Comment on Biblical Interpretation and Credibility by Professor Kent.
Ellen White unmistakably supports what Bill Sorensen, David Read, Richard Davidson, Mark Finley, Phil Brantley, myself, and most faithful SDAs understand:
“Everywhere the eye might rest was abundance and beauty; yet Eve was deceived by the serpent, to think that there was something withheld which would make them wise, even as God. Instead of believing and confiding in God, she basely distrusted His goodness and cherished the words of Satan.
EGW, SR, p. 37-38
Clearly, Eve trusted in her own judgment, having been deceived by the evidence presented to her by the serpent. She failed the simple test of trusting God’s word at face value. Ellen White could not have stated this more clearly. I repeat, Eve was DECEIVED and she DISTRUSTED.
Likewise, we will err should we refuse, as Sean Pitman insists we must, to trust God’s word at face value. Yes, there is evidence that God’s word can be trusted; no one is denying this evidence except Sean for the sake of his petty argument, for which he erroneously equates implicit trust in God’s word with “blind faith.” Again, none of us are arguing there is no evidence, and we are deeply offended at being told over and over (and over and over), “your faith is blind and useless.”
Because Satan can manipulate and take advantage of evidence, it’s clear that God’s word and physical evidence are not a harmonious match on this planet. When God’s word and the physical evidence (science) conflict, faithful SDAs follow God’s word–not their own reason, as Eve did and Sean Pitman boasts he will. Trusting God’s word ahead of the evidence and our own reason is not as useless as believing in Sean’s pasta strawman, the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
You can believe Sean Pitman, and follow his advice to put your trust in evidence and your own reason, or you can believe God.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5
Professor Kent Also Commented
Biblical Interpretation and Credibility
Sean Pitman wrote:
“I, personally, would have to go with what I saw as the weight of empirical evidence. This is why if I ever honestly became convinced that the weight of empirical evidence was on the side of life existing on this planet for hundreds of millions of years, I would leave not only the SDA Church, but Christianity as well…” [http://www.educatetruth.com/theological/the-credibility-of-faith/]
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
Biblical Interpretation and Credibility
@ Holly Pham: Surely the Church could use its money in better ways than distributing millions of hard copies of The Great Controversy to landfills (via mailboxes). The project would have been more successful about five decades ago, in my estimation. My question for you: what specific prophecy has the discussion at Spectrum fulfilled?
Biblical Interpretation and Credibility
Bill Sorensen: [Hilde said] “If I ever became convinced the biblical creation was not true… Shane’s comment does not base his decision on science. It was simply a generic statement concerning the bible and what it teaches.
You think?
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.
