It seems to me like you are mistaken on several …

Comment on The Adventist Accrediting Association to Approve LSU’s Accreditation by Sean Pitman.

It seems to me like you are mistaken on several accounts.

1) I don’t see that you are correct in your claim that Ellen White clearly and unambiguously endorsed the position that the Earth, Sun, moon, stars and/or universe at large where created on Day 1. There is no clear statement to this effect nor does she claim Divine insight into this question.

2) You are also mistaken in your suggestion that it was Darwinism or popular science in general that caused a shift in Adventist thinking on this topic. This is clearly not the case since the Young Life position is still fundamentally at odds with Darwinism and mainstream geology. It is also at odds with the gap theories that were generally accepted by many Christians toward the end of the 1800s that allowed for the pre-existence of life and death on this planet. Such gap theories were indeed accepted in an effort to try to harmonize the Darwinian view of the fossil record with the Biblical account – something that the passive gap/young life position does not do.

3) For the same reasons you are mistaken that George McCready Price felt forced by popular science to favor the passive gap theory or that he was the first influential Adventist to allow for the pre-existence of the raw materials of the Earth. Many Adventists before him also favored this position, believing that the basic raw material of the Earth likely existed prior to the creation week – all without any attempt to harmonize Darwinism with the Bible. The conclusion of a “passive gap” is based on the internal evidence within the Bible itself. In fact, according to Richard Davidson, the passive gap concept has long been the most common conclusion among both Christian and Jewish interpreters of the original Hebrew text:

“Against the suggestion that all the words in Genesis 1:2 simply imply “nothingness,” it must be observed that verses 3 and following do not describe the creation of water, but assume its prior existence. The word tehom “deep,” combined with tohu and bohu together (as in Jeremiah 4:34) do not seem to refer to nothingness, but rather to the earth in an unformed-unfilled state covered by water.

This leads us to the initial unformed-unfilled position. A straightforward reading of the flow of thought in Genesis 1:1-3 has led the majority of Christian and Jewish interpreters in the history of interpretation to this position, hence this is called the traditional view.”

http://dialogue.adventist.org/articles/06_3_davidson_e.htm

That’s my critique of your statement and why I disagreed with your original comment.

In short, there is nothing within the history of Adventism that has ever put YEC up as a pillar of faith or a fundamental doctrinal belief or that removes the possibility of YLC, based on the passive gap theory, from Adventist fundamental beliefs.

Sean Pitman Also Commented

The Adventist Accrediting Association to Approve LSU’s Accreditation
This is the same language used by the Bible. Whatever “wiggle room” the Bible leaves open is still open when one uses this language. The Bible is not clear that the “creation of the heavens and the earth” means that the material of the Earth itself was created during creation week. Quite the opposite is true. The Bible seems to suggest that something was here prior to creation week. Or, at the very least, leaves this question open.


The Adventist Accrediting Association to Approve LSU’s Accreditation
Oh please. You do realize that there are difference kinds of “heavens” in Hebrew understanding? This is not a statement arguing that God made the entire universe…


The Adventist Accrediting Association to Approve LSU’s Accreditation
The question is if you or anyone else has even tried to explain how the evolutionary mechanism (RM/NS) can tenably work beyond very very low levels of functional complexity. The answer to that question is no. This means that this mechanism is not backed up by what anyone would call real science. It’s just-so story telling. That’s it. There is nothing in scientific literature detailing the statistical odds of RM/NS working at various levels of functional complexity. And, there is no demonstration beyond systems that require a few hundred averagely specified residues.

What is interesting is that no one who controls the mainstream journals will publish any observations as to why a real scientific basis for the Darwinian mechanism is lacking. The basic information is there. Contrary to Pauluc’s claims, a precise definition of “levels of functional complexity” has been published, along with what happens to the ratios of potential beneficial vs. non-benficial sequences. What no one is allowing to be published is the implications of this information.

Regardless, the implications should be clear to you. The math is overwhelmingly clear. If the ratio of beneficial vs. non-beneficial goes from 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000,000,000,000 the fact that the average time to success will decrease quite dramatically doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out. Evolutionists, who have actually seriously considered this problem must recognize the implications here, but seem to be trying to brush it all under the rug because no one knows of any other viable mechanism (again, despite Pauluc’s unsupported claims to the contrary – to include his “life enzymes”).

In any case, it is possible for you to move beyond blind faith in the unsupported claims of your “experts” and consider the information that is available to all for yourself. Start at least trying to do a little math on your own and you will no doubt recognize the problem for yourself regardless of what your experts continue to claim – without any basis in empirical evidence or science.

Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com


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