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Creationist Kurt Wise critiques secular science on program
Baptist Press ^ | march 7, 2008 | David Roach

Posted on 03/10/2007 11:07:03 AM PST by balch3

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Secular scientists who fear allowing the conclusions of creationism into secular universities have good reason to be afraid because they are accountable to the creator, Kurt Wise, professor of theology and science at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on the Albert Mohler Radio Program in February.

“If it’s true that there was a creation, then you realize that means there’s someone in control,” Wise said on the broadcast hosted daily by Southern Seminary’s president. “And if there was a flood -- in other words, a creator who actually judged this creation -- that means we’re in big trouble. So I think there’s every reason why an evolutionist would be very frightened of creationists advocating creationism.”

Wise appeared on the Feb. 13 show to comment on discussion stirred by recent news articles on evolution in commemoration of what would have been Charles Darwin 198th birthday Feb. 12. A USA Today article pointed out that some secular scientists are upset over the fact that a number of creationists have obtained doctoral degrees from major universities recently.

Wise earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University in paleontology under late evolutionist Stephen J. Gould. Mohler noted that famed evolutionist Richard Dawkins called Wise “the greatest disappointment he knows in modern science” -- a designation Mohler said should be worn with pride.

“I am absolutely thrilled you end up in the center of his target, and that’s why you are on the program today,” Mohler said. “It’s because you have so boldly set out the case. Richard Dawkins can’t imagine anyone who understands modern science in terms of its theory and history and paradigm and model and still believes the words, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’”

It is important for Christians to talk about evolution, Mohler noted, because too often believers have responded inadequately to the challenges of Darwinism.

“For the better part of two centuries the Christian church has been trying to figure out how to respond to the challenge of Darwinian theory and the prevailing evolutionary model,” Mohler said. “I’ll just be very candid to say that in so many cases the church has failed.”

The two greatest errors Christians have made are capitulating to evolution on one hand and rejecting it in an unintelligent way on the other hand, Mohler said.

Wise argued that accepting the Bible’s account of creation makes intellectual sense.

“If you want a correct account of an event, you want an eyewitness,” Wise said. “You want an eyewitness who’s reliable. You want an eyewitness who understands. Who better than God Himself? If He really is the creator, then He has the accurate account. How could a scientist thousands of years later, who wasn’t there, actually have a better account of the origin than God Himself?”

Modern science is limited because it draws conclusions based only on the things scientists can observe and experience, Wise said.

Scientists “cannot deduce anything about a creation,” he said. “They’ve never seen a creation before -- not a creation out of nothing of the universe. Their experience is limited to what they see and hear in the present. With those kinds of limitations, they couldn’t possibly deduce the right thing about the beginning of things.”

Humans cannot separate science and religion because scientists begin their work with assumptions about the world that are “deeply religious,” Wise said, adding, “Science drips with theology. You cannot do science without making theological assumptions.”

Mohler pointed to the writings of prominent evolutionists as evidence that theology and science overlap.

“All you have to do is read the evolutionists,” he said. “They’re always talking about the meaning of life. Richard Dawkins tries to find it in the mystery in the sheer accidental nature of the whole thing. The late Carl Sagan tried to find it in the immensity of what appears to the human eye to be limitless space.... You can’t talk about humanity without talking about the meaning of human life.”

In response to a question from a caller, Mohler and Wise said they believe the earth is relatively young because they trust the Bible’s account of creation as accurate and straightforward.

“At the end of the day, I cannot interpret the straightforward words, sentences and propositions of Genesis 1-11 any differently than Romans 1-11,” Mohler said. “So that’s why I hold to a young earth.”

Wise agreed.

“It seems to be a clear reading of Scripture that God told us that the earth is young,” he said. “And I hold that position for that reason. I also believe that science is such that these (evolutionary theories) are theories of humans. So if it’s a choice between God’s clear Word and humans’ reason, then I’m going to take God’s Word.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: apologetics; darwin; darwinism; evolution; fsmdidit; id; idjunkscience; ignoranceisstrength; luddites; thegreatdebate
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“If it’s true that there was a creation, then you realize that means there’s someone in control,” Wise said on the broadcast hosted daily by Southern Seminary’s president. “And if there was a flood -- in other words, a creator who actually judged this creation -- that means we’re in big trouble. So I think there’s every reason why an evolutionist would be very frightened of creationists advocating creationism.” -------- Bingo.
1 posted on 03/10/2007 11:07:07 AM PST by balch3
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To: balch3

Thanks for the post.


2 posted on 03/10/2007 11:18:50 AM PST by uptoolate (If it sounds absurd, 51% chance it was sarcasm.)
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To: balch3
"professor of theology and science"
Hmm... As a chemistry PhD, I could teach chemistry, and could probably spice the teachings with a few entertaining alchemy bits and pieces here and there for historic and entertainment purposes, but to teach alchemy I cannot. Ditto for the astronomy/astrology pair. Thus I strongly suspect that this Kurt Wise is either an unbeliever [re theology] or an ignoramus [re science]. Maybe both.
3 posted on 03/10/2007 11:44:03 AM PST by GSlob
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this might become amusing.


4 posted on 03/10/2007 11:51:27 AM PST by King Prout (many complain I am overly literal... this would not be a problem if fewer people were under-precise)
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To: balch3

ONE BIG TRUTH BUMP!!


5 posted on 03/10/2007 11:52:49 AM PST by presently no screen name
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To: balch3

If your holy books contradict well founded observations in science, one of 3 things is true:

1) You misunderstand your holy books.
2) Your holy books are wrong.
3) Both (1) and (2)


6 posted on 03/10/2007 11:54:55 AM PST by voltaires_zit (Government is the problem, not the answer.)
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To: voltaires_zit

4) your definition of "well founded observations in science"


7 posted on 03/10/2007 12:07:25 PM PST by brannon (now hold on there, son....)
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To: balch3

Bingo


8 posted on 03/10/2007 12:11:09 PM PST by LiteKeeper (Beware the secularization of America; the Islamization of Eurabia)
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To: voltaires_zit
voltaires_zit- A mere mortal speaks!!

Dead Darwin, dumb dawkins and all the little darwinettes and dawkinettes VS. God's Word.

God wins - EVERYTIME, ALL THE TIME!!

God created........and there was evening and there was morning, the second day. Not too hard to understand UNLESS you want/need to.
9 posted on 03/10/2007 12:11:23 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: presently no screen name

All gods WERE immortal.


10 posted on 03/10/2007 12:14:35 PM PST by GSlob
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To: presently no screen name

> Dead Darwin, dumb dawkins and all the little darwinettes
> and dawkinettes VS. God's Word.

The record of scientists versus the record of those who were sure they understood what God said with respect to the physical universe is clear and unmistakeable.

The religiously clad idiocracy is 0 for many, many 100s.


11 posted on 03/10/2007 12:17:15 PM PST by voltaires_zit (Government is the problem, not the answer.)
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To: brannon

> 4) your definition of "well founded observations in science"

Some examples that religious folk have had trouble with over the years:

The earth moves.
Germs cause disease.
The earth is quite old.


12 posted on 03/10/2007 12:26:12 PM PST by voltaires_zit (Government is the problem, not the answer.)
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To: voltaires_zit
The earth is quite old.

It just looks old because it's lead a rough life.

13 posted on 03/10/2007 12:30:13 PM PST by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: presently no screen name
God created........and there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

...posts the creationist, using his computer, taking his medicine, driving his car.
All the fruits of scientists who (thankfully) didn't share his petrified, stunted imagination and curiosity.

14 posted on 03/10/2007 12:40:33 PM PST by blowfish
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To: voltaires_zit

4) Your science is incomplete and/or wrong


15 posted on 03/10/2007 12:47:41 PM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
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To: GSlob

I'm a chemist as well, and frankly, I find the whole evolutionist line about "amino acids polymerising (via a condensation reaction) in the early earth's ocean" to be so astounding I wonder if they even think before they speak.


16 posted on 03/10/2007 12:49:37 PM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
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To: blowfish
...posts the creationist, using his computer, taking his medicine, driving his car. All the fruits of scientists who (thankfully) didn't share his petrified, stunted imagination and curiosity. You see, it's ignorant, bigoted, and frankly empty-headed talk like that that causes me to have no respect for evolutionists. You realise that the foundations of modern science were lain by "creationists", right? You realise that evolution has virtually no impact on like 90% of our science, even much of the biotechnology fields, eh? Further, there's a good argument to be made that the reason biological sciences lagged behind the physical sciences (being called "the retarded child of the sciences" by Michael Crichton back in the '70s) is because they were hobbled by an overreliance on evolution - mainly because bioscientists tended to force everything through the lens of evolution instead of simply letting the observable, empirical science speak for itself.
17 posted on 03/10/2007 12:58:06 PM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

> 4) Your science is incomplete and/or wrong

While theoretically possible (as is a pan of water freezing when placed over an open flame), is such a low order of probability that it has never been observed.


18 posted on 03/10/2007 12:59:01 PM PST by voltaires_zit (Government is the problem, not the answer.)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
They do think. You see, the natural selection process prunes a combinatorial tree at each iteration, and thus probabilistic calculations, as commonly performed, do not apply. The tree is much less fluffy and luxuriant than it could have been imagined otherwise.
19 posted on 03/10/2007 1:02:08 PM PST by GSlob
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To: voltaires_zit

I'm sure the guys who believed in the ether thought the same thing,VZ....


20 posted on 03/10/2007 1:04:34 PM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
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