Sean has argued that faith without reason is never supported …

Comment on Beyond the Creation Story – Why the Controversy Matters by BobRyan.

Sean has argued that faith without reason is never supported by either Ellen White or the Bible.

Certainly that cannot be denied.

Darwin, Dawkins and Ellen White point out that reason will not allow us to marry the Bible to belief in evolutionism because belief in evolutionism ultimately destroys faith in the Bible.

No question that they are correct in that regard.

Some of the misdirection that has been proposed is of the form “yes but it does not destroy faith in the bible INSTANTLY so we do have T.E. with us to this very day claiming to marry the Bible to evolutionism”.

And no one has argued that it destroys faith in the Bible “instantly”.

Just that reason does not allow you to marry the Bible to evolutionism — when you think it through and if you are at all interested in exegesis – specifically the H-G model of hermeneutics.

It is nice that even our atheist friends like Dawkins see the value in simply letting the Bible speak for itself instead of trying to bend and wrench the text to meet the usages and dictates of evolutionism.

To the extent that they see this disconnect between the Bible and evolutionism their “reason” is more than “reason alone” it is also being affirmed by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit who “Convicts the world” in many of these areas.

Christ is the light that coming into the world “enlightens every man” – whether that man knows it or not. And each one must choose whether they will “love darkness more than light”.

in Christ,

Bob

BobRyan Also Commented

Beyond the Creation Story – Why the Controversy Matters
Certainly “40 days” is soon in the case of Jonah.

And as it turns out – in the 1890’s Ellen White stated that the “soon” of her earlier predictions had already passed and she even discusses the present situation not very unlike Israel wandering 40 years in the desert when first released from Egypt.

So by her own statements the much predicted “soon event” did not happen – and the same can be said for Jonah.

Which gets us to the “conditional prophecy” (Jer 18) aside comment.

How do you set aside the very detail that explains both the Jonah event and the wandering in the wilderness for 40 years?

in Christ,

Bob


Beyond the Creation Story – Why the Controversy Matters
The “why it matters” discussion in the article above makes it clear that we need to take action.

The statements Darwin himself makes on this subject – leave us with no excuse at all for supposing that evolutionism can be married to Bible based Christianity.

Dawkins, Provine and Meyer all agree.

And as it turns out – so also does 3SG 90-94 agree with that point.

in Christ,

Bbo


Beyond the Creation Story – Why the Controversy Matters

ken: I keep hearing the mantra ‘soon’, but it loses steam if things don’t happen within one’s (a prophet’s) lifetime. You know EGW didn’t do herself any favours with the angel’s ‘worms for food’ vision, that didn’t come to fruition within her lifetime. Conditional prophecy euphemism aside, soon should have some tangible meaning.

How reasonable is it to set the solution aside and then ask for a solution?

When Jonah said “40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed” — if you set “conditional prophecy aside” then how soon was 40 days?

It does not make sense to do that – or did I miss something? 😉

in Christ,

Bob


Recent Comments by BobRyan

Supreme Court Decision on Church Employment Case

Mack Ramsy:: : but the one thing we know for certain is that it was designed to change. There are so many back up and redundancies designed to make whatever changes that DNA faces to be profitable for the organism, or if their deleterious to ensure they don’t damage the subsequent generation (yes there are very complex methods for doing this) The immune system in fact does it intentionally.

BobRyan:
Obviously the references above to “designed” and “intention” could not be overlooked by the objective unbiased reader applying a bit of critical thinking to the topic. And so my response below merely states the obvious point of agreement on a part of that post.

No wonder the application of a bit of critical thinking just then – demands that we conclude from your remarks above – that you are an example of an evolutionist that is strongly in favor of Intelligent Design. I too favor I.D.

Mack Ramsy:
Obviously the references abov

I don’t believe in ID as it’s traditionally defined. I believe that God created a system designed to evolve.

BobRyan:
Obviously the references abov
In your earlier statement you claimed that system was designed with “redundancy and backup” features. That is not something rocks, gas and water could ever do – hence the term “Intelligent Design”.

But perhaps you have access to more highly advanced rocks, gas and water?

Also you mention “intention” as if the immune system was deliberately designed with an end goal in view.

As it turns out – it is those “intention” and “Intelligent Design” aspects (so key to your response above) that are at the very heart of I.D. enabled science were we have the freedom to “follow the data where it leads” even if it leads to a conclusion in favor of design that does not fit atheist dogma about there “being no god”.

how odd then that you seem to later back pedal on your prior observation.

Thus you seem to be in somewhat of a self-conflicted position at the moment.

