tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post7030702444113883435..comments2024-03-18T18:19:19.002-07:00Comments on bylogos: Affirming the Biblical Adamjohn bylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766117392831032432noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-68111285648318489002012-06-28T09:19:49.689-07:002012-06-28T09:19:49.689-07:00Hello John,
Glad to hear it and praise be to our A...Hello John,<br />Glad to hear it and praise be to our Almighty God! Will patiently await with eager anticipation your next insightful post!<br /><br />Blessings brother,<br />SteveSteve Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17435371814330595643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-14196327117681446182012-06-27T21:14:48.640-07:002012-06-27T21:14:48.640-07:00Hello Steve
Thanks for your concern but I am stil...Hello Steve<br /><br />Thanks for your concern but I am still alive and well. <br />It's just that I have been travelling a fair bit the last two months and haven't yet gotten around to updating my blog.<br /><br />BlessingsJohn Bylnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-12123609166712656762012-06-27T07:06:50.668-07:002012-06-27T07:06:50.668-07:00Brother John,
Have missed you. I realize the vagar...Brother John,<br />Have missed you. I realize the vagaries of a blog and work can be demanding on your time, but I would hate to think you are taken ill or something has happened.<br /><br />Can we as brothers and sisters who enjoy your blog so much, pray for anything?<br /><br />I hope I am not offending you in any way brother, just expressing concern, and a willingness to uphold you in prayer if needed.<br /><br />Blessings brother,<br />Steve DrakeSteve Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17435371814330595643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-69970816985715140872012-06-19T15:38:41.449-07:002012-06-19T15:38:41.449-07:00Hey Dr. Byl!
I just wanted to thank you for this a...Hey Dr. Byl!<br />I just wanted to thank you for this amazing site!<br />-TrentTrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05511008932132026210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-80276703568493193812012-05-04T19:11:46.886-07:002012-05-04T19:11:46.886-07:00Thank you, John Byl, for your post. And I very muc...Thank you, John Byl, for your post. And I very much appreciate your suggested affirmative statements. I think they would fit nicely in Article 14 of the BC. Not that the confessions aren't clear enough on this topic, but your affirmative statements appear to be necessary to stop attacks on the reliability of the Bible. When the reliability of the Word is under attack, the Church has the duty to build a defensive bulwark against it.Herman van Barneveldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13914584237654746365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-21938395762726217052012-04-12T02:02:23.868-07:002012-04-12T02:02:23.868-07:00Richard, you write as though the literal view of G...Richard, you write as though the literal view of Genesis is something peculiar to (southern) Americans of the last 200 years; conveniently ignoring that it is the essentially universal view of the entire Christian church before that. Which is quite something when you think about it, considering all the differences there've been on other counts.<br /><br />Also, the appeal to ANE studies to undermine the literal view of Genesis 1 ignores that that view is in fact confirmed and supported by the rest of the Bible, including many NT references.<br /><br />Thank you Dr Byl for your faithfulness in alerting us to deviations. And may God bless the Ukrainian church!<br /><br />Dan BaynesDitarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03757763645211462817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-66520215502174430832012-04-10T07:28:18.981-07:002012-04-10T07:28:18.981-07:00rmwilliamsjr,
part of the problem is a deeply embe...rmwilliamsjr,<br /><i>part of the problem is a deeply embedded anti intellectualism in the modern conservative church. but let's put that aside.</i><br /><br />Richard,<br />Is part of that anti-intellectualism in the modern conservative church belief in a recent, mature creation in six calendar days and young earth?Steve Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17435371814330595643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-80894203127596657952012-04-09T10:01:26.781-07:002012-04-09T10:01:26.781-07:00Dr. Byl:
Welcome home! I trust that God has blesse...Dr. Byl:<br />Welcome home! I trust that God has blessed you in your travels, and also that He has caused you to be a blessing to others in your work in His service. <br />I support your direct challenge to RA. I think that for this moment in time these two questions are proper. But it seems to me there is a more important issue at stake, and we would not need to add any other points of orthodoxy than we already have to address it. <br />I have now read Dr. Van der Meer's article. His main thesis is that the two are equally subjective. He further asserts that the Bible is no more able to give us objective or "positive" knowledge than these others. All three, he notes, are equally subjective. Theology is subjective because the Bible says nothing on its own, but needs "interpretation" to each person's understanding. He has taken a decidedly Romanist view of Scripture. <br />But I find two very curious appeals in it. First Van der Meer points to Polanyi's work, noting that science is not objective. But second he appeals to Bavinck, attempting to prove that orthodoxy has always held to the modern post-Kantian separation between the objective and the subjective. This modern view holds that only true science can yield "positive" knowledge, since it alone is testable by observation and experiment. Van der Meer assumes that Polanyi and Bavinck also agree with this distinction. I don't see how this can be justified. <br />In both cases, Polanyi and Bavinck, we find that the old classical distinction is the one that still holds ground. The classical definition puts the separation between absolute knowledge (God's) and a limited, or an inveterately too hasty a knowledge (man's). <br />The modern distinction is not held according to who the source of knowledge is, but according to the object of the study. But Polanyi pointed to the individual scientist's right to do his work independent of the coercion of others; and Bavinck held to the Reformed ideal of Sola Scriptura: neither is possible under this post-Kantian distinction.