Facts without theories are cars without engines

Posted on 14/11/2017 by Jon Garvey

… or how streptomycin proves, or disproves, God

I’m still interested in showing how God appears to be hidden in the workings of the world more because the prevailing materialist worldview is blind to him than because he is intrinsically invisible. There was a long (and ongoing) discussion on BioLogos recently based on a case-study I gave of a healing in response to prayer. I could have perhaps sorted the materialists (believing as well as unbelieving) from the atheists better by choosing a less “religious” example, such as the kind of phenomena pretty familiar in everyday life, but absolutely verboten in serious discourse, such as premonitions, knowledge of being watched and so on. But here’s an example in a different realm – that of purely natural science. Continue reading →

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What did those guys know?

Posted on 10/11/2017 by Jon Garvey

Since I considered “heaven and earth” in the recent series, in relation to the deliberate parallels between the Genesis 1 “cosmic temple” and Israel’s tabernacle and temple, it’s interesting to muse on how the ancient Hebrews thought about “heaven”. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 3 Comments

Finding humans origins from biblical theology #4

Posted on 08/11/2017 by Jon Garvey

This is by way of being an appendix to the main conclusions I’ve drawn in previous posts about the possible implications for human origins of seeing Adam, in the context of Genesis, as proto-Israel, yet also as a real and historical (not fictional) archetype. I’ve suggested that we should distinguish the whole race of mankind, created in Genesis 1, from Adam as one member of that race, chosen to become the forerunner of a new kind of relationship with God as Yahweh, analogous to the calling from the generality of humanity of Abraham, or of Israel the nation, or of those born again into Christ. But someone may ask if this does this not imply two separate creation acts for man – the first in Genesis 1, and the second that of Adam “from the dust of the ground” in ch.2. Continue reading →

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, Philosophy, Science, Theology | 4 Comments

Finding humans origins from biblical theology #3

Posted on 06/11/2017 by Jon Garvey

At this point in the series, let’s move on to consider the world outside Eden, and perhaps before Eden, by summarising what I’ve already concluded from adopting the “compositional strategy” of the Pentateuch or Torah proposed by John Sailhamer, and applied to the beginning of Genesis by Seth Postell. I put this overview in list form in the previous post, so please refresh your memory there if you need to. Continue reading →

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, History, Science, Theology | 18 Comments

Finding humans origins from biblical theology #2

Posted on 03/11/2017 by Jon Garvey

In the last post I tried to show the overall thematic “plot” inherent in the Pentateuch or Torah, which John Sailhamer calls its “compositional strategy”. This makes the foundation-document of Israel a narrative of linked themes, which I will list below the fold. Continue reading →

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, Science, Theology | 13 Comments

Finding humans origins from biblical theology #1

Posted on 01/11/2017 by Jon Garvey

Around thirty five years ago I noticed something very significant in the book of Deuteronomy (during an uninspiring church Bible study, as it happens), which I’d never heard of before and have seldom come across from others since. It’s in ch.5, in which Moses, addressing Israel on the border of the promised land after their wilderness wanderings, restates the Ten Commandments of the Sinai covenant, and says:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and the laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.)

Continue reading →

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The metaphysics of jazz drumming

Posted on 30/10/2017 by Jon Garvey

I want today to take another tilt at the question just how theory-laden our view of the world is, following a frustrating conversation with an atheist at BioLogos (whose posts were “liked” by a good number of non-atheists there). He just couldn’t see why his naturalist view of a “Nature” containing only the “material” governed by “laws” and “chance” (metaphysical concepts all) is not simply self-evident truth, into which one might somehow be able to fit a God if there were enough evidence.

The “evidence”, of course, would have to be investigated using the methodological naturalism that excludes God a priori, and in the extraordinarily unlikely situation that it jumped that hurdle and found something inexplicable by “natural causes”, it would also be subject to the “God of the Gaps” fallacy. And by such sophistry God’s foot is kept out of the door Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Music, Philosophy, Science | 13 Comments

What “Adam as Israel” reveals about the state of our world.

Posted on 25/10/2017 by Jon Garvey

In my last post I wrote about Seth Postell’s work on the clear typological role of Adam, in relation to the over-arching message of the Pentateuch and, indeed, the whole Hebrew Bible. This message turns out to be the failure of Israel to keep the Covenant, their subsequent exile, and the promise of restoration through the coming prophet/king who would become known as Messiah. Adam’s history is closely parallel to this. I hinted that this makes Paul’s teaching on the parallelism of Jesus with Adam, as the one who succeeded where both Israel and Adam failed, a continuation of a mainstream biblical theme, and not just a convenient illustration of the apostle’s own invention. Continue reading →

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Adam and Israel

Posted on 23/10/2017 by Jon Garvey

I’ve just finished Seth D Postell’s 2011 book, Adam as Israel: Genesis 1-3 as the Introduction to the Torah and Tanakh, which although perhaps a little scholarly (ie interactive with the “academic literature”) for the average reader is a great eye opener in considering the whole question of understanding the first chapters of Genesis. Continue reading →

Posted in Adam, Creation, Genealogical Adam, History, Science, Theology | 15 Comments

At last! An end to not-understanding-evolution misery!

Posted on 20/10/2017 by Jon Garvey

I’ve commented more than once on how the accusation “You don’t understand evolution” gets slapped on practically everybody, from Fundamentalists to senior evolutionary biologists. If you already know your ignorance you’ll be used to hearing it should you ask the wrong questions at places like BioLogos (I’ve had it thrown at me there twice this week already, though I’ve studied it a bit over the last 50 years or so). Even if you’re highly trained, though, you are not immune (as my piece linked above demonstrates). In both cases, the ultimate reason is probably the same. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science | 11 Comments