Don’t you feel an obligation to save the children from this nonsense? I do.
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Nah…Eventually they will grow up and go to college and decide for themselves what to do with the science. For most people it is not really going to matter one way or the other what they think at least as far as living their daily life goes. How many major life choices are informed by the average person’s view of the fossil record?
Maybe because I grew up with it and don’t feel like any real harm was done to my mind or my soul, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. There are other more pressing issues to address in Evangelical subculture, like parent-imposed courtship, “purity culture,” and the resurgence of patriarchy. You have to pick your battles.
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Thank you for your honest response to Patrick. In a sense I agree with you. Creationism by itself is not a serious problem, but it seems to me a symptom of a serious problem which divides the Christian Church, Western civilization, and global culture. It is not a symptom of an evangelical problem, but a universal problem of how people think.
These other issues are more important than creationism, but I think that they are symptoms of the same problem. I suggest that the problem is Legalism. All three of these examples puts people back into a OT legalistic situation. Taken far enough they would put Christians under a kind of Muslim Sharia Law.
While I can see the wisdom of picking one’s battles, I would suggest that basically we have a theological struggle here between NT and OT theology and spiritual life that needs to be engaged…
Maybe in some cases, but I think the vast majority of people I go to church with are not militantly young earth, they just got there by default, because they assume it’s the “Christian” position. Honestly, they spend very little time thinking about it, and it doesn’t come up in their daily lives much at all.
So, while it might be true that those who dedicate their lives to defending and promoting the young earth view may have a legalistic view of some things, I don’t think you can really extend that to everyone who subscribes to the view by default. I don’t know that I would say it’s really legalism or an OT focus either that makes it so touchy. I thinks it’s more a preference for black and white “right answers” and propositional truth (over truth found in narratives), which is something I identify with modernism. I think many Christians, especially in American evangelical churches, feel threatened by pluralism and all the gray areas and the relativism they feel is inherent in tolerance and accepting multiple perspectives as valid. They feel that absolute truth is under attack and the creation/science debate is just a place all those fears play out.
@Christy wrote:
Again thank you for sharing.
I agree that young earth is in some ways more of a symptom, rather than a cause of evangelical worldview, but of course it sets the community against the rest of society. Thus its a circular self reinforcing situation.
The problem as I see it developed with the rebellion against liberal relativism, which took the form of absolutizing the Bible. I would emphasize that that there is and was much for people to object to liberal relativism. The problem is that the response was and is wrong headed.
Liberal relativism is deeply flawed, but that does not make conservative absolutism right. It is also very deeply flawed. Christians do not live by absolute truth, they live by faith. They do not live by black and white right answers and propositional truths, they live by faith in Jesus Christ.
It was the Pharisees who established black and white right answers and propositional truth, and they killed Jesus because He dared to challenge their absolute truths. Jesus sharply criticized them, not because they were “worse” than pagan Gentiles, but because they distorted God’s relational Truth.
There are many threatening things in today’s world. Christians are not to respond in fear as they seem to be doing, but by faith. Even though this is easier said than done, people need to be told that fear is no excuse for disobeying God’s call to love others.
Jesus called God’s people, the Jews, to live in a pluralistic world. Many of them would not and failed to reap the blessings of Christianity. Jesus is still call and many evangelicals are losing their blessing to day because they do not respond.
Jesus criticized the Pharisees who were religious leaders, because they are more responsible, but everyone is responsible for her/his own salvation. Church membership and following the evangelical line are no guarantee, just following Jesus, but the rich young ruler failed to do that.
The key is not the Bible, but Jesus. The key is not absolute truth, but Relational Truth. The keys are faith, hope, and love, which build, not fear that destroys.
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It looks as if Christiy is not going to respond to my response, which is her right.
I just want to point out that her remarks based on her experience as a former YEC point to the fact that the conflict over this issue is not scientific, but theological. We can talk science until we are blue in the face, but if the other person is convinced that the Bible is Absolute Truth, it does not do any good.
BioLogos to succeed in its mission must address the theological and philosophical aspects of Creationism as well as the scientific. This is true concerning addressing non-believers also.
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I’m sorry @Relates Roger, I didn’t know you were waiting for a response. I didn’t really have anything substantial to add to what you said and I didn’t disagree. 
Back to the topic. Dinosaur’s early relatives.
It is good to hear from you. Please read what I have written to Patrick on another topic. I sent it to you too. I hope you have received it. God bless you and your family. Henry
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