Do people who embrace common descent "give up on Genesis"?

No I don’t. You sound similar to those Christians of not so many centuries ago who said “If you embrace the Copernican Model of the earth and all other planets orbiting the sun, you give up the Bible.” Do you agree with them? I doubt that you do.

The problem with such bombastic declarations (both theirs and yours) is that it confuses “the Bible” and “Genesis” with “my interpretation of the Bible.” Ken Ham and so many Young Earth Creationists like to use this tactic almost daily: “Those who claim X are denying the Word of God!” What they should be saying is “Those who claim X are denying my interpretation of the Word of God!” Big difference.

False dichotomy fallacies are so handy! Just take something undeniably good and contrast it with something that can so easily be maligned. But once again, you don’t really mean “the word of God”. It is a subtle swap for “my interpretation of the word of God.” Gullible audiences may not notice the sleight of hand—unless they stop to think about it.

I’ll ask the question more honestly: “What do you think is more reliable, my interpretation of the word of God, or the science academy’s analysis of the evidence from God’s creation?”

As to the “which moves forward and changes constantly”, hopefully BOTH our understanding of the word of God and our understanding of what we observe in God’s creation move forward and change constantly! As the Apostle Paul said, we see through a glass but darkly. And the Proverbs tell us that it is to the glory of God to conceal a matter but to the glory of honorable people to see search it out. Hopefully we are all growing in grace and in knowledge as we observe what God has created for his glory!

I am a former competitive debater and debate tournament judge so I can appreciate your attempt to use a very effective rhetorical technique, the False Dichotomy, to make your position sound unassailable. And the fact that you presented it as a question gives you a modicum of deniability if you get caught red-handed using the False Dichotomy ploy. (You will be able to satisfy some people with a plea of your innocence: “I simply asked a question! I simply asked for your opinion as to which is more reliable. I didn’t actually take a position on it!”) Some politicians have used the False Dichotomy tactic for great personal advantage. I provided some specific examples—but just before I hit the REPLY-key, I deleted those sentences because I realized politics and individual politicians really don’t belong on this thread or even this forum in general. But I’m sure readers can think of some examples of their own.

I very much appreciate your posts here because you use a lot of the traditional arguments, the classics, which are found on countless origins ministry forums—but those forums usually censor anyone who exposes the flaws in those arguments and tactics. So this thread will help readers to spot traditional science-denial strategies. (I was an enthusiastic evolution-denier when I was a Young Earth Creationist long ago. So I was equally guilty of these very same tactics.)

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