrong? Sure. Happens all the time. The problem, in my opinion here, is that expositors like Ham lack the humility to see that their interpretation can be wrong and the Bible still true. They are so certain of their Young Earth Creationism that they are willing to stake every truth in the Bible on it and relegate the 95% of the scientific community that sees the revelation of age in creation and in effect claim everyone else are fools and that God intentionally deceives in his creation.
I'll stop there, before I get angry.
Please proceed, Mr. Hamm.
Also, the word for 'day' in the context of Genesis can only mean an ordinary day for each of the six days of Creation [see Q&A Genesis: Days of Creation for more information].
Really? Thanks for clearing that up. Please refer to the prior list for many who disagree and if needed you may consult these links for a differing view.
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/day-age.html
http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth ... fense.html
http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/longdays.html
Thus, as a 'revelationist,' I let God's Word speak to me, with the words having meaning according to the context of the language they were written in. Once I accept the plain words of Scripture in context, the fact of ordinary days, no death before sin, the Bible's genealogies, etc., all make it clear that I cannot accept millions or billions of years of history. Therefore, I would conclude there must be something wrong with man's ideas about the age of the universe.
It's a shame he can't see that his ideas about the Bible are more suspect. Science can certainly be wrong and often is.
Maybe when Ham arrives in heaven (and I have no reason to doubt he would not, which hopefully is more gracious than what I'm observing from him here) he'll have a chat with Galileo and compare notes as to what can happen when one declares allegiance to their point of view and makes it equal to Scripture to the point where they are prepared to declare all science wrong.
And the fact is, every single dating method (outside of Scripture) is based on fallible assumptions. There are literally hundreds of dating tools. However, whatever dating method one uses, assumptions must be made about the past. Not one dating method man devises is absolute! Even though 90% of all dating methods give dates far younger than evolutionists require, none of these can be used in an absolute sense either. [See Q&A: Radiometric dating and Q&A: Young age evidence for more information.]
Ham again makes the error of assuming the his interpretation of Scripture cannot be based upon fallible assumptions. Scripture is not wrong. Ham is.
Question: Why would any Christian want to take man's fallible dating methods and use them to impose an idea on the infallible Word of God? Christians who accept billions of years are in essence saying that man's word is infallible, but God's Word is fallible!
I have a question too. Why would any Christian want to take Ken Ham's fallible Scriptural interpretation and use it to impose an idea on the infallible word of God and discount the majority of both Scriptural and Natural revelation? Christians who accept a young earth are in essence saying that Ken Ham and those like him are infallible but God's Word and the evidence found within Creation itself is fallible.
(Boy. That sounds pretty mean doesn't it? I'd probably not go that far on my own, but it seems only fair to frame Ham's question back at him in the same manner and lack of civility that he has displayed. Sorry Ken.)
This is the crux of the issue. When Christians have agreed with the world that they can accept man's fallible dating methods to interpret God's Word, they have agreed with the world that the Bible can't be trusted. They have essentially sent out the message that man, by himself, independent of revelation, can determine truth and impose this on God's Word. Once this 'door' has been opened regarding Genesis, ultimately it can happen with the rest of the Bible.
And there we have it. This is what Ham has been aiming at from the start. Disagree with Ken Ham and you are disagreeing with the Bible. Paint your opposition as in league with the "godless" evolutionists and imply they don't really care about what the Bible says.
You see, if Christian leaders have told the next generation that one can accept the world's teachings in geology, biology, astronomy, etc., and use these to (re)interpret God's Word, then the door has been opened for this to happen in every area, including morality.
Thanks Ken. Now those who disagree with you are not only against the Bible but their willing accomplices to destroying the basis of morality. Note the prominence of the faulty straw man premise laid out in the introduction that Old Earth Creationists could not possibly start first with the Bible.
Yes, one can be a conservative Christian and preach authoritatively from God's Word from Genesis 12 onwards. But once you have told people to accept man's dating methods, and thus should not take the first chapters of Genesis as they are written, you have effectively undermined the Bible's authority! This attitude is destroying the church in America.
My Bible says the the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. Apparently those carbon and radiometric tests are powerful little suckers.
So, the issue is not 'young Earth' versus 'old Earth,' but this: Can fallible, sinful man be in authority over the Word of God?
No. So why do Young Earth creationists presume that authority to equate their interpretation of these verses as equal to the Word of God itself?
A 'young-Earth' view admittedly receives the scoffing from a majority of the scientists. But Paul warned us in 1 Corinthians 8:2, 'And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.' Compared to what God knows, we know 'next door to nothing!' This is why we should be so careful to let God speak to us through His Word, and not try to impose our ideas on God's Word.
Right back at you Ken.
It's also interesting to note that this verse is found in the same passage where Paul warns that 'knowledge puffeth up.' Academic pride is found throughout our culture. Therefore, many Christian leaders would rather believe the world's fallible academics, than the simple clear words of the Bible.
I'll pass on both the fallible academics and your presentation here Ken.
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There you go Moriah.
I spent considerable time going through your article for you and I'd now like to see you engage with it without posting up more. Let's stay focused upon this and follow it through.
I enjoyed my discussion with Mr Ham.
Now I'd like to speak with you.
I hope you'll accept my invitation.
Please interact with my response and let's hold off introducing new material until you've digested and responded to this.
Bart