From: "Dave Coull" <d.y.coull-AT-dundee.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 10:30:18 GMT
Subject: Re: Darwin and God


John Holden wrote

>I know a very popular christian excuse is that 7 days to god 
>is 4.6 billion years. It's a stupid and absured excuse, but 
>most christians...

You live in Lubbock, Texas, don't you, John ? 
The most fundamentalist town in the bible belt 
of the southern USA ? This may come as a surprise 
to you, but Lubbock is not typical of most christians.

No, it's not a "stupid and absured excuse". It is 
actually a very cunning one, a very subtle argument 
which you have simply failed to understand.

The argument goes like this. God is eternal.
"Eternal" does not mean the same thing as 
"immortal". "Immortal" merely means that, 
having been born, a person will live forever. 
"Forever" is a very long time    -    but it _is_
a  _time_. "Eternal", on the other hand, is 
something very different. "Eternal" means
not affected by time. Outside of time. "Eternal"
means that all time   -   past, present, and future
   -   is "now". As the Book of Revelations puts it, 
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." 
Now, what is a day ? A day is a human measure 
of time, based on the time it takes the earth to turn 
on its axis. But the time which it takes the earth 
to turn on its axis has in fact changed through time 
(there is a gradual slowing down) so that means 
that the length of a "day" has changed through time. 
"Day" is a variable. And in any case, many scientists
do maintain that time itself had a beginning. And
both the Book of Genesis and virtually all scientific
opinion agree that there was such a thing as a time 
when time had come into existence but the earth 
had not yet been formed. So what was a "day" 
before the earth came into existence? What was 
a "day" before this human measurement had any 
meaning? Are we talking about a "day" in the eyes 
of God?  "Eternal" means that all time is "now". 
So, from _that_  point of view, there is no difference 
between twenty four hours and 4.6 billion years. 
So, Holden, by all means argue with such ideas. 
But at least try to understand what it is you are 
up against. Don't call ideas "stupid and absured" 
just because you haven't understood them.


Dave