A common arguing point on the forum seems to be “that is just based on your presuppositions.” Most often it is never stated what those presuppositions are, but we are rather left hanging with no meaningful point to discuss. I thought I would write down a few of the presuppositions on which I feel EC is based as an explanatory set of ideas. Certainly, you may add to or disagree with this collection. I am neither a philosopher nor theologian, and as we have many on this board who are such to greater or lesser degrees, I welcome their ideas.
If we consider EC /TE, let us first look at those presuppositions relevant to the C /T side, skipping the presumption of course that I Am indeed is:
- God is Good. This must be presumed as all else would be hubris if not. Jesus even goes to on to add “No one is good–except God alone.”
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God is truth. Again, Jesus said that he was the way, the truth, and the light.
These two presumptions lead us to conclude that God does not lie, does not deceive. - God is love. This leads to the thought that he wants us to be in relationship with him, and indeed sacrificed himself as Jesus to achieve that goal.
This is not to limit the list, as we could also list attributes of justice, mercy etc. but I think for the purpose of this discussion will stop here for now.
Next, let us move to the E/E side of the abbreviation. What presuppositions do I have primarily on that side? Certainly, it is sometime thrown out that ECs presume the earth to be old, but as that is really a conclusion not a presupposition, lets step back a step and consider a few other things:
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God’s attributes can be seen in creation. We can support that biblically in Romans 1, Psalm 19, and Job, and personally from how God speaks to us through nature as we look at creation.
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Nature is observable and understandable. Again, I would appeal to Psalm 19 for confirmation:
1The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
- Our observations of creation are reliable and true. This flows out of the presumptions that God is truth, God loves us and would not hinder our coming to relationship with him, and creation is his work.
Thus, we live in a WYSIWYG world, and when you measure the age of the universe through distance travelled by light and radiation, or the interactions of colliding galaxies, or the decay of isotopes, those observations are correct. The progression of life developing over that time is then also true as it is based on direct observations, and while those conclusions may need refinement and modification as new information is discovered, conclusions that are contrary to accurate observations cannot be held as true.
I realize that this leaves the door open to other interpretations, and most of these presuppositions are not limited to the EC/TC position , but at the same time I would say that if those who hold to different ideas can present valid observations, then those observations should be considered, but thus far they have not to my satisfaction. We can also discuss the presumptions unique ID or progressive creationism as well as YEC, but if that gets too unwieldy may wish to have separate threads and split things up.
So, what presumptions are in your pocket? Why do you think those presuppositions or these listed are valid or not valid?