The “Mindset List” for freshmen starting college or university this year (2012, and thus set to graduate as the class of 2016) has been posted (HT Inside Higher Ed). That’s the list of things which have always or never been the case for these students, and which those of us significantly older than them may find it hard to imagine. Here are some that really struck me: The Biblical sources of terms such as “Forbidden Fruit,” “The writing on the wall,”... Read more
I’ve recorded a brief lecture on the creation account in Genesis 1. Read more
I’ve long known about (and have mentioned before) the Adherents web site’s catalog of superheroes’ religious affiliation. Today I learned via IO9 that on that web site there are now also graphics depicting the superheroes of a given tradition. Here are the Baptists: I am guessing that some are American Baptist, some are Southern Baptist, and some are from any number of tiny Baptist groups that don’t get along with anyone else. And so I don’t see the legion lasting.... Read more
The cartoon is good just for a chuckle, but I think it also illustrates an important point. Using the methods of analysis appropriate in an underlying domain will not produce useful results if applied without modification or addition to a different, overarching one. Organisms need to be approached differently than particles. Minds need to be approached differently again. Reducing things to their constituent parts can teach us important things, but we also need to study how they function as a... Read more
There were several quotes that I wanted to share, all related to inerrancy, and so I decided to collect them all here. I’ll let you decide whether I saved the best for last. First, Fred Clark wrote: The doctrine of “inerrancy” is often referred to as a “high view of scripture.” It is not. It’s a low-down dirty trick to play on the Bible and on anyone who tries to read it. Inerrancy is not a victimless crime. It chases... Read more
In a conversation with a young-earth creationist here on this blog, I was struck by the irony of the fact that he offered, as one reason for rejecting evolution, the teaching of Scripture that we should not follow the ways or teachings of sinful human beings. How right he is, and how wrong at the same time! Scripture nowhere says that the people of God should have different names for colors, or natural phenomena, merely because unbelieving society names them... Read more
Time and time again I have heard young-earth creationists say that one has to choose between what humans say about the origins of the cosmos and of human beings on the one hand, and the Word of God on the other. From a Christian perspective, this is exactly right. And young-earth creationists have chosen the former and rejected the latter. They insist on one particular and relatively recent human interpretation of some human-authored texts from ancient times, and what those... Read more
A discussion I’ve been part of on Facebook illustrates something that I have said before on numerous occasions: ultimately, for those approaching the Bible as a sacred text, one has to choose between showing respect for the Bible above all, or giving ultimate authority to a doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. This was illustrated in a discussion of the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. The two do not agree between David and Joseph. The most common approach to harmonizing them is... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In