Ron I accept that there is a tendency for certain individuals in the public eye to be a bit redneck about YEC.
Personally, i think Ken Ham is doing generally good work, however, there are elements of his speech that are a bit “donald trump like” (i hope that is an adequite explanation as i am looking in at American politics from the outside)
From my point of view the dilemma is not complicated:
- people who are searching for God have only a single source for Him…the Bible.
- The theme of the bible is that we were created, fell into sin, Christ died physically to atone for that sin, and that he will redeem us at the second coming, and finally satan will bear the responsibility for all sin (illustrated by laying on of hands by high priest on the head of scapegoat azazeel). Daniel chapter 2 (Nebuchadnezzars statue) takes us through the latter stages of that theme.
If TEism were to come up with a working set of doctrines that maintained harmony with the above 2 biblical themes, im sure we would not be having these kinds of discussions.
Now you say its YEC who are corrupt, however, that is simply not the case. The point you are making is that in your view YEC appears to be contrary to reality of what science observes around us. The problem is, when Elijah was in the cave, he did not find God in the windstorm, lightninig, thunder, earthquake…he found God in the still small voice. Its those little things we find in science research that point to God and the accuracy of the bible narrative.
Science is very clearly influenced by a being, Satan, who is by far more intelligent and understands science much better than any other being in the cosmos next to God. It is a fools errand to make the claim that Satan is incapable of influencing what we find in the ground around us and see in the heavens. If you do not believe me, read the first chapter of Job (the lord said to satan “only do not lay your hand on Job”…so
Satan destroyed everything else job owned via
- influencing men, who attacked jobs possessions and stole them away,
- fire from heaven fell down and consumed other posessions job owned, and finally,
- great storm destroyed the house Jobs children were in and killed them all
How can you possibly claim satan is incapable of interacting physically with the world around us given the biblical narrative of Job? God inspired men to write about these things and TEists make the claim…oh no God had nothing to do with that…its just a fairytale?
Its the wilful ignorance of biblical writings that is dangerous here…not dissagreement over science. One cannot be saved by getting ones science to match that of secularists “anti God” interpretations. The vast majority of scientist do not believe in a God…its contrary to their world view. Surely even you can see that?