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Orientation
Bible believers divide (roughly) into three categories with
regard to the age of the universe:
1) Theistic evolutionists (TE) accept most of
the prevailing views regarding a universe billions of years
old and fossils millions of years old; but they believe God
guided the forces of evolution to produce living things.
(Davis Young, M.A. Corey, etc.)
2) Progressive creationists (PC) support most
of the generally accepted views regarding a universe
billions of years old and fossils millions of years old; but
they believe that God, at various stages in history, created
special creatures and let them further develop to produce
the modern range of biota. (Hugh Ross, P.T. Pun, etc.)
3) Young-earth biblical literalists reject the
more common views of an ancient fossil record (preferring
recent flood geology), and interpret the Bible to require a
young earth (YEC) and a young universe no more than 10,000
years old. (Henry Morris, Ken Ham, etc.)
This book contends that Scripture requires a fourth
category:
4) Undefined age biblical literalists
interpret the Bible to require a young biosphere (a recent,
literal, six-day creation) but leave planet earth's mineral
base and the stellar heavens with an unspecified time of
origin (YBC). This allows for a possible or
probable old universe and earth but requires a
recent biology.
Such is the theme of this book. It is hoped that a better
interpretation will bring widely divergent extremes to an
intellectual dialogue and ultimate unity without
compromising a word of Scripture or empirical science.
Summary of the Chapters
Author's Preface -
The preface explores the harmony between science and the
Bible. It has been included in its entirety along with
Chapter 1.
Chapter One: Thesis and Introduction -
Chapter 1 has been included in its entirety.
Read
the Preface and Chapter 1 online.
Chapter Two: Hazards in Bible Interpretation -
enumerates 10 interpretive pitfalls including the hazard of
human persuasion and social pressure; the hazard of
eisegesis; the hazard of ignoring simple hermeneutics; the
hazard of a faulty paradigm.
Chapter Three: Four Foundational Imperatives -
establishes some important basic concepts including a
discussion of day four, (And God made two great lights and
the stars also) and Exodus 20:11 (For in six days the Lord
made the heavens, the earth and the sea and all that are in
them).
Chapter Four: Biblical Cosmogony - A Paraphrase and
Commentary -
provides a detailed exposition of Genesis 1 and Exodus
20:11.
Chapter Five: Creation Passages Illustrated With Known
Astronomical Features -
compares bodies in the present solar system with the
description of earth in Genesis 1:2 - an illuminating
exercise.
Chapter Six: Needless Obstacles to Creation Science
-
complains of obstructions to the creationist message erected
by young universe dogmatism.
Chapter Seven: Relativism Questioned For Its Biblical
Basis -
critiques Dr. Russell Humphreys' conjecture of a
relativistic explanation of light from distant galaxies, not
from an astro-physical view but from an exegetical
perspective.
Chapter Eight: Objections To Undefined Age Answered
-
provides rebuttals to objections attempted against the
biosphere interpretation promoted by this book.
Chapter Nine: Theistic Evolution Promoted By Mandatory
Young-Universe Doctrine -
attempts to link theistic evolution and progressive creation
errors to a reaction against the mandatory young universe
doctrine.
Chapter Ten: Closing Thoughts And Summary -
summarizes the salient points of the body of work.
The book also contains a bibliography, indexes and several
helpful appendices including a creation story version for
kindergarten age. One of the strong indicators of the
validity of any interpretation is shown if the Bible can be
told simply to any child and easily understood by them just
as it is written, while being perfectly valid as an adult
version. But the translation used for children must
match the original sense fairly - without conformity to an
historical precedent and with nothing slanted to suit a
favored interpretation.
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