Mike, around the time you went to Summer Camp I asked you to consider a proposition on origins and respond when you get back on deck in Feb 2008. We are now well into Feb and I raise again here the proposition for a response from you.
I note your belief in an old age for the earth is shaped by contemporary science but I earlier noted that Scripture has shaped your life, even to the extent of giving you new life.
This brings me back to my first question to you and it centres around what we both regard as an instructive passage in the origins debate - Exodus 20:11. This passage contains a direct statement of God to Moses, a statement which was intended to shape the life of Israel.
Some other Christians in Sydney, Sam Drucker and myself are agreed that language must have meaning because language is an information system. The arrangement of words by a sender must avoid ambiguity to facilitate an appropriate response. Meaning will exclude propositions while, at the same time, make proposition(s). God is the source of meaning and the author of language. He above all message senders will be expected to get meaning right for the recipient of His word.
I am not sure what views of origins Israel confronted prior to assembly at Sinai. Whether there were similarities with what we confront today is not clear but we share with Israel in that we all have our origin in the same creative act of God. Therefore the message of God concerning His creative activity will have the same meaning for us as for them.
This statement of God recorded in Exodus 20:11 concerning His creative work has application to such theories as Theistic Evolution, Gap Theory, Day-Age and Progressive Creation are excluded.
God ordained the order of weekly living for Israel with a Sabbath and He founds this upon His creative activity: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Ex. 20:11 NIV)
In the following I propose where the aforesaid theories are negated by what God has said (and done):
Theistic Evolution - Creation occurred in a six day period not the time frame required for the theory of evolution.
Gap Theory - An earlier but subsequently destroyed creation for which fossils found today are a remnant is excluded because all that was ever made by God has its origin in Creation Week.
Day-Age Theory - The six days of work followed by a Sabbath for Israel have no meaning or validity if the 'days' of Creation Week were not similar in duration to the days experienced by Israel.
Progressive Creation Theory - As with the Theistic Evolution Theory this is negated by the creation of all things in the heavens, the earth and the sea in the six days of Creation Week.
Mike, it reads to me that you set the minds of men on a higher plane than the Word of God. Worse still, you acknowledge that the status of the minds of men on origins is only something tantamount to 'a work in progress'.
I am concerned about you giving offence to God. I am concerned about the glory of God being diminished but I am also concerned about your welfare and the impact your 'world view' will have on young Christians and inquirers after the Lord.
When you get back from your January commitments will you consider the meaning of God's words recorded in Exodus 20:8-11 as pertaining to current 'old earth' views and then let me know how you see the situation.
Neil Moore
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Neil, I wait with bated breath to read what Mr Pagett has to say. The confusion he seems to have between natural science and materialist philosophy is frightening. Does materialism dominate other parts of his reading of the scriptures? The virgin birth? The resurrection? The Return? The judgement? The New Creation?
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