My thoughts on Professor Kent’s comment. You said: Evolutionism (the big picture) …

Comment on The Credibility of Faith by JohnB.

My thoughts on Professor Kent’s comment.

You said:

Evolutionism (the big picture) insists that dirt gradually became single-celled organisms. Creationism (the Genesis account) insists that dirt instantly became a multicellular organism. I’ve always been amused that so many creationists believe the problems of abiogenesis (life from dirt) can be seen as falsifying evolutionism but not creationism.

I guess I would think the difference is that with evolution time is the force that caused life to exist from dirt, while with creation an intelligent being (God) brought it into existence from dirt. That distinction is very significant (I think anyway), and leads to the falsification of one, and not the other.

Even I, as puny and insignificant as I am can put the right reagents together under the right conditions of heat and pressure and make amino acids in about 12 hours. I have very few and insignificant powers, and yet I can do and have done this. Why is it such a stretch for me to believe that a being (God) with infinitely greater powers than mine couldn’t do that and more instantaneously?

I think that is the big difference between the two: The one (evolution) requires time to be the motive force, while the other (creation) requires a being of infinite power (God) to be the motive force.

One cannot falsify the existence of God, but statistics do seem to falsify the ability of evolutionary abiogenesis over great periods of time. Creationists don’t say life did not come from dirt. Creationists merely say there was an intervening motive force other than time to bring life into being, because time by itself is insufficient for the requirements needed to make life come into existence.

An all-powerful God is sufficient to bring life into existence (even though I don’t know HOW He did it), which He did, in 6 days, “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold,it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day…And on the seventh day God ended His work which he had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Genesis 1:31, Genesis 2:2.

Creationists contend there could never be enough time for evolutionary abiogenesis from dirt.

Recent Comments by JohnB

The Heroic Crusade Redux

Professor Kent: Informed Seventh-day Adventists are well aware that the world of science rejects a supernatural creation, yet the vast majority still believe. You should not mock their faith.

Au, Contraire Monsieur professeur, it was no mockery of faith, but merely a statement that there is room in this discussion for both faith AND evidence, and also we should not demonize Dr. Pitman for presenting the evidence!

Perhaps you would see that if you re-read again what the good Doctor wrote?

Certainly within this body of believers there is room for both faith And evidence in this discussion, and as Dr. Kime suggests, we would do well to combine them both.

For any of us to attempt to cause needless division by distorting that point is in fact the real mockery here. It should be completely below any and all of us to engage in such tactics.


WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation

Ron: Don’t forget that Mrs. White implied that we would have to change some of our fundamental beliefs as truth progresses.

Ron, I think what you are implying is a very serious mis-reading of what she said and implied.

Also, how do you know she wasn’t addressing that to folks such as yourself that apparently don’t believe in the authority of Scripture? Maybe she was implying that you needed to come into closer harmony with Scripture?

I might remind you briefly of Proverbs 16:25 which says that “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

What I say doesn’t matter. What you say doesn’t matter. If either one of us is in rebellion against God, it won’t end well for for the one(s) in rebellion.
We might all do well to always remember that.


WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation
@Ron:
“I think WASC should be commended for defending religious freedom within our schools. I am still mystified how the church can claim to believe in religious freedom and persecute their teachers”

Ron, the issue is not one of religious freedom. Each of these teachers is free to think and believe what they want to. I have absolutely no problem with that, and would most rigorously defend that right. However, they don’t have a right to sabotage their employer, which is LSU, and by extension, the Adventist Church at large.
Having a secret agenda (and pushing that agenda) which counters the beliefs of the church cannot be anything more or less than sabotage.
Everyone must be aware of his/her influence, and especially people in positions of authority. Officials at a school always represent the school, and if they don’t want that responsibility (or can’t handle that responsibility) then they should not accept that responsibility. It is very appropriate to ask them to resign if they cannot properly represent the school.


WASC Reviews LSU’s Accreditation
I wish the leadership of our church would disavow all WASC and the like accreditations, and do self-accreditations instead. THAT would give the school TRUE autonomy.


The Metamorphosis of La Sierra University: an eye-witness account
It seems that ‘Conspire’ is more of an underhanded move by some in an unofficial capacity, while ‘ally’ is more of a sanctioned behavior. The difference between the two is primarily the one action being an allowed official behavior, while the other is a subversive behavior in rebellion to or against officially accepted behavior. In this context, ‘conspire’ is the correct word.

When I read the eyewitness account, I was struck by the similarity to the story of the rebellion in heaven, when Satan conspired against the government of heaven to ‘free’ its inhabitants from the ‘constraints’ of God’s Law. Revelation 12:7,8,9 goes on to say that “…there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out….”

In heaven, the ‘dragon’ and his angels were cast out. Will that happen at LSU? Only time will tell.

I think a battle is still brewing over this (with LSU) which will become more intense if the church does take a definite stand (which it should). We should all be prepared for it, because it will likely get pretty ugly.

As in heaven, so with LSU: Each person will have to take a stand. Each will have to take sides. These ‘conspirators’ are more out in the open now. They have prepared for battle, and I don’t think they have any intent of coming under the direction of or submitting to the control of the board (if it isn’t also compromised), nor of the church at large. They feel in control, and they aren’t going to back down. LSU as an Adventist university may be a lost cause.

Again, the similarities to the rebellion in heaven seem glaringly obvious. The words spoken by the prophet Samual to King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:23 seem applicable here too: “For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee….”