What Effects Does Evolutionary Theory Have Upon Modern Agendas? - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

What Effects Does Evolutionary Theory Have Upon Modern Agendas?

Beth Haven Creation Conference May 14, 2017

• 6
• 2
• 4
• 8
• 10
• 12
• 14
• 16
• 18

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

Age of Universe Life Beginning Historical Period One Year One Hour One Second Sound Period Visible Light Period X-Ray Period

• 12
• 10
• 8
• 6
• 4
• 2

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

Time: Log10 (seconds)

Atom Molecules Bacteria

Spatial Domain of Nature

One cm Man Mountains Sun Solar System Galaxies

Space: Log10 (cm) Temporal Domain of Nature

Deductions Deductions Conjecture Ultra-speed filming Telescope Deductions Microscope

Limits of empirical knowledge

36

BUT the scientific method requires special additions (worldview dependent conjectures) in order to penetrate unobservable past & future domains Man created to have dominion

• ver nature starting with the

correspondence God created between many of man’s empirically-based conceptions and nature’s design

Shall I bow to my Creator?

• YES!

– ancient monotheism – ancient Israel – Bible – fundamentalism

• CREATOR/creature

– God || man | nature – everlasting distinctions

• PERSONAL

SOVEREIGN

– ultimate responsibility

• NO!

– ancient myths – eastern religions – western philosophy – modern theology

• Continuity of Being

– nature > gods > man – transmutation / evolution

• IMPERSONAL FATE &

CHANCE

– ultimate victimization

37

A candle “clock”

38

Lo – [L/t] * T = Lm

Starting length (in) Burn rate (in/hr) Burn duration (hr) Measured length now (in)

[Lo – Lm] [L/t]

= T

Solving for burn duration. . .

Uniformitarianism decoded

39

Different meanings Explanation Uniformity of law Presupposition of all science Uniformity of process kinds (actualism) Past processes no different from presently observed processes Uniformity of process rates (gradualism) Processes common to past and present have same rates Lyell used the term “Uniformity” as purposeful equivocation in 1830

• S. J. Gould first exposed the equivocation in 1980—150

years later!

Problems of uniformitarianism acknowledged by the “Establishment”

40

“It can be said that the geologists’ knowledge of the past is based upon pretheoretical assumptions, often of a metaphysical nature, not susceptible to logical or empirical proof. In a certain sense, they are the products

• f the geologists’ imagination.”

Gadi Kravitz in Rethinking the Fabric of Geology (2013), 21

Intelligent Design movement thinks that naturalism began with Darwin

41

“I myself would adopt [young-earth creation] in a heartbeat except that nature seems to present such strong evidence against it. ... In our current mental environment, informed as it is by modern astrophysics and geology, the scientific community as a whole regards young-earth creationism as untenable.”

William A. Dembski, The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2009), 55.

“Most scientific evidence sets the age of the world at billions of years.”

Norman L. Geisler, Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999), p. 272

42

Problems with Old Earth Creationism

• 1. Hermeneutics of special revelation must yield to

naturalistic/uniformitarian interpretations of general revelation.

• 2. Genealogies compromised—death and suffering before

the fall; flood has to be local; Jesus and apostles erred in affirming Genesis; physical resurrection can’t be explained by a gradual natural process.

• 3. Engage in “straw man” fallacies about “young earth”

creationists—we use “flat earth” hermeneutics, claim “old earth” people aren’t saved, claim “yom” never used figuratively, etc.

Consequences for personal relationship to the Lord

43

Personal Creator Nature is all there is Eternality Deep Time Omnipresence Impersonal Universe Omnipotence All powerful Nature Sovereignty Fatalism & hyper-regulatory state Love Sentimental deity & total dependency upon other people’s love