Creation and time : a report on the progressive creationist book by Hugh Ross

內容簡介

Introduction : Who is Hugh Ross? ; A brief summary of Dr. Ross's book -- A key tactic of progressive creationism : Claim: the age of the earth is "a trivial doctrinal point" -- Dual revelation : The "facts of nature" versus Scripture ; Claim: single revelation is the belief of many young-earth creationists ; Claim: the facts of nature are like a 67th book of the Bible ; Claim: observation of the universe (general revelation) is sufficient to discover the gospel ; Claim: the universe is billions of years old -- Other theological considerations : Claim: God created many carnivorous animals in the beginning- long before Adam's sin ; Claim: plants were killed before Adam's sin, so there clearly was death before the fall ; Claim: nowhere does the Bible say that animal death did not exist before the fall ; Claim: the death that came through sin was spiritual, not physical ; Claim: creation was subjected to futility from its very beginning ; Claim: Isaiah and "church father" Origen supported pre-fall "bondage to decay" -- Biblical considerations : Claim: the flood was local, not global ; Claim: the creation account is told from the perspective of an observer on earth ; Claim: most stars and planets were created before the first day ; Claim: the simplest, most natural reading of Genesis 1 is that the days were long ages ; Claim: the Bible says the earth is very old ; Claim: God's days are not our days Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 ; Claim: the use of "morning and evening" in Genesis 1 does not indicate literal days, the Hebrew word for "morning" in Genesis 1 is metaphorical ; Claim: because the word "day" in Genesis 2:4 refers to the entire creation week, there is more reason to believe the first six days were not literal ; Claim: the "uniqueness" of the seventh day indicates the days of creation were not normal days ; Claim: Genesis 1 is different than the other chapters, therefore the days can be long ; Claim: the creation days do not have to be literal because not all numbered days in the Bible refer to 24-hour periods ; Claim: God could not have used different wording in Genesis 1 to more clearly indicate long "days" ; Claim: Genesis 1 is a chronology, therefore, the days were not 24 hours ; Claim: because Adam used the word "happa'am" when he saw Eve, the 6th day was the long period ; Claim: the events of the sixth day prove that it must have been longer than a normal day ; Claim: the Hebrew word "toledah" (Genesis 2:4) indicates old universe ; Hebrew words- more examples of inaccurate claims : Claim: Nephesh = birds and mammals ; Claim: Chayyah = long-legged, wild quadruped ; Claim: Behema = long-legged, domestic mammals ; Claim: Remes = short-legged land mammals (in Genesis 1) -- History of creationism : Claim: the early church fathers supported long creation days ; Claim: even those church fathers who did not write about this subject rejected 24 hour days ; Claim: church scholars of the dark and middle ages would probably also disagree with literal days ; Claim: Lightfoot and Ussher ignored Hebrew scholarship ; Claim: young-earth creationists are "Ussherites" ; Claim: God would naturally take billions of years for creation because He is a master craftsman -- More on progressive creationism's billions-of-years : Claim: science has conclusively proven earth is old ; Claim: the universe has to be billions of years old, otherwise life could not exist ; Claim: God used the big bang to create the universe -- Denouncing young-earth creationists : An affinity for secular evolutionists over young-earth Christians ; Claim: the motivation of young-earth creationists is fear ; Claim: young-earth creationists have no scientific support; they are operating on blind faith ; Claim: young-universe creationists deny physical reality, and they are arrogant, too ; Claim: young-earth creationists are divisive ; Claim: the Bible-science association said that Hugh Ross rejects Christ's atonement ; Claim: young-earth creationists say salvation depends on belief in 24-hour-days and recent creation ; Claim: Wendell Bird "is not committed" to a young universe.