Hello, this is General Mung Beans here. For the last several odd years I've generally held to a moderately evangelical/theologically "orthodox" Protestantism (think Tim Keller) which included an acceptance of theistic evolution. However in the last couple of months doubts from both sides have been consuming me (although they have always been latent within me): on the one hand, the works of sceptics such as Robert G. Ingersoll (whom regardless of my theological views, I believe was one of the noblest souls in American history considering his accepting racial equality, enforcement of civil rights laws, opposing Chinese exclusion, supporting women's suffrage etc.) remind me of the fact that there are several passages in Scripture which are troubling to those holding to modern morality (ie the Canaanite genocide, acceptance of slavery etc.). Compounding this is that I believe that a belief in an omniscient God requires a belief in an inerrant Bible and that it is intellectually incoherent to be a "liberal Christian" or an Unitarian. The only other options left to me are Deism and agnosticism/atheism.
On the other hand, certain hardline fundamentalist preaching has also troubled me. I wonder if I have been truly saved as I am not certain whether I have been properly repentant of my sins or truly love Christ. I have been troubled whether I might be disobedient to Scripture for thinking that the American Revolution was justified or that labour strikes are justified or even that women can wear pants. The biggest issue in relation to this, though, is young earth creationism. While it seems to me that most creationist arguments have been addressed and thoroughly refuted by the proponents of evolution, certain testimonies troubles me otherwise. For example I've read of Dr. Richard Lumsden, who was a biologist yet converted to young earth creationism even before he converted to Christianity. And I've also perused (via online previews) a collection of some 40-odd testimonies of various people with scientific backgrounds who've embraced young earth creationism. Since I am not a particularly scientifically-oriented person, I have been troubled at how such persons who'd have much more scientific knowledge than me have converted to a YEC position. Were these people ignorant of certain potential counterarguments or evidence or were they driven by psychological factors to reject evolution?
Since I can't provide links, the examples I've mentioned can be found by looking up Persuaded by the Evidence on Google Books and Dr. Lumsden's story can be found at the Creation Studies Institute.
On the other hand, certain hardline fundamentalist preaching has also troubled me. I wonder if I have been truly saved as I am not certain whether I have been properly repentant of my sins or truly love Christ. I have been troubled whether I might be disobedient to Scripture for thinking that the American Revolution was justified or that labour strikes are justified or even that women can wear pants. The biggest issue in relation to this, though, is young earth creationism. While it seems to me that most creationist arguments have been addressed and thoroughly refuted by the proponents of evolution, certain testimonies troubles me otherwise. For example I've read of Dr. Richard Lumsden, who was a biologist yet converted to young earth creationism even before he converted to Christianity. And I've also perused (via online previews) a collection of some 40-odd testimonies of various people with scientific backgrounds who've embraced young earth creationism. Since I am not a particularly scientifically-oriented person, I have been troubled at how such persons who'd have much more scientific knowledge than me have converted to a YEC position. Were these people ignorant of certain potential counterarguments or evidence or were they driven by psychological factors to reject evolution?
Since I can't provide links, the examples I've mentioned can be found by looking up Persuaded by the Evidence on Google Books and Dr. Lumsden's story can be found at the Creation Studies Institute.
via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1pYOKhA
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