Comment on A big reason why so many people are leaving the church by Professor Kent.
I remain astonished at the level that Sean Pitman, Shane Hilde, and others here stoop to place science, empirical evidence, and human reason above scripture. We should all be offended by the low esteem in which these individuals regard scripture by demanding that it be subject to criticism and external validity. And they don’t stop there; they belittle those of us who take a high view of scripture, denouncing our faith as “blind,” “circular,” and “useless.”
A favorite tactic by Sean Pitman is to challenge anyone to explain how one chooses the Bible to be superior ahead of other sacred texts. The most lucid answer I have seen was posted yesterday at Spectrum Magazine by Phil Brantley, and it merits posting here as well:
Phil Brantley – Thu, 05/05/2011 – 20:59
Dr. Pitman, the evidence arising out of Scripture that supports the claim that Scripture is the Word of God includes the following:
1. The messianic prophecies and their fulfillment in Jesus;
2. The internal consistency of doctrine and teaching over the course of hundreds of years, as reflected in the writings of numerous authors;
3. The sanctuary system’s typology that connects the Old Testament with the New Testament;
4. The courage and zeal of the disciples after the crucifixion;
5. The candor and self-effacement reflected in the descriptions of persons and nations;
6. The fulfillment of some apocalyptic prophecies of Daniel, as reflected in New Testament writings;
7. The numerous references in which the Scriptural writings of others are confirmed–e.g., Peter characterizes the writings of Paul as Scripture–(and why you would call this kind of affirmation “circular”scapes me);
8. The relative ease in differentiating Scripture from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha;
9. The confirmed fact that the ancient writers and their contemporaries did not always understand the meaning of what was written;
10. The complementarity of the various models of the atonement that are extensively set forth in the Old Testament, and further discussed in the New Testament;
11. The fulfillments of classical prophecies, especially in those cases where the prophecy and its temporal fulfillment are recorded in Scripture by separate authors;
12. The absence of material mistakes and contradiction of facts–(there are some mistakes and contradictions but they are not material);
13. The extraordinarily high quality and depth of the material;
14. The self-testimony of Scripture, in that we are not required to superimpose our own assertions regarding what Scripture is;
15. The self-sufficiency of Scripture, in that all major questions of life are addressed;
16. Despite the barbaric practices described in Scripture, Scripture affirms values of ethics, equality, justice, mercy, etc., that are centuries ahead of the times in which those texts were written.I will stop here, but I could continue. I caution once again that while one can have a rational faith, reason cannot displace faith.
You should understand that my belief that Scripture is the Word of God necessarily precedes my hermeneutical approach to Scripture. In contrast, your hermeneutic of criticism necessarily precedes resolution of the question whether Scripture is the Word of God. And because external data is always subject to change, the critic never arrives at the position that Scripture is the Word of God.
The official SDA Church will NEVER embrace Educate Truth’s heterodox theology. And one day it will go out of its way to make this abundantly clear. I guarantee it.
Professor Kent Also Commented
A big reason why so many people are leaving the church
@Sean Pitman:
Amen here, too!
A big reason why so many people are leaving the church
@Sean Pitman:
Ummm…where’s the sarcasm?
A big reason why so many people are leaving the church
Ellen White on the heredity of human behavior
As Pastor Kevin Paulson, an ardent Educate Truth supporter, described eloquently (http://bit.ly/lGXi22):
We see this same principle further illustrated in the more than 200 statements where Ellen White speaks of hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil (23). These are Ellen White’s terms for what we hear today regarding the difference between nature and nurture in human development. Ellen White is clear that Jesus took our fallen hereditary tendencies, since she writes that “He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life” (24). In other words, His heredity would be a source of temptation to Himself, as it is to us. But very clearly, Jesus didn’t take our fallen cultivated tendencies to evil, since to do this would have required Him to sin.
Indeed, Ellen White assures us:
“Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held in bondage to the lower nature, they are to rule every appetite and passion. God has not left us to battle with evil in our own finite strength. Whatever may be our inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He is ready to impart.” (Amazing Grace, p. 246)
Let there be no mistake about it: Ellen White acknowledged the genetic basis of our tendencies toward sinful behavior.
Recent Comments by Professor Kent
Gary Gilbert, Spectrum, and Pseudogenes
Nic Samojluk: No wonder most creationist writers do not even try to submit their papers to such organizations.
Who wants to waste his/her time trying to enter through a door that is closed to him/her a priori?
You have no idea what you’re writing about, Nic. As it turns out, there are in fact many of us Adventists who “waste” our time publishing articles through doors that open to us a priori. Even Leonard Brand at Loma Linda, a widely recognized creationist, has published in the top geology journals. I mean the top journals in the discipline.
The myth that creationists cannot publish in mainstream science is perpetuated by people who simply do not understand the culture of science–and will remain clueless that they do not understand it even when confronted with their misunderstandings. Such is human nature.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Pauluc,
Your questions about conservation genetics are very insightful. I don’t understand how all these life forms were able to greatly increase in genetic diversity while simultaneously winding down and losing genetic information to mutations. Sean seems to insist that both processes happen simultaneously. I had the impression he has insisted all along that the former cannot overcome the latter. But I think you must be right: God had to intervene to alter the course of nature. However, we can probably test this empirically because there must be a signature of evidence available in the DNA. I’ll bet Sean can find the evidence for this.
I’m also glad the predators (just 2 of most such species) in the ark had enough clean animals (14 of each such species) to eat during the deluge and in the months and years after they emerged from the ark that they didn’t wipe out the vast majority of animal species through predation. Maybe they all consumed manna while in the ark and during the first few months or years afterward. Perhaps Sean can find in the literature a gene for a single digestive enzyme that is common to all predatory animals, from the lowest invertebrate to the highest vertebrate. Now that would be amazing.
Wait a minute–I remember once being told that SDA biologists like Art Chadwick believe that some animals survived on floating vegetation outside the ark. Now that would solve some of these very real problems! I wonder whether readers here would allow for this possibility. Multiple arks without walls, roof, and human caretakers.
Southern Adventist University opens Origins Exhibit
Ellen White said, “In the days of Noah, men…many times larger than now exist, were buried, and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians [presumably referring to humans] perished by a flood. God designed that the discovery of these things should establish faith in inspired history…”
Sean Pitman said, “All human fossils discovered so far are Tertiary or post-Flood fossils. There are no known antediluvian human fossils.”
Ellen White tells us that humans and dinosaurs (presumably referred to in the statement, “a class of very large animals which perished at the flood… mammoth animals”) lived together before the flood. Evolutionary biologists tell us that dinosaurs and humans never lived together. You’re telling us, Sean, that the fossil record supports the conclusion of evolutionists rather than that of Ellen White and the SDA Church. Many of the “very large animals which perished at the flood” are found only in fossil deposits prior to or attributed to the flood, whereas hunans occur in fossil deposits only after the flood (when their numbers were most scarce).
Should the SDA biologists, who are supposed to teach “creation science,” be fired if they teach what you have just conceded?
La Sierra Univeristy Fires Dr. Lee Greer; Signs anti-Creation Bond
For those aghast about the LSU situation and wondering what other SDA institutions have taken out bonds, hold on to your britches. You’ll be stunned when you learn (soon) how many of our other schools, and which ones in particular, have taken out these bonds. You will be amazed to learn just how many other administrators have deliberately secularized their institutions besides Randal Wisbey, presumably because they too hate the SDA Church (as David Read has put it so tactfully).
Be sure to protest equally loudly.
Gary Gilbert, Spectrum, and Pseudogenes
@Sean Pitman:
So clearly you believe that science can explain supernatural events. Congratulations on that.
