From: kml@cellar.org (bdfh)
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: implies
Date: 24 Jul 92 15:34:40 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system


Egad.  I actually find myself DEFENDING Henley.  His actual error is much
deeper than the one pointed out, though...

In article <henley.920721101411@wilbur.eng.auburn.edu> henley@eng.auburn.edu (James 

Paul Henley) writes:
}In article <1992Jul20.192129.22403@javelin.sim.es.com> ronwill@sierra.sim.es.com (R

on Williams) writes:
}>In article <henley.920720115545@wilbur.eng.auburn.edu>, henley@eng.auburn.edu (Jam

es Paul Henley) writes:
}> 
}>> "But do not forget one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a
}>> thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day."
}>> 
}>> II Peter 3:8  _NIV_
}>> 
}>> James P. Henley Jr.
}>
}>Yea, well, ... so what.  What are you trying to say?  Are you saying that the eart

h
}>was created over a period of 6000 years?  Add that to the 6000 years of biblical 
}>history and that adds up to 12,000 years.  That still does nothing to explain the 


}>4,000,000,000+ years of the earth's natural history.
}
}Why do I have the feeling that I am going to need to spend the next month
}trying hopelessly to defend myself against all manner of charges about
}what I supposedly said, and what I meant to say, and what I implied, and
}what I insinuated?  Can't you take a simple statement as a simple statement
}without expanding it and twisting it beyond all recognition?
}
}What is the relevance of the verse that I quoted?  I think that it is very
}relevant, because that verse convinced me that the "days" in Genesis were
}not necessarily meant to be 24 hour periods, in other words, evidence that
}"day" could very well be referring to a period of time other than 24 hours.  
}It's that simple.
}
} [self-righteous indignation omitted]

JM>Interesting, but what you are now CLAIMING is your interpretation of what
JM>you quoted, NOT what you said.  Do you always view questions as to what you
JM>mean as "insane" and a "attack"? Does the term "paranoia" mean anything
JM>to you? Is your position so fragile that one question bothers you?

JM>James W. Meritt

Henley isn't saying that 1 day=1000 years.  For all we know, one day could
equal 6 billion years to God.  But there are a couple of points that need
to be answered:

1.  How could a man, inspired by God to write 1 day=1000 years, have been in
    error?  Wouldn't God have gotten it right?
2.  How can the literalists tgake SOME parts as metaphor, while taking others
    as gospel truth?  Henley doesn't take 1000 years as truth, but he sure 
    seems to believe quite literally alot of Genesis.

#2, I believe, is the underlying error he makes.  I don't care how long 
Henley thinks a day is.  It's still a day.  But the Bible says different
rules apply for God.  Specifically, 1 day is like a 1000 years.  Henley,
though, decides that rule doesn't apply when it is confronted with evidence
to the contrary.  In other words, literalists pick and choose what they 
want to take literally.  Can I do that to?  Can I just pick the Levite and
the Concubine Woman (Jeffrey Dahmer, look out) from Judges as the only 
thing to take literally, and assume the rest of the Bible is metaphor?

The notion that "I can choose what to take literally and what to take 
as a metaphor" is great if you're a clergyman trying to maintain control
over an inquisitive congregation.  It has no place in science, or t.o.  If
you're going to bray about it, be prepared to go down when its obvious 
problems are pointed out.

And now, a tune from Michael Davis:
   So the man said to God, "How much is a million years to you?"
   God said, "A second."
   So the man said to God, "How much is a million dollars to you?"
   God said, "A penny."
   So the man said to God, "Do you think you could give me a penny?"
   God said "Yes. Just a second."


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  kml%cellar@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com  - My other account is a Mercedes.