Subject: Re: Liberals vs conservatives
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 8:41:51 +0800
From: Nigel Mitchell 
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
On Fri, 12 Nov 1999 8:39:24 +0800, Darren R Middleton wrote (in message < >):
> I believe the intention of the author was 24 hour days - I believe that is
> the position Dr Barr also holds & perhaps yourself. The question then
> comes down to our doctrine of Scripture, we either receive the biblical
> teaching or reject it.

Hi, Darren.
So the 24 hour day is not an issue. The issue 
is whether the authors of Genesis believed 
they were writing about what actually happened, 
or a creation saga to demonstrate their faith 
that the God of Israel is the creator of all 
that is.

Like the vast majority of modern biblical 
scholars, and with no contradiction from the 
vast majority of biologists, geologists, 
historians, etc., I believe that the Genesis 
creation accounts are a poetic and mythical 
statement of faith by the people of Israel, 
probably first written down during the 
Babylonian captivity but drawing on sources 
which may be much older, and both inside and 
outside Israel. 

I am sorry if you think that view amounts to 
“rejecting” the biblical teaching, 
because I categorically do not see it that way. 
I accept the biblical teaching, but I read it 
in the light of scolarship, scientific 
knowledge, and common sense. Genesis 1-11 says 
many important and powerful things about the 
faith of ancient Israel, and those things 
inform and underpin our Christian faith. The 
fact that there is little, if any, actual 
factual historical material in those chapters 
does not in any way detract from their canonical 
status or the truth they convey about God.

cheers
N+