At least given the content of your statements about “intent” and “backup systems” and “redundancy” designed into the systems themselves (even to the point of “error correction” as we see in the case of nucleic polypeptide amino acid chains and their chiral orientation).

Of course all that just gets us back here
http://www.thebranch.org/videos/Creation_Calls.mov

Mack&#032Ramsy: My language in this forum is not formal. Try not to get caught up in semantic issues.

Out of curiosity is that statement supposed to provide a solution to just how it is that something “not designed” is able to exhibit unique design characteristics such as “back up systems” – “redundancy” – error correcting mechanism and an “immune system with intention” regarding a specific outcome or goal?

No doubt the study of biology most definitely shows us that such things are present “in nature” based on “observations in nature” – and so you are right to state it as you did.

So if you are then going to double back and reject what you just affirmed – what do you have by way of “explanation” for such a self-conflicted course?

Reaching for a solution of the form – “Pay no attention to my actual words if they do not serve to deny I.D.” does not provide as satisfactory resolution to the problem as you may have at first supposed.

in Christ,

Bob


Strumming the Attached Strings
@David Read:

Erv Taylor is not “afraid” to post here – but he is “Afraid” to have well thought out views posted on AToday that do not flatter his agenda.

That was not news right?

in Christ,

Bob


Michigan Conference vs. LSU – Right Wing Politics or Truth in Advertising?
@John J.:

John&#032J&#046: The fact remains, any decision direction or policy made by a church, conference, union or GCEC can be reversed or changed by those they serve.

Agreed and the fact that the constituency are not voting to reverse it – is a sign that this is not merely the views of the Administration in Michigan.

As for hierarchy – there is no doctrinal authority in the administrators.

And as for administrative hierarchy – the GC leadership has no authority to dismiss rogue teachers which is one of the reasons that this particular meltdown at LSU seems to go on and on and on. It slows at times and it speeds up at other times – but the fire is not simply put out.

in Christ,

Bob


A “Christian Agnostic”?

ken:: Let’s continue shall we. You posit that Adam and Eve were producing telomerase as adults as a result of eating fruit from the tree of life. Would you agree that the production of adult telomerase was a direct result of the environment or did the gene(s) affecting production of the a enzyme as adults mutate in their progeny?

1. I never stated whether the fruit from the Tree of Life provided the telemerase enzyme or simply provided a trigger enzyme/protein that caused Adam and Eve to produce Telemerase. Either way the end result was the same.

2. The salient point is that we have a known mechanism that affects the aging of cells starting with new borns.

This is simply “observation in nature” given in response to your question about an observed mechanism in humans for the 900 year life span the Bible mentions.

BobRyan:
It is hard to “do the study” without having them under observation.

1. But it is not hard to see the gradual decline in ages over time.

2. It is not hard to see the Bible declare that access to the Tree of Life was the determining factor.

3. It is not hard to see that even in humans today – the ability remains for us to produce telemerase – but we quickly lose that ability.

4. It is not hard to see what effect that has on the telomeres of infants.

The list of knowns for this mechanism are far more impressive than the “I imagine a mechanism whereby static genomes acquire new coding genes not already present and functioning in nature and that this happens for billions of years”.

Ken: Hi BobWe are making good progress!Thanks for your admitting thaf we do not have Adam and Eve or their progeny under observation to do the study.

My pleasure.

Let’s look at the empirical results of your observation. There is no physical evidence that the progeny or descendants lived to 900 years, right? Thus there is no physical evidence that the tree of life provided longevity through the increased production or activation of telermerase right?

There is evidence that a mechanism does exist whereby access to an enzyme would in fact affect the aging process of human cells.

That mechanism is observed in nature to be related to the enzyme Telemerase.

There is a ton of evidence that food contains enzymes and proteins and that the human body can produce enzymes in response to the presence of trigger proteins and enzymes.

It is irrefutably true that humans still today produce telemerase in the case of infants just before birth. Impossible to deny it – though you seem to want to go down that dead end road.

You asked about the “mechanism” that can be observed today that would account for long ages of life recorded in the Bible.

You now seem to be pulling the classic “bait and switch” asking for the video of the people living for long ages before the flood.

Nice try —

As I said before – your method is along the lines of grasping at straws in a true “any ol’ exuse will do” fashion.

in Christ,

Bob


SDA Darwinians compromise key church doctrines
Rev 21 does not say the planet has no light – it says the City has no NEED of light from the Sun.

The inconvenient deatils point to the fact that the New Earth will have a Sun and Moon but the New Jerusalem will have eternal day due to the light of God’s presence.

This is not the hard part.

in Christ,

Bob