Examining the Assumptions of Mosaic Creationism vis-a-vis the Assumptions of Evolutionary Creationism

[Mike_Gantt]

Sign-Off

As I wrote above yesterday, I am signing off from this discussion board today - this being my last post. In closing, I thought I should give a report on my activity here.

I have been on this BioLogos forum from June 22nd until today - a week shy of two months. During that time, I have launched 12 threads (which your discussion software calls “topics”) - 3 major and 9 minor. By “major,” I mean of major importance to me. By “minor,” I mean secondary to, and supportive of, my interest in the major threads.

All the threads I have started, major and minor, were worded in the form of a question - except for the last one (“Examining the Assumptions of Mosaic Creationism vis-a-vis the Assumptions of Evolutionary Creationism”).

Here then is a re-cap of all my threads so that you may remember my participation here at BioLogos in terms of the focus I brought, and have kept, throughout my stay: a commitment to biblical authority coupled with a search for biblical clarity.

Major Threads

These major threads are listed in chronological order. That is, I focused my primary attention here at BioLogos on the first major thread until I transitioned to the second, and then finally to the third.

• Who best reconciles the Bible and Evolution? (This is the thread with which I began my participation at BioLogos. It most clearly reflects the curiosity that brought me here.)

• What biblical reasons are there to accept the scientific view of the earth as billions of years old? (This is the major thread I started and transitioned my attention to after being advised by several parties here that the best way to come to a conclusion about the question of evolution is to focus first on the age of the earth. Even in retrospect, I still think this was a good suggestion.)

• Examining the Assumptions of Mosaic Creationism vis-a-vis the Assumptions of Evolutionary Creationism (This is the thread which I began a little over a week ago, and to which I have given my exclusive attention since then. I started it because my queries here - major and minor - had reached an impasse, I was on the verge of simply giving up, and this thread seemed a way of focusing tightly on a final energetic attempt to achieve closure regarding the initial curiosity that had brought me to BioLogos. It represents a coda in my participation here and I am glad I was encouraged to give it this extra oomph. While it didn’t give me closure on the overarching issue, it did bring my search to an acceptable conclusion.)

Minor Threads

I have listed these minor threads not so much in a chronological order as in a simple logical flow - grouping like curiosities. This logical flow derives from the way I view the importance and flow of the three major threads. Therefore, there is some chronological flow to what follows, but it is not strictly chronological.

• If creation is unceasing, how are we to understand Genesis 2:1-3?

• It is possible for the earth to appear old to science without it actually being old and without God being deceitful?

• Can science discover supernatural activity even though science might not call it that?

• If creation was supernatural, how could methodological naturalism ever discover it?

• Are an Old Earth and Noah’s Flood Mutually-Exclusive Explanations of the Fossil Record?

• To what degree might chronological snobbery affect our thinking about the matters we discuss on this forum?

• Are Theology and Science Both Interpretive Disciplines?

• Can We Not Agree That Someone Is Being Foolish?

• How would you live differently if your view of the age of the earth turned out to be wrong?

Conclusion

Thanks to all who helped me in these threads. Alas, I am not able to report to you at this time a definitive conclusion to my work - that is, a clear and complete satisfaction of the curiosity that brought me here. However, I remain hopeful that Christ will yet bring me to that - in the form of an unswerving conviction. I will continue to seek Him until He does. (If He doesn’t, I’ll still serve Him gladly; if He does, I’ll write a book about that conclusion which you would be able to eventually find at www.mikegantt.com.) In any case, the portion of my seeking work that has taken place here at BioLogos hereby concludes…and that is why I am signing off. May God bless you all.