<br />In the post-Kant era the "positive" sciences are held to be the only true source of objective knowledge while the studies of the other two main sources of knowledge, philosophy and theology, are deemed to be subjective (e.g., James, Freud). That which can be verified by observation and testing is now the only source of sure and certain knowledge.<br />What concerns me here is not just whether the historicity of Adam is at stake but that any actual history in the Bible is at stake. Van der Meer is cutting the testimony of the Bible in half when his leaves out the works of God as recorded in the Bible as objective testimony. We are to remember God's works as well as His teachings (Ps. 111); and we are blessed by the Saviour Himself when we believe the eyewitness testimonies of those who have seen and believed, if we, though not seeing, yet believe on the basis of their testimonies (John 20:29). <br />One can appeal neither to Polanyi nor to Bavinck to support the view expressed by Van der Meer. Polanyi’s aim was to defeat the post-Kantian view of his time; and Bavinck could never have been a Reformed theologian if he supported it. But surely, whether this is so or not, removing the Bible from the possibility of yielding objective, "positive" knowledge is tantamount to denying the faith as the Reformed define it. We cannot have Sola Scriptura if all that is possible is individual interpretations (or, as the Romanist accuse us of, Solo Scriptura.) <br />The question at issue for me is whether an objective Bible is held to, whether what it tells us is objective truth; whether we are willing to submit to the Bible instead of holding it in submission of our personal presuppositions. <br />John VandervlietJohnVhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00330406643601471203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-23446418501562675162012-04-07T11:28:50.563-07:002012-04-07T11:28:50.563-07:00This such an important issue that I took the liber...This such an important issue that I took the liberty of posting the challenge on the Facebook wall of the Kerkbode, the mouth-piece of our church (Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa). <br /><br />Unfortunately it is in Afrikaans, so not all will understand it, but if there are Dutch speaking people reading here, they ought to be able follow it here: <br /><br />http://www.facebook.com/kerkbode#!/kerkbode/posts/146041755525688<br /><br />Henrietta KlaasingHenriettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17308892136309292383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-31280245837411890362012-04-07T11:23:29.813-07:002012-04-07T11:23:29.813-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Henriettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17308892136309292383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772414331480635861.post-46735315681212137762012-04-07T11:14:10.672-07:002012-04-07T11:14:10.672-07:00hermeneutics.
-=quote from: http://bylogos.blogsp...hermeneutics.<br /><br />-=quote from: http://bylogos.blogspot.com/2012/04/affirming-biblical-adam.html =-<br />As simple, devout Christians they had no doubts about the plain, historical meaning of Gen.1-11.<br /><br />What a striking contrast to the current situation in our own circle, where sophisticated minds deluded by worldly knowledge--falsely so called--can no longer distinguish biblical truth from error, and where the discussion has, inevitably, moved beyond creation days to questioning the biblical account of Adam.<br />-=end quote=-<br /><br />i've thought about pieces of this complex criticism of hermeneutical idea that we must read Scripture as did it's first readers, not as we think-common sense, everyman in the pew, literal, obvious, clear. simple, plain. etc.<br /><br />part of the problem is a deeply embedded anti intellectualism in the modern conservative church. but let's put that aside.<br /><br />i'd like to think about the reason we think that what is obvious, simple, plain, literal, common sense etc etc to us, is somehow the "right" way to read Scripture. and why intellectuals investigating the ancient near east (ANE) are considered too worldly in their wisdom to contribute to the conservative hermeneutical task.<br /><br />i think that the modern conservative american church is a social subculture, a particular group of people that we can trace ideas within, a people with a cohesive coherence story for the last 200 years or so. i believe it is the successor to the defeated southern antebellum south. it helps my thinking a bit that i am currently a member of the PCA, a direct descendant of the southern presbyterian church but i became a Christian in the OPC, the successor to the northern presbyterian. i can see the cultural and theological differences firsthand between the two.<br /><br />anyhow, that aside on why i'm thinking this way. <br />why would the idea that how we think is the right way to read an ancient text become so dominant, when the alternative, how the ancients thought, is available?rmwilliamsjrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14145136391007698642noreply@blogger.com