Showing posts with label cosmos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cosmos. Show all posts

Saturday 31 August 2013

Cosmogony

Book of Genesis, Hainanese Bible.
Book of Genesis, Hainanese Bible. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Cosmogony: the study of the origin and development of the universe or of a particular system in the universe, such as the solar system + a theory of such an origin or evolution.

One hundred years ago, CC Walker wrote, in response to a correspondent who believed that a literal reading of the Bible obliged a believer to reject the idea of a spherical earth:

'Moses’ testimony was given to Israel in what might be called the infancy of the world, when men did not know the extent of the earth, let alone that of the sun, moon, and stars. And, as we believe, it was given (by God through Moses), not so much to instruct Israel in cosmogony in detail, as to impress upon them the idea that The Most High God is the Possessor of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 14:22)."

CC Walker's comment that Genesis was written not to instruct Israel about cosmology in detail, but to teach them that God - and not the surrounding deities - was creator looks positively prescient when we look at what contemporary OT scholarship is saying about the creation narratives. Take the time to look at John Walton's presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY4nKNrEZaI
Genesis 1 in Ancient Eyes - John Walton
www.youtube.com

the audio gets much better around 13 minutes in download the ppt presentation (6mb) here... http://m...
Enhanced by Zemanta

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Cosmos creator and human destiny

Author challenges 'new atheists' on man's origins Breaking News
Apologetics 'icon' takes on Darwin, Dawkins and others
"Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny," by Dave Hunt offers a devastating critique of the breathtaking speculation that the new atheists employ:
"What the average person believes to be his or her inner motives, desires or deepest thoughts, says Dawkins and other new atheists, are really the product of evolution turning each person into a puppet of the impersonal forces of natural selection!"
 Hunt writes.
 "You think you think, but you really don't. It's your selfish genes doing the thinking for you, and you are a meaningless lump of protein molecules."
In essence, Hunt points out time and again the absurd speculations and attempts at logic that are the hallmark of aggressive atheists today, who are the spiritual children of Huxley and Spencer.
Hunt's meticulous research, which is legendary, is on display here as well. Writing about the first steps toward faith taken by former atheist Anthony Flew in 2004, Hunt describes the tactics employed by Flew's former bedfellows:
"Unwilling to lose one of their most famous stars, the atheists have tried to discredit this book by Flew,"
Hunt writes.
 "There have been suggestions that he is elderly and senile, unable to write the book himself."
 Flew, however, and his publisher, HarperCollins, vigorously denied this. It is another example of the petulance of what the Bible calls fools – those who deny the Creator who gave them the breath in their bodies.

+++

2014 January update:

Enhanced by Zemanta