I’ve always wanted to use the word “kerfuffle” in my blog. It’s such a great word. Don’t you love it? And there certainly was a kerfuffle around here on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s the relevant post. The short story is that I wrote a post describing my journey from Young-Earth Creationism to Evolutionary Creationism (or Theistic Evolutionism) that was noticed by a certain Young-Earth Creationist who then blogged about it. Unfortunately, he used my blog post as a “cautionary” tale to other Christians to stay committed to his interpretation of origins. Here are some random thoughts about the whole kerfuffle (see, I used the word again!).
1. I knew that people kept an eye out for others blogging about them since an author had previously commented to thank me about mentioning his book positively. However, I had not considered the reaction by people whom I criticized in my blog. I have no regrets about the criticism because it is warranted, but I did not expect to be called out on a popular YEC website.
2. I was pleased that the commenters were respectful, but I wasn’t happy to find that the tone of a few commenters bordered on arrogant. (If you are wondering if you were one of the borderline-arrogant ones, you probably weren’t.)
3. I strongly disagree with those who would suggest that my interpreting the first part of Genesis non-literally means that I am “compromising” my faith or that I don’t take seriously the authority of Scripture.
4. I very adamantly believe that my faith is secure and that my witness is stronger for honestly wrestling with the origins question. I did not “cave in” to secular belief because of science. I went back to the Bible and prayerfully considered what God wants us to learn from Genesis. I will stand by my conclusions until presented with evidence that convinces me otherwise.
I plan to post again on this topic sometime in the next month or so. My next post will be on the interpretation of Genesis. I hope it will be interesting and get others to read new sources and consider different ideas.
4 comments:
You are correct. Kerfuffle is quite the word.
That will totally be today "Word of the Day" for me [smile].
My dad has been blogging about this very topic recently, if you haven't been reading his recent thoughts, I'd recommend it. Very interesting stuff.
~Luke
Hey, Luke. Yeah, "kerfuffle" is a great word. I have been reading your dad's posts and sent him a link to a paper that helped me organize my thoughts. Thanks for the link, though, so others can read his thoughts.
Only the most orthodox of Jews have ever had a problem interpreting Genesis as a parable, and evolution as a fact.
One of the briefs presented at the Scopes trial was from a prominent rabbi, who saw no internal conflict.
And, if you really want to go back some, St. Augustine, in the 4th Century, said that when strict interpretation of the scriptures clashes with known science, religion has to adapt, or it will just look silly.
As it does, much of the time, in the evolution "kerfluffle."
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