Darwinism and intimidation

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

Good grief. 'You were intimidated" is a false accusation. I spent many of my years growing up (if I ever did ) in a fundamentalist teetotaling YEC church, and I was never satisfied with the invented solutions for how light existed before the sun.* Some of the silliness they promoted were things like, “Jesus never drank wine – he wouldn’t drink anything rotten [as in ‘decayed’ because of bacteria].”

Having had a fair background in nuclear physics (I was a reactor operator on a nuclear submarine half a century ago), I was never excited about the suggestion that radionuclides’ half-lives could change willy nilly, per YEC doctrine. My transition to OEC* was painless as was my acceptance of evolution, characterizing myself as an ‘evolutionary providentialist’ not long ago.

 

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*I still have an affinity for the Rossian cosmological sequence in Genesis 1 (it is not incompatible with an ANE/literary framework view – they are not mutually exclusive).

[jammycakes (James McKay)]

@marktwombly

Paul, as you can see, the dialogue has confirmed your suspicions and proved my point. Many of the folks chiming in don’t even realize it, the bias runs so deep.

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,” (Romans 1:21-22)

Mark, when YECs start sticking to the basic rules and principles of mathematics and measurement, when they stop presenting tiny samples with huge error bars as “overwhelming” evidence that hundreds of thousands of high-precision results are consistently out by factors of up to a million, and when they stop quote mining people in ways that misrepresent them, then and only then can we discuss whether they are being intimidated by “Darwinists.”

¹³Do not have two differing weights in your bag — one heavy, one light. ¹⁴Do not have two differing measures in your house — one large, one small. ¹⁵You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly. (Deuteronomy 25:13-16)

[rsewell (RON SEWELL)]

@marktwombly

I will simply ask that readers evaluate for themselves from the responses here if the intimidation is real.

I went through the entire conversation, looking to see if the intimidation is real. There may have been a couple of dismissive responses to what was a loaded question, several responses which registered disagreement, and none that were intimidating. Substantiated and blunt but respectful criticism of a preposterous position does not constitute intimidation.

[Jay313 (Jay Johnson)]

@rsewell

respectful criticism of a preposterous position

Hmmm. Is this an oxymoron? Haha

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

Another verse which is highly relevant to YEC claims of variability is Jeremiah 33:25:

This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth…

[Klax (The only thing that matters is faith expressed in love.)]

Which Dawkins himself repudiates of course.