Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site cylixd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!akgub!cylixd!dave From: dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: 6 Literal Days? Message-ID: <402@cylixd.UUCP> Date: Tue, 22-Oct-85 15:43:07 EDT Article-I.D.: cylixd.402 Posted: Tue Oct 22 15:43:07 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 24-Oct-85 00:10:00 EDT References: <627@dicomed.UUCP> <45@noscvax.UUCP> <732@whuxl.UUCP> Reply-To: dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) Organization: RCA Cylix Communications , Memphis, TN Lines: 49 Summary: Not Even All Fundamentalists Believe It In article <732@whuxl.UUCP> orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) writes: > >A Reply to a Fundamentalist Christian's literal interpretation of the Bible >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- >[it is] obvious that neither life, the earth, the sun or the stars were really >created in seven days as we know them... Although most modern Fundamentalists (some would say that's an oxymoron :-)) believe that the creation took place over 6 literal 24-hour days, it is interesting to note the comments of Dr. C. I. Scofield. For those of you who aren't familiar with this gentleman, Dr. Scofield is the author of the Scofield Reference Bible, and is the closest thing Fundamentalists have to a "patron saint." His Bible/commentary is in use in most Fundamentalist churches and seminaries today as a basis for exposition and doctrine. Dr. Scofield, commenting on the first chapter of Genesis, offers several BIBLICAL proofs that the days mentioned in Genesis NEED NOT be literal! One proof that comes to mind is where he cites Genesis 2:4, which says, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in THE DAY that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." The Bible then proceeds to describe the creation of the plants and herbs in further detail, and then the creation of man... all in THE DAY! Dr. Scofield also cites several other passages where a day cannot mean 24 hours. All this proves nothing about the truth or falsehood of the literal 6-day creation theory (unless you're into ad hominem circumstantial fallacies); but it does show that Fundamentalists need not insist on a literal 144-hour creation in order to be fundamental in the traditional sense of the word. (Interesting note: Dr. Scofield wrote his Bible/commentary in 1909, and was the original teacher, as far as I know, of the Hal Lindsey view of Revelation, complete with pre-tribulation rapture; he said in 1909 that the Bible taught that the tiny, feudalist state of Russia would eventually become a great nation, and would attack Israel, a nation that didn't exist and had not existed for nearly 2 millinea. Of course, he was considered crazy by many non-Fundamentalists. And probably a few Fundamentalists of the time thought he was a little weird.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave) (The views expressed herein are the exclusive property of Dave Kirby. Any person, living or dead, found with the same or similar opinions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law.)