Well, I'm glad I wasn't able to respond in the past couple of days. Byblos' last post was 100% satisfactory and covers my primary concern.
Given the goodwill from the last few posts, I am very content to let this lie. I do, however, want to make a final clarification, as prior to the goodwill, there was quite a bit of talk about rhetoric, talking loudly, being argumentative, etc. So, if I may steal a line from Obama:
"Let me be clear" (
) . . . despite how things may appear on a message board, I'm far from angry, am making no judgments, and thoroughly consider all of you brothers in Christ even as I maintain a great deal of respect for you. I hope the same can be said about me. I would like to believe that the majority of the conversations on this board are far more objective and edifying. I hope you all also understand that an objective, edifying conversation
about this particular topic is very difficult to have. Perhaps it is and was wrong of me, but when when I see people make what I see to be extremely harsh and overly critical comments about our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, my response is not to correct them, but to point out that none of us have the right to make the charge. None of us are innocent in this: not YECs, not OECs, not Ham, not Ross, not Hovind, not Deem, not anyone on these boards, and certainly not me.
Let me also make this very clear: I do
not have a problem with what I perceive to be OEC divisive statements. The reason I don't take this up with Rich is that I don't have a problem with those statements at all! He has every right to make them. Maybe I'm wrong in this, but I don't have a problem with anyone looking me in the eyes and telling me that I am making God a liar, or that I don't have faith, if they believe that I am ignoring or misinterpreting Scripture to suit my own theology. How could I and logically be consistent, as I firmly believe that every atheist is making God a liar by rejecting His word!
Let me be still more clear: I believe I AM making God a liar in many places. To the extent that my doctrine is wrong, I will answer for it at the judgment seat of Christ, as will all of us. Thankfully, Jesus Christ is a perfectly fair and omniscient judge, and I trust Him to judge me even more fairly than I would judge myself. For that reason, I am not making judgments against anyone,
My attempt, in all of this, was merely to point out what I see to be an intellectual inconsistency. Where my comments could have been and were taken to be more than that, I offer my apologies. My desire is simply and only for people to think before they start calling YECs names or attacking their Christian character, just as I hope--and have argued in the appropriate places with the appropriate people--that YECs should think twice before they start calling OECs names and attacking their character.
I don't expect theological unity on this side of the grave. I do expect for Christians to recognize that no one can judge but God alone. The best we can do is hold one another accountable to be consistent with what we believe to be true.
God bless, and no hard feelings.
