Young Earth Creationism As the Ultimate Standard

[Jenn]

As liberal as I may come across on here sometimes, I am a young-earth creationist. No one has ever given me a persuasive reason not to be.

I've been to a couple of Ken Ham's conferences. I've watched most of the videos. I went on a young-earther Grand Canyon tour with Dr. Gary Parker as the guide (awesome). I've been to the Creation Museum (meh). I have more Creation Ex Nihilo/Answers magazines than I know what to do with. I am still on the AiG mailing list for newsletters. I agree with the science, but I dislike the tone of what they say in regards to their "enemies" and the culture war.

However, since I have been burned by fundamentalism (BJU and its affiliates) I do not agree with AiG that we should choose colleges based on their position regarding Genesis and a young earth.

Here's a list of questions suggested by AiG for Christian colleges:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles...stionnaire

examples:

3.Do you hold and insist that Eve was really created directly from a part of Adam’s side?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No, we generally/definitely hold otherwise
[ ] We would generally hold this, but would not see it as binding on all of our staff and co-workers.
[ ] We accommodate a range of differing views on this among staff.

4.A.Do you hold and insist that Adam’s body was created directly from the dust, in a miraculous fashion, not requiring a long timespan and with no intermediate stages—in other words, contrary to “natural law”?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No, we generally/definitely hold otherwise
[ ] We would generally hold this, but would not see it as binding on all of our staff and co-workers.

After my experience at Fundy U, I would use some different questions as criteria. Like maybe,

Do you believe that mental illness is real?

[ ] No, and anyone who takes medication for a "mental illness" like "PTSD" or "OCD" is sinning against God almighty.
[ ] No, and a member of our staff who holds an honorary doctorate will counsel students who believe otherwise.
[ ] You mean like "depression?" Depression = a person who doesn't trust God.
[ ] Yes, and it is very treatable.

What does it take for God to ever be happy with a person?

[ ] Always being in full unquestioning obedience to the school's authority.
[ ] Being in full accordance with the school's authority and also keeping track of the compliance of one's peers.
[ ] God "loves" you, but it is unlikely He will ever be happy with you.
[ ] What are these crazy questions? Do you think we're a cult or something?

[pastor's wife]

(05-09-2011 09:33 PM)Jenn Wrote:  I agree with the science, but I dislike the tone of what they say in regards to their "enemies" and the culture war.

Good point. I'm a YE creationist, but having just newly stepped away from fundamentalism, I'm just beginning to enjoy all the different perspectives possible in Christendom, that people can be orthodox and yet hold different views on nonessential doctrines, so I'm not eager to start putting up walls again to prove who's more right than someone else.

Quote:After my experience at Fundy U, I would use some different questions as criteria. Like maybe,

Do you believe that mental illness is real?

[ ] No, and anyone who takes medication for a "mental illness" like "PTSD" or "OCD" is sinning against God almighty.
[ ] No, and a member of our staff who holds an honorary doctorate will counsel students who believe otherwise.
[ ] You mean like "depression?" Depression = a person who doesn't trust God.
[ ] Yes, and it is very treatable.

What does it take for God to ever be happy with a person?

[ ] Always being in full unquestioning obedience to the school's authority.
[ ] Being in full accordance with the school's authority and also keeping track of the compliance of one's peers.
[ ] God "loves" you, but it is unlikely He will ever be happy with you.
[ ] What are these crazy questions? Do you think we're a cult or something?

Oh, these are GOOD!!!!

[RobMille]

@Jenn, much better questions. Any college that wouldn't answer the actual questionairre with "we have a wide variety of opinions on staff", I would label a very very dangerous college.

[Away-From-The-Umbrella]

(05-09-2011 09:50 PM)RobMille Wrote:  @Jenn, much better questions. Any college that wouldn't answer the actual questionairre with "we have a wide variety of opinions on staff", I would label a very very dangerous college.

Yup.

Someone could pick a really bad fundy college based upon Ham's standard.

Better to go to a college that allows real debate.

[Darrell]

Quote: Any college that wouldn't answer the actual questionairre with "we have a wide variety of opinions on staff", I would label a very very dangerous college.

As far as I can tell, most secular colleges don't hold a "wide variety of opinions" on the question of evolution.

[RobMille]

(05-10-2011 12:06 AM)Darrell Wrote:  

Quote: Any college that wouldn't answer the actual questionairre with "we have a wide variety of opinions on staff", I would label a very very dangerous college.

As far as I can tell, most secular colleges don't hold a "wide variety of opinions" on the question of evolution.

Good point, I don't have a rebuttal really, but I don't think any public university would in any way presume to speak for anything other than what they teach, not necessarily what they believe, and I get the impression from that questionairre they want a litmus test on teachers to make sure they not only teach what they want taught, but that they don't ever even think about questioning. Whether people buy science (or whatever you wanna call it) or not, three of the core principles is to question, test, and revise as needed.

[Tikatu]

A blog post about Ken Ham's recent questionnaire. Christian Colleges Compromising Creationism, Bible's Authority?

[greg]

(05-10-2011 12:06 AM)Darrell Wrote:  

Quote: Any college that wouldn't answer the actual questionairre with "we have a wide variety of opinions on staff", I would label a very very dangerous college.

As far as I can tell, most secular colleges don't hold a "wide variety of opinions" on the question of evolution.

Well said, and I'm glad it was you who did, let's see I would have been called a troll, bibliolator, narrow-minded, fundy, and that's just for starters.

[Jenn]

Quote:A blog post about Ken Ham's recent questionnaire. Christian Colleges Compromising Creationism, Bible's Authority?

Good blog post! I've seen this blog before. Very interesting.

[TomK]

I respect Ham and his research. I use to be YE, but reading has left me in limbo.

However, the way Ham uses his position as the "ultimate test" of whether or not one believes the Bible is insanity.

1) Believing in a 6,000yr old Earth has nothing to do with being a Christian. Believing in Jesus and believing in YEC are totally different things.

2) People who believing the Bible, even in an inerrant Bible, are all over the place on this topic.

3) It is unnecessarily divisive. Do your research, present your findings, but don't use your position as a wedge to further fragment the Christian faith. If your findings are conclusive and clear enough, then people will follow you without you playing the my-way-or-the-highway